For Villeneuve, there will “never” be a best driver of all time

Like many sports, Formula 1 does not escape the recurring debates to try to identify the best driver(s) of all time. Debates which themselves do not escape the problem of the culture of the moment and which therefore arise all the more easily as pilots string together titles like pearls, as has frequently happened since the beginning of the 2000s.

But even before the era of great domination by a single driver, this debate animated the discipline and is ultimately destined to never find an answer that satisfies the greatest number, both the affinities and the parameters on which s support are legion.

Currently at the top of his art, Max Verstappen is obviously seen by part of the public as one of – if not the – greatest drivers in the discipline, as were Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso , Michael Schumacher and so many others before them.

For Jacques Villeneuve, whatever happens, it's a sterile debate. “There will never be a best driver of all time. The cars evolve too much, they are too different”he said in an interview for Action Network.

“If you take someone like Jackie Stewart [champion du monde en 1969, 1971 et 1973]he is impressive because he won three championships at a time when two, three or five drivers a year died or were seriously injured, and with cars that broke down in half the races. However, he managed to achieve many victories [27 en 99 départs]. Same thing for [Emerson] Fittipaldi [champion du monde en 1972 et 1974]etc. In a way, three championships back then is probably more impressive than five or six today.”

Then Villeneuve refers purely to the question of statistics: “Also, today when you have a superior car, you end up winning almost 24 races instead of 15, because there are ten more races in the calendar than before. So the numbers are also skewed The total number of points you collect: a victory brings 25 points. Before, it was eight, then nine, then ten.