There are still weeks to go before the green lights go out at Melbourne’s Albert Park. That is when the 2025 Formula 1 campaign will get underway, a season in which there are many exciting battles to be had. The main one, without a doubt, is the world championship title that four-time champion Max Verstappen will defend against a wide range of rivals. None of them have the track record and stature of Lewis Hamilton, who is making his debut with Ferrari and will be the center of attention. The most successful active driver and the biggest and most demanding team to challenge the prodigy
Hamilton is very different, he is unique. He has broken the mould. He is the big picture of Formula 1 and goes beyond that
Jacques Villeneuve
That battle being real is a possibility and there are already those who have decided to heat it up even though there is still a long way to go before the start of the season. Jacques Villeneuve, who was world champion in 1997, is the son of the legendary Gilles and a commentator who does not mince his words. The Canadian lashes out at Verstappen to praise Hamilton and puts F1 at war between its two most iconic drivers along with Fernando Alonso on the current grid.
“Hamilton is very different, he is unique. He has broken the mould. He is the big picture of Formula 1 and goes beyond that. Nobody cares about Verstappen if he leaves F1, but Hamilton does matter if he leaves the category. He is the biggest signing and for one of the biggest brands. For the two to come together is incredible,” Villeneuve told The Action Network.
He doesn’t care about Verstappen’s titles and a brutal dominance in which he has won World Championships of all kinds: the one in the last lap in Abu Dhabi against Hamilton himself, the one of overwhelming dominance in which only Sainz broke the hegemony of Red Bull and the one of knowing how to suffer with the third or fourth best car on the grid as happened in the fourth closed in Las Vegas.
Nobody cares if Verstappen leaves F1, but Hamilton does matter
Jacques Villeneuve
Villeneuve’s assessment goes from the iconic point of view, but also reaches the sporting one. The Canadian forgets to mention Verstappen when he analyzes which favorites are in the title race and which driver will be champion. “Lando Norris and McLaren are the favorites because of the way they fight for the title,” he says. Verstappen, it should be remembered, won in Interlagos and Qatar in the final stretch. “Although McLaren will have to deal with the problems of having two leading drivers who will take points away from each other and will not do well,” adds the former champion.
Trust in Sainz and Williams
Villeneuve’s statements are, as usual, incendiary and surprising. Although he also has another part of confidence that encourages the Spanish public. “Carlos Sainz can be the surprise with Williams,” he does not hesitate to say. It should be remembered that he was the last world champion with the Grove factory in a legendary list of seven drivers’ crowns and nine constructors’. He won the controversial 1997 crown, where he caught Michael Schumacher in the last race, the German defended himself and ended up causing a scandal that left the Kaiser disqualified from the World Championship.