Jacques Villeneuve Issues Brutal Verdict on Hamilton's Ferrari Struggles

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve has launched a scathing critique of Lewis Hamilton, attributing his disastrous (hypothetical) 2025 Ferrari season to mental weakness rather than just a poor car. Villeneuve argues that years of unchallenged dominance at Mercedes made Hamilton complacent, and the move to Ferrari has exposed a driver struggling to rediscover his competitive edge after believing he was "untouchable."

Why it matters:

Villeneuve's comments, coming from a fellow champion, add a potent and controversial layer to the narrative surrounding Hamilton's legacy. It shifts the focus from car performance to driver psychology, questioning whether Hamilton's legendary status was built on unparalleled talent or simply having the best machinery on the grid for an extended period. This perspective challenges the core of the seven-time champion's mystique.

The Details:

• On the High Performance Podcast, Villeneuve stated, "As soon as you start to believe you are untouchable, you get slower," suggesting Hamilton lost his edge after years of dominance.
• He downplayed the difficulty of Hamilton's seven titles, claiming, "These world championships were not hard to win," because the Mercedes car was "miles ahead."
• The Rosberg Exception: Villeneuve pointed to the 2016 season as the only time Hamilton faced a genuine internal fight from Nico Rosberg—a battle he ultimately lost.
• The former champion argued that during Mercedes' peak, "almost only a Mercedes could win – with almost any driver on the grid," directly challenging the notion that Hamilton's success was solely due to his driving prowess.

Between the lines:

Villeneuve's analysis paints a picture of a champion who, after years of having victory made relatively easy, forgot how to fight for it. The crisis at Ferrari, in his view, is the inevitable price of that prolonged comfort. It’s not just a slump in performance but a fundamental crisis of confidence, forcing Hamilton to confront a reality he hasn't faced in over a decade: genuine, hard-fought competition where the car is not an automatic advantage.