Jacques Villeneuve says Michael Schumacher will not be remembered among the greats of Formula One, despite the records he currently holds.

The former BMW-Sauber driver lashes out at his former rival, calling him a liar and a dirty driver, adding he will never be held in the same regard as Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost or Nigel Mansell.

"He's a racer - but a pure racer, nothing but a racer and, because of that, I think the day he hangs up his helmet people will just forget him," Villeneuve tells F1 Racing magazine in an interview to be published next week.

"Senna, by contrast, will never be forgotten. Some of that is the James Dean factor, of course, because he was killed in action at a young age, but not all of it. I don't even think Michael will live on in people's memories as strong or as long as Prost has - certainly not as strong or as long as Mansell has. Those people attained a hero status that Michael never has and never will."

The most famous clash between Schumacher and Villeneuve was in 1997, the Canadian's second season in Formula One. Driving for Williams, Villeneuve was in the hunt for the world championship with only Schumacher standing in his way. At the final race of the season, the European Grand Prix at Jerez, Villeneuve made a move to pass Schumacher for the lead on lap 47. After getting on the inside of the Ferrari driver, Schumacher deliberately turned into Villeneuve in an attempt to take him out of the race. Instead, Schumacher's car became beached in the gravel trap and his race was over. Villeneuve was able to limp home in third and clinch the world title.

After the season, Schumacher was stripped of all his championship points - but not his results - for the 1997 season.

Villeneuve says Schumacher has constantly lied, to his fans and his fellow drivers, and his antics on the track are not the actions of a true champion.

"Michael simply isn't a great champion because he's played too many dirty tricks and because he isn't a great human being," said Villeneuve. "Yes, Senna played dirty tricks too but he did it with more class, more integrity. When he took Prost out at Suzuka in 1990, he said he was going to do it before the race."

"Unlike Michael, who ridiculously insisted he was innocent at Monaco this year, Senna said, 'Yes, I did it. But I told you before the race that I was going to do it.' That's very different from what Michael did at Monaco and Jerez (in 1997) and Adelaide (in 1994)."

At Monaco earlier this year, Schumacher failed to negotiate the final turn in the dying seconds of qualifying and ended up blocking the circuit. That denied Renault's Fernando Alonso a chance to set a faster lap and claim the pole for the race. Even though the German was penalized for his actions, he maintained that he simply made a mistake - something that Villeneuve says is simply not true.

"It's quite sad, really - because the reason Michael did what he did is that he thinks he's better than the rest of us," says the former world champion. "He thinks he's bigger than the sport, too, but he isn't. And when he retires, and no one really remembers him, that will become clear."

Villeneuve's season - and likely his F1 career - came to an end at the Hungarian Grand Prix when he was replaced by BMW-Sauber test driver Robert Kubica. Villeneuve, who last won a Grand Prix race on September 28, 1997, believes the team will find it hard to chase wins next season.

"If BMW plan to win races in 2007 then they absolutely should have kept me," he tells the German publication Bild.

On the topic of his future, Villeneuve says "only one small team" has come forward with an offer for next season.

Villeneuve: The real reason I left F1

Jacques Villeneuve says he left Formula One because he didn't want to be a part of a potential "shoot-out" with test driver Robert Kubica.

The former world champion tells Autosport magazine he bears no ill-will towards BMW-Sauber but given his track record in the sport, he didn't feel he should be compared to an F1 rookie.

"After having been in F1 for 10 years and having won the championship and so on, I wasn't ready to stay home some weekends just to see how the other guy would go and to then be compared to him," Villeneuve tells the publication in an exclusive interview.

"Not because I was worried that he would go faster or slower, it could happen both ways and that would be life. It's just not something that anybody that's been there and won races would accept basically, that's all.

"I knew that after that I wouldn't be able to give everything I had. It just doesn't feel fair, so I wouldn't be able to train like a maniac and take all the risks that I took racing, basically."

Villeneuve added his decision to leave BMW-Sauber was quite different than his departure from BAR-Honda back in 2003. The Canadian left the team he started with manager Craig Pollock prior to the Japanese Grand Prix after it became clear the squad were going to replace him with Takuma Sato the following season.

"By (the Japanese GP) that year I was actually extremely angry and bitter. It was just heavy. The season had been unbearable, and it had been made unbearable, and it was just hell.

"This time there wasn't really bitterness, it was just matter of fact. This has happened, OK, it doesn't make me happy, I don't want to work my butt off for the rest of the season if it's like that, and then to wait until November and maybe there would be a decision for the year after."

Villeneuve reiterated that if he continues competitive racing, it will likely be in the NASCAR series, ruling out a return to Champ Car or any other open-wheel form of racing.

"In open wheel racing, if you've won F1, there's nothing above it. I don't want to race just for the sake of racing. I've got other things in my life. Le Mans could be a fun thing, because it's a special race to win, but that's the only reason for it. You can't make a career out of that, but you can do it until later anyway, so there's no rush.

"If I was going to drive again, it would have to be NASCAR, that's all... Basically it's something you have to learn from scratch, and I think that's what would make it interesting and exciting. When you start at the bottom of the ladder and have to learn, you really have to outdo yourself, it makes it exciting."

If Villeneuve succeeds in landing a NASCAR ride, he will not be alone. Fellow F1 competitor Juan Pablo Montoya is set to make his Nextel Cup debut next year while fellow open-wheel racer Patrick Carpentier is trying to land a Busch Series ride for 2007.