Dear Atlas,

When Jacques Villeneuve made his debut in Melbourne in 1996, he surprised everyone with his speed, maturity and self-confidence. As time went by and Jacques' stature rose higher, his head started to swell and his attitude changed a great deal. As Roy Gliken said recently, "the soft-spoken rookie became the tough-talking veteran".

First of all, Villeneuve shows little respect to his highly-regarded teammate, Heinz-Harald Frentzen (who started out-qualifying him in Monaco), and considers himself as the number one driver in the team automatically. Being favored by almost everyone to win the World Championship doesn't mean you should start acting like you've won five championships already. The best champions hardly act like that.

His sympathy and simlicity has turned into a bit of a philosophical attitude. He started criticizing the new rules of next season as if he has enough experience to judge the difference. He called the regulations "a joke" after just a few laps with the new tyres and chassis. He wants to go faster, regardless of the security. He doesn't care about what Max Mosley and the whole FIA are saying and states that they are wrong and he's the one who is right. He doesn't realise that without the safety changes the FIA implemented in the last couple of years, Jos Verstappen would probably have been killed in Belgium in 1996 (right where Jacques' father Gilles was killed in 1982).

As Frentzen said, "Jacques wasn't in Formula One in 1994 when Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger died. He doesn't know how Formula One can be dangerous." I fell Max Mosley was right on the mark when he recently stated, "Jacques suggests that all racing drivers were mediocre until he came along." If he pleads drivers need to "feel a little bit of danger" in order to enjoy racing, he'd better return to the Indy Cars. Formula One has lost a lot of talents like Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark and Gilles Villeneuve and doesn't need to add more names to the list just to make Jacques Villeneuve go faster.

I wish Jacques tempers his mood and returns to be the driver - and the man - we thought we knew.