No love lost between Villeneuve (left) and Button

Former world champion Villeneuve criticised his young English team-mate before the new F1 season, saying Button needed to earn his respect on the track.

In the opening race in Australia, Button finished 10th, one place behind Villeneuve after being slowed in the pit lane by the Canadian.

But Richards insisted that Button's performance was impressive before the incident.

And he admitted that Villeneuve knew he had his work cut out to match the 23-year-old for pace.

Coulthard takes Melbourne thriller

"I was very happy with Jenson's performance in the race," Richards told the Sunday Mirror.

"He drove very sensibly and had the better of Jacques, so he has to be encouraged by that.

"Jacques is digging deep and he has to. He is now aware of Jenson's capability.

"But then that's what we want. We need our drivers pushing and getting the best out of each other."

Richards was impressed with Button in Melbourne

The pair clashed in Melbourne when Button was forced to wait behind Villeneuve in the pit lane for a scheduled stop, losing the chance to finish in the points.

Richards claimed Villeneuve was in the pits as a result of a mistimed stop due to radio failure.

But he insisted that the team would discuss the incident calmly this week.

"Jenson was very unhappy and understandably so. He would have finished much higher than he did had he not lost so much time in the pits," said Richards.

Button fumes at Villeneuve

"But Jacques did genuinely have a problem with his radio. He lost his earpiece and although we could hear him he couldn't hear us. Then his engineer didn't put out his pit board when he should have done.

Driver profiles: Jacques Villeneuve Jenson Button

"So Jacques came in on Jenson's lap and by then he was down to his very last dregs.

"It was all very unfortunate but there was nothing Machiavellian about it.

"We've talked about it within the team but it's often not best to tackle such an issue in detail on the spot when perhaps you don't have all the information and emotions are running high."