Jacques Villeneuve: "Hamilton and Mercedes in crisis"
- Published on 17 Apr 2018 11:04
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- By: Rob Veenstra
Lewis Hamilton is "in crisis". That is the alarming claim of outspoken 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve. He was speaking after China, where Hamilton and Mercedes' quest for a win in 2018 fell flat for a third consecutive race.
"Hamilton is in crisis and is losing points for the championship," Villeneuve told Sky Italia. "But I think all of Mercedes is in crisis. Now they must bet on Bottas, who is not a championship driver."
"After the impressive qualifying in Melbourne, Lewis is no longer able to drive the car. It's very troubling. We saw last year that when he's in crisis he loses a lot, falls behind in the races and falls asleep, is not aggressive. We'll have to see when and if he wakes up," Villeneuve added.
The French Canadian also urged Red Bull to promptly re-sign Daniel Ricciardo for 2019. "Red Bull without Ricciardo would not be a force," he said, "but with Ricciardo it is dangerous. He's fighting for the world championship as Ferrari was two years ago, with everything needing to be fine with him and bad for the others," Villeneuve added. (GMM)
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Replies (9)
Login to replyjuju_hound
Posts: 180
Haha - like always for Jacques comments
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Williams is a team in crisis. Merc' is just getting legit competition. Learn the difference.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
Definitely. But - and I can't believe in saying this - part of me agree with Villeneuve. Listening to Hamilton on the radio, he does seem disillusioned - he's had a hard time with adversity before. Mercedes seems to be making mistakes they haven't been making before, so while it's not a full blown crisis yet, they're slowly getting there it seems.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
@mbm I has has a single year when he didn't have a serious dip in form at some point. It's always some kind of drama for a race or two, then he wins again and talks about how amazing it was, and his he overcame adversity etc etc. He'll be back. Mercedes, I believe, will still have a dominant car in a few races this year.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
@Aj Maybe. The thing is though, that Bottas is doing really well, all things considered. I wonder how that impact Hamilton's confidence.
I do remember his "heroic comebacks" and it's always fun to hear him talk about how he fought through it and all that shit.
Mercedes certainly bounced back nicely last year, after a shaky start, so who knows what'll happen. Maybe in reading too much into it, but thus far the Mercedes team doesn't seem like the well oiled machine we've grown accustomed to.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Sorta, but I dont think the issue is with Merc'. The cars look more even than ever for sure, but the Merc' still does look stronger. I think its more down to Hammy having a couple of bad races and not feeling very motivated rather than anything wrong with the car. Bottas is doing well because while he is hands down slower, he is also more consistent. And so is Vettel, and Hammy cant afford going up against the Terminator in a similar car while feelin' "down".
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Give this man some attention!
michielhimself
Posts: 132
Mercedes will be "in crisis" right up until the 2021 engine regulations are fixated. Once that point has passed, they will suddenly "Retrieve" the backup tapes of the ECU firmware mapping that delivers 100+ % power output ....
Until then it will appear as if the other engine manufacturers in F1 have more or less "caught up".
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Couple more results by Bottas above Hammy and Hammy will roll out the favouritism and pit crew debacle again that he isn’t getting the same treatment. Hardly a crisis 9 points off the lead, although there are only now another 450 points available to race winners!