Canadian F1 Star Jacques Villeneuve in the Hot Seat

What Sauber said makes sense. Why the insatiable appetite for JV's head? While some members of the press cite he is well off the

Why the insatiable appetite for JV's head? (Photo: Sauber Petronas)

mark expected of a champion, despite not having run for the better part of a year, except for a three race stint with Renault during the end of last season in which he stood in for Jarno Trulli, who was unceremoniously dumped by Flavio Briatore late in the season but is now sitting second in red and white Toyota livery in the 2005 championship, running behind the leading Renault-powered Fernando Alonso with Briatore's hand picked Giancarlo Fisichella, and his replacement lagging behind in third, JV's not the only one who's not performing up to expectations.

A few obvious examples come to mind, including the lesser brother of the famed Michael Schumacher, Ralf. While he's tied for fourth place with Red Bull's David Coulthard, he's

Villeneuve is far from being the only driver to under perform this year, and the others didn't take a year off during the 2004 season. (Photo: Sauber Petronas)

been following his Toyota teammate Trulli in every outing this season, from qualifying to race day. No one's calling for him to be replaced, despite the long hours of testing that he has been afforded and efforts to develop the TF105 around him - no such luxuries paid to JV.

And what about Juan Pablo Montoya, who might be ahead of his McLaren Mercedes teammate Kimi Raikkonen by a single point, but has been outperformed by the Finn who has been plagued with bad luck. Montoya is a former Champ Car and Indy 500 champion too, and obviously very talented. Why isn't anyone calling for his dismissal for not performing up to expectations?