The former world champion with Williams was controversial with the Monegasque: “Charles was happy to make a good impression next to Lewis. But when Lewis woke up, he made the car and the team his own and began to give his all without sparing himself.” On Red Bull: “Verstappen is the only one who saves the team but he needs people and they got rid of everyone there”
Thus spoke Jacques Villeneuve. Part inquisitor and part prophet, the former world champion launched his sentence: “Ferrari must focus on Hamilton if they want to have even a minimal chance of winning. The decision is easy to make, because Leclerc is quite far behind.” If for the people of the Maranello red team Hamilton’s victory in Spain meant the apotheosis, for the former Canadian driver there is something more: it is a way to create hierarchies and set some limits. Villeneuve, as we know, is not one to tell them. On Sky Sport UK he went even further: “Leclerc had time to build the team around himself, but he didn’t do it. Bear in mind how he arrived at Ferrari, after a normal season at Sauber. He suddenly got a mega contract as a world champion. Maybe too big, too soon, too fast.”
hammered
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There are those who look at the world through a porthole. And who (and Villeneuve is among them) is not afraid to take a position. Ferrari, according to the Canadian, needs to find a balance. Yes, even among its pilots. But if Charles Leclerc doesn’t give the impression of always having strong nerves, Hamilton today is a radiant discovery. Incredible, given that the Briton has won the world title seven times. Yet the success in Spain has given life and light back to him, Hamilton, who was looking for that life and light. Leclerc, Villeneuve continues, “never had to build anything around himself. Everything was given to him.” And you go with another hammering: “It was fast and this was enough, because the general perception was that of a car incapable of winning the world championship.” Actually, worse: “It was enough for him to win a few races and beat his teammate, who was Vettel, to make everyone happy.” At the start of the season, however, Leclerc has still collected little: zero points in two weekends (this hasn’t happened since 2020), and then two third places, in Australia and Japan, without however leaving his mark. In short, 2026 is uphill, despite the renewal of the contract.
charles at a disadvantage
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Moreover. Hamilton’s arrival has thrown little Prince Charles’s plans into disarray. But last year “Lewis didn’t have a great season, he was struggling with the car and the team”. Because, Villeneuve again recalled, “it takes time to build”. This year Hamilton started off strong. And now the new ADUO rules, which will allow the power differences with the Mercedes engine to be compensated for, are one of the key factors within Ferrari too. With a more powerful machine, who will have the order to push? Leclerc, at the moment, is in a disadvantageous position. Hamilton, however, becomes the man who can undermine Kimi Antonelli of His Majesty Mercedes. Leclerc, Villeneuve continues, “was happy to make a good impression next to Lewis, but when Lewis woke up, made the car and the team his own and started giving his all without sparing himself, Leclerc was not prepared”.
mercedes and red bull
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The matter of the dissatisfied is very reminiscent of Tolstoy’s old adage: every family is unhappy in its own way. And if Ferrari has to deal with a dualism that doesn’t exist (but which risks being created soon), something similar could happen at Mercedes in the next releases. For now Kimi Antonelli is the favorite. Yes, but George Russell? Who will the Silver Arrows focus on when Kimi is (if) less successful? Now the answer seems obvious: Antonelli is the man leading the world championship. But the World Cup is also long, hard, unpredictable. Villeneuve, then, also has feelings for Max Verstappen and Red Bull. “It’s very difficult to see a positive future for Red Bull. After having ridden the wave for a long time, they are sinking and have not yet hit rock bottom. They are no longer the crazy, fun, courageous team, always able to turn the situation around. That spark is lost, they don’t even talk about their youth team anymore.” If Red Bull cries, Verstappen doesn’t laugh. The multiple world champion is in a moment of ferocious bad mood. Retirements, dull races, only one third place. His future could be far from Red Bull, and we are talking about it. But Villeneuve, world champion in 1997, is convinced: “Red Bull must try at all costs to keep him, because he is the only soldier who saves the team.” Max arrived when the team was already built, but recently, adds Villeneuve, “they got rid of practically everyone and only Verstappen remained”. The four-time world champion is not a designer: he is very good at developing a car and identifying what is needed. However, the Canadian still warns, “he still needs the people around him. Everything has been, in a certain sense, destroyed and must be rebuilt. The question, if anything, is how”.
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