Jacques Villeneuve was World Champion in 1997

The Canadian's debut for the team in Australia was disappointing, and there have been reports he is to be replaced by BAR test driver Anthony Davidson.

"I haven't read it, haven't seen it, I don't care," said Villeneuve in Malaysia on Thursday.

He added: "After a bad race everyone is disappointed, we sat down to figure it out and see if we can get better."

"If I do this job, if I race, it's because I love racing, I love the competition.

"I don't want to be racing at the back so I'll be working as hard as I can to get closer to the front."

After nearly a whole season out of F1, Villeneuve drove in the last three races of last season for Renault.

His lack of speed in Melbourne was questioned by team owner Peter Sauber, but that, according to Villeneuve, was because of a lack of track time in the winter.

"We got to Melbourne not prepared because our winter testing didn't go very well and the last test session when we were planning on doing our race simulations, we got snowed in," said Villeneuve.

He finished 13th in Australia, and admitted he had found it difficult to adjust to life in F1 after nearly a year out.

"Formula One has evolved a lot over the last few years and mainly on the electronics side and it takes a long time to get used to everything.

"You don't feel everything that is happening. You become a bit of a passenger in the race car and that is very different to what I'm used to," he said.