LAS VEGAS | Jacques Villeneuve has taken great pleasure in watching this Formula 1 season. Not because he is on CANAL+ in France or Sky Sports in the United Kingdom or to bring the F1 experience to life in the paddocks in Vegas . No, as a car racing enthusiast.
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“It was a good season, surprisingly. Because it started like the last two years,” he said about the domination of Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the opening curtain of the calendar.
“But Red Bull stopped progressing,” he continued in his analysis. Ferrari and McLaren pushed and climbed. It gave us a good championship that was fun to watch.”
According to him, Max went to get his championship because his car was no longer up to the competition.
“He always stayed above the rest. The only one who managed to get up to his driving level this year is Lando [Norris]», Said the 1997 world champion.
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However, some bad luck like that experienced in Brazil with the virtual safety car, team blunders and a daring gesture from his teammate Oscar Piastri during the first Monza lap in September, hurt Norris.
McLaren is the gaffe
“Unfortunately for Lando, McLaren didn’t help him. It’s as if the team didn’t want him to win the championship. Which is strange,” said Villeneuve, citing the Piastri concrete contract negotiated by Mark Webber.
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“There are terms that protect him and that a new driver should never have,” continued the Quebecer.
This season at McLaren, the “papaya rules” have attracted attention. Piastri’s aggressive move at Monza is an example of this. At the end of the race, rather than achieving a double, they took second and third places.
Another delicate situation also arose in Hungary during the summer when the team ordered Norris several times to slow down and give the lead position to his teammate. Management then tried to explain that they had done this because Piastri had lost his place due to the pit stop strategy. The Australian thus enjoyed his first career victory.
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On several occasions during the season, Norris lost valuable points which ultimately undermined his chances in the race for the drivers’ championship.
The best?
Back to the world champion… As for whether Verstappen is the best driver in history, a subject on which he recently asserted himself in Europe, Villeneuve wanted to put things into perspective. Especially because Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher each have seven world titles each.
“It’s the best of the decade. It’s difficult, because we can’t compare eras, explained Villeneuve. You put Juan Manuel Fangio in modern cars, and I’m sure he would go slower than Max. And conversely, you put Max in Fangio’s car, and he would be slower. Cars have changed too much over the decades to make comparisons.”
Indeed, since it is far away, the time of Fangio, who drove the Alfa Romeo and Ferrari in the 1950s. The Argentinian had won five world championship titles, and he has since been considered one of the greatest of history. It’s all a question of criteria and opinions.
“A good driver, whatever the era and the type of car, he will adapt. Whether it is a modern or old F1, Villeneuve indicated in discussion with The Journal in the paddocks. We would put Max in a NASCAR car or an Indy formula, he would find a way to go fast.
Verstappen is indeed recognized for many qualities, including his ability to adapt.
