Jacques Villeneuve believes Lewis Hamilton has gone stale with Mercedes, and suggests the “fresh air” of Ferrari will bring out the best from the Maranello-bound seven-time Formula 1 World Champion.
By his own admission, Hamilton expects to be increasingly marginalised by Mercedes as his departure at the end of this season looms. Already he points to teammate George Russell, his heir at the team he will depart, getting the new parts.
On the record, Mercedes are adamant they will service their departing Champ but what they won’t tell you is how they will shield Hamilton from sensitive information and keep him in the loop on a need-to-know basis. That’s what comes with announcing such a mega-break-up a year before it happens. Ditto Carlos Sainz as his Ferrari departure, to make way for the Englishman. The Reds will feed him what he needs to know.
Speaking to the media team at Best Payout Online Slots, 1997 F1 World Champion, Villeneuve said of the awkward Hamilton-Mercedes situation: “Sometimes you need new ingredients on your plate. You get bored with the same taste over and over again. That taste for Lewis at Mercedes is now stale. The fresh air of Ferrari might help him.”
Regarding Hamilton’s struggles, even relative to Russell in the sister car, Villeneuve ventured: “Every driver has a preference with their car. Max will be quick in any car but he will be quicker in a car that suits him.”
“Lewis is in a situation where the car is not doing what he is expecting it to. He is always second-guessing. There is always more thought process going into his driving which can leave you a thousandth of a second behind and that will make you just that little bit slower.”
Villeneuve: George has been a better driver than Lewis since he arrived there
“It makes it very difficult to set the car up because you cannot pinpoint what the issue is,” Villeneuve reckoned, which may explain why Russell has out-qualified Hamilton (the greatest Qualifier in F1 history) 28-24 during their time as Mercedes teammates thus far.
In his latest no-holds-barred, Villeneuve ventures: “To be honest that started the first season George was there and had the upper hand on Lewis. George has been a better driver than Lewis since he arrived there.
“Lewis has won so much and when you’re not winning it can be dull and frustrating. The same thing happened when Ricciardo joined Vettel. It made Ricciardo look amazing that year. Vettel was tired and suddenly not winning.
“He was trying to reinvent the wheel. Trying to go and get that extra half a second which wasn’t there and instead ended up going slower. Ricciardo was just minding his own business and ended up getting good results.
“We keep hearing that Lewis is trying weird setups and goes off on a tangent that doesn’t work because he doesn’t like being three or four-tenths of a second behind and so he tries to find what is not in the car,” explained Villeneuve.
Regarding Hamilton’s possible replacement, Villeneuve said: “Mercedes don’t want to give anyone a long-term contract because they want to keep the seat warm for Kimi Antonelli. That is their future plan which they have been working on for years. They’ll make it come to fruition.
“There isn’t a top driver who would want to go to Mercedes. They are not winning and there is only one year available. Maybe someone like Bottas could go there for a year,” suggested Canada’s only F1 World Champion.
F1 heads to his home race – at the track named after his great father Gilles Villeneuve- the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend, Round 9 of the 2024 World Championship. Russell is P7 on 54 points in the F1 drievrs’ standings. Hamilton is P8 on 42 points, in what is their final season as Merc teammates.