Jacques Villeneuve delivers scathing Lewis Hamilton F1 legacy verdict

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has brutally assessed Lewis Hamilton’s first season with Ferrari.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton endured a miserable debut campaign with Ferrari after completing a blockbuster switch from Mercedes, and has experienced statistically his worst season in F1.

Hamilton failed to claim a grand prix podium for the first time in his career, finished sixth in the world championship and 86 points behind teammate Charles Leclerc, and ended the year with three consecutive Q1 exits.

Villeneuve believes Hamilton’s struggles come down to being complacent.

“It’s had a big impact because a lot of championships were won against a team-mate, and there was no real battle really. The one fight he did have was against Nico, and he lost,” Villeneuve told the High Performance podcast.

“Now he goes to Ferrari and has to get back into fighting ways, and it looks like he got used to the easy years. It’s hard to get the diesel going again if you back off a bit, take it easy, or start thinking it’s easy. Once you start believing you’re untouchable, you slow down.

“That’s where Max makes the difference. Even a season where Red Bull will win every race easily, he’s on it as if that’s the last race of the championship and he’s behind in the points. Every single time.

“So when it becomes tough and he has to fight, he’s used to it. I think that makes a big difference in the process that Lewis has been going through.”

Villeneuve claimed Hamilton didn’t have to put up much of a fight to win most of his seven world championships.

“His championships weren’t difficult to go and win. Mercedes was miles ahead once the new engine came in, and every time things got close, they just turned up the power,” he said.

“It was all there, ready in hand. At that point, only a Mercedes could have won - almost with any driver on the grid. Then the battle was against your teamed and then the question was what kind of teammate did he have? That’s what you have to look at.”

Asked where he considers Hamilton to be among the all-time greats, Villeneuve replied: “That’s a tough one because he’s got all the records. Do you just look at the numbers, or do you look at how those championships happened, and then you quantify the good ones. That’s the key to the matter.

“If you look at the Prost-Senna era, they were the two greatest and they were stealing championships from each other. They had the best car like Lewis had at Mercedes, but they were the two best drivers fighting each other, so that gives it a lot of credibility and value.”

Villeneuve: Hamilton didn’t deserve 2021 title

Villeneuve went on to state that Hamilton did not deserve to win a record eight world title in 2021.

The 2021 season is remembered for its controversial conclusion at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and former F1 race director Michael Masi’s incorrect application of the Safety Car rules which directly impacted the championship outcome.

Hamilton had dominated the race and been on course to win the title until the rushed Safety Car restart enabled Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, on fresh tyres, to snatch the win and title away from Hamilton, who was on old hards, on a dramatic final lap.

But Villeneuve pointed to another controversial moment in the race, where Hamilton avoided a penalty for cutting the chicane on the opening lap, as being a defining moment.

“What you forget is, it’s the work of a whole season. It’s not just that one race. He should have won it before that race, that was the issue. Max should have never been able to fight so hard at the end,” the Canadian explained.

“What everyone forgets is that on lap one, Lewis cuts the chicane, steps on it, does not even try to slow down and does not even get a penalty. That gives him the lead of the race. Without that, no lead of the race. With a penalty, then he’s just five seconds behind Max anyway and we don’t even get to that point.

“That’s where the issue started. You can’t just look at that moment where everything happened in chaos and happened quickly, where the team could have pitted Lewis and they chose not to. That’s their decision. It was a gamble and they chose not to. Very simple.

“Then when you look at the restart, Lewis wasn’t even fighting. It was if he decided ‘oh I’m done, I’m beaten’. He wasn’t even fighting. They had the choice to pit and they didn’t. And on that first lap, that should have been a big penalty. Now they give 10 seconds for that.

“He didn’t even try, didn’t make the corner, floored it, and got out of the corner five seconds ahead, which gave him the lead and changed the whole complexion of the race.”