It's now official: Jacques Villeneuve will line up alongside Nick Heidfeld for the BMW Sauber F1 Team in 2006.

As BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen explained: "We took a close look at Jacques' performance level at the end of last season. After an extremely tough first half of the year - which showed that even a former World Champion cannot come back after a period away and be competitive from day one - he got closer and closer to his team-mate over the second half of the season. We are in no doubt that Jacques will make the BMW Sauber F1 Team stronger."

"Between 1999 and 2004 I experienced first-hand the difficulties and complexities involved in setting up a new team," said Villeneuve, "but I've never been afraid of a challenge. Sauber was already a good team and now we also have the resources of BMW behind us. I will do everything I can to contribute to the success of the BMW Sauber F1 Team."

Now living in Villars, Switzerland's adopted son will start work for the new team in the first testing session in Jerez on 8th December.

Villeneuve was crowned Formula One World Champion faster than any other driver before or since after making his debut in the series. In 1996, his rookie year, the Canadian finished second in the overall standings behind his then Williams Renault team-mate Damon Hill. The following year, he fended off the challenge of Michael Schumacher to go one better and take the title for the same team.

On 22nd June 2005, BMW made public its commitment to head its own team in Formula One after taking a majority interest in the Sauber team from 2006. The signing of Nick Heidfeld was announced on 16th September, followed by confirmation of the official team name and the identity of key positions in the team - with Willy Rampf (Chassis/Hinwil) and Heinz Paschen (Powertrain/Munich) as Technical Directors - on 14th November. The partnership with Petronas was then finalised and announced on 24th November.

Testing with the Sauber C24B interim chassis (modified for the BMW P86 V8 engine) got underway on 28th November. At the same time, the development of the V8 engine and 2006 chassis has continued apace in Munich and Hinwil respectively.

Jacques Villeneuve.

Date/place of birth: 9th April 1971/St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec (CDN)

Nationality: Canadian

Residence: Villars, Switzerland

Marital status: single

Height: 1.71 m

Weight: 67 kg

Career highlights.

1991 Italian Formula 3 Championship: 6th place.

1992 Japanese Formula 3 Championship: 2nd place.

1993 Formula Atlantic: 3rd place.

1994 IndyCar Championship: 6th place and "Rookie of the Year";Indianapolis 500: 2nd place.

1995 IndyCar Championship: 1st place;Indianapolis 500: 1st place.

1996 Formula One World Championship (Williams Renault): 2nd place, four wins.

1997 Formula One World Championship (Williams Renault): 1st place, seven wins.

1998 Formula One World Championship (Williams Mecachrome): 5th place.

1999 Formula One World Championship (BAR Supertech): no points.

2000 Formula One World Championship (BAR Honda): 7th place.

2001 Formula One World Championship (BAR Honda): 8th place.

2002 Formula One World Championship (BAR Honda): 12th place.

2003 Formula One World Championship (BAR Honda): 16th place.

2004 Formula One World Championship (Renault): no points.

2005 Formula One World Championship (Sauber Petronas): 14th place.

Formula One statistics up to 2006.

First Grand Prix: Australian GP, Melbourne 1996

GP starts: 151

Pole positions: 13 Australian GP 1996Belgian GP 1996Japanese GP 1996Australian GP 1997Brazilian GP 1997Argentinean GP 1997San Marino GP 1997Spanish GP 1997British GP 1997Belgian GP 1997Austrian GP 1997Japanese GP 1997European GP 1997

Wins: 11 European GP 1996British GP 1996Hungarian GP 1996Portuguese GP 1996Brazilian GP 1997Argentinean GP 1997Spanish GP 1997British GP 1997Hungarian GP 1997Austrian GP 1997Luxembourg GP 1997

World Championship points: 2281996: 78 / 1997: 81 / 1998: 21 / 2000: 17 / 2001: 12 / 2002: 4 / 2003: 6 / 2005: 9

Fastest laps: 9