Jacques explains GPDA decision.

Jacques Villeneuve has broken his silence on his reason for resigning from the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, insisted that he took the decision 'out of principle'.

The BMW Sauber driver announced he was quitting the organisation at the British GP at Silverstone after drivers met to discuss the incident in qualifying in Monaco, when Michael Schumacher was deemed to have stopped deliberately in the final stages of qualifying to prevent the cars behind from claiming pole position.

Although he refused to be drawn on specifics, giving a simple 'I won't go into it' when asked if the decision was linked to Schumacher's antics in the principality, Villeneuve admitted that the was something he didn't agree with that meant he felt he could no longer continue to be a member of the GPDA, although he still fully backed the work the group was doing to improve safety in Formula One.

"There was something I didn't agree with and just out of principle I just couldn't continue being part of the group that's all," he told reporters during the Intel Grand Prix demonstration in Hyde Park.

"The GPDA itself does a lot of good - on the safety aspect of things for testing and so on. David [Coulthard] does a great job of that, so I am not against the whole thing. David runs things smoothly and I didn't leave it to make a stand or anything like that. I didn't want it out in the open or in the media during the race weekend.

"It was just something personal - it was just out of principle that I couldn't be a part of it [anymore]."