With one year left to run on his contract Villeneuve turned down a lucrative offer to spend a season racing in CART before returning to BAR for 2004 and 2005, a deal which Villeneuve claimed was spoken about but never actually produced for him to sign. Instead, he decided that he would see out his present deal in the hope of landing a role at another Grand Prix team the following year. Villeneuve was joined by Jenson Button from Renault in 2003 as Panis was offered a position at Toyota. Button would prove to become the second of Villeneuve's teammates to outscore him in the Drivers' Championship as, unlike Villeneuve, Button was able to score consistently with the BAR 005, finishing in the points every two races on average.