Almost a year after he last drove an F1 car in anger - in every sense - Jacques Villeneuve made a highly publicised return to the cockpit today, his first day of testing with new, albeit temporary, employer, Renault.

Should everything go according to plan, the Canadian will line up on the grid in China next week, with every opportunity of taking revenge on his former employer, BAR, by ending its dream of runner-up spot in the constructors' championship.

Following the break-up of the relationship with Jarno Trulli, the Canadian has been drafted in with one aim, to assist Fernando Alonso in getting Renault back into second position in the championship behind Ferrari.

After five years with the Brackley outfit, Villeneuve's position became impossible last season, it was clear to all, not least the Canadian, that team principal David Richards didn't want him there.

Instead Richards wanted rid of JV and all the baggage that goes with him, as he set about building his very own fantasy F1 team with Jenson Button as the star.

A year on, and Jenson, who now admits to never having been "matey" with Richards, is hoping to jump ship to WilliamsF1, while the spectre of Villeneuve returns to haunt the pair of them.

"It would be great, just because of the way it ended," Villeneuve told reporters at Silverstone.

However, he refused to personalise the issue and said that there was only one real objective. "Renault's goal is just to beat BAR," he admitted, "to be second in the constructors' championship."

Earlier in the day, it was confirmed that 11 time GP winner, has signed a two-year deal with Sauber. He believes that the Swiss outfit is one of the few within the pitlane that has integrity.

"They are the only team that has treated me seriously and with respect, compared to everybody else I have been speaking to since March," he said. "That made a huge difference. I was wanting to get into a non-political team so I am very happy about that.

"It's a two-year deal," he added, "so there is time to do something good. That doesn't mean we will win races or something, you'll need luck for that but if you can just keep improving and you are happy working then that's great."

His many thousands of fans never gave up believing that they would see their hero back in an F1 car, despite a few 'false alarms', but did Jacques ever feel that it wasn't going to happen?

"I'm not a generally negative person," he revealed. "I always believed the best will happen, which as the past has shown was not always the case but you just can't give up.

"Since I've been training hard since February/March something had to happen because training for nothing is very difficult."