Jacques Villeneuve calls for number one status for Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton

Things are going really well for Lewis Hamilton: at the recent race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the seven-time world champion secured his first Grand Prix victory since joining Ferrari. In the two previous Grands Prix in Canada and Monaco, he had finished second on both occasions behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

The Ferrari hopeful now trails the young Italian from the Mercedes team by 41 points in the championship standings. The Briton’s fans are already dreaming of an eighth world title, and for that dream to come true, the team must give the Barcelona winner their full support, according to Jacques Villeneuve. After all, Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc has recently had to settle for two zeros; he currently sits fourth in the championship standings with 75 points, trailing the leader by a substantial 81 championship points and his team-mate by 40 points.

Lewis Hamilton knows how to win, and he knows what it takes.

Jacques Villeneuve

A look at the internal championship battle between the two Mercedes stars reveals that the gap between the Mercedes drivers is wider; Russell, who is currently third in the championship behind Hamilton, trails the teenager from his own team by 50 points. Nevertheless, Villeneuve notes on the ‘Sky Sports F1 Show’: ‘Mercedes is not currently in a position to favour one driver over another. It’s different at Ferrari; they have to focus on Lewis if they want to keep their slim chance of the overall title alive.’

Speaking about the driver with 106 Grand Prix wins to his name, the 1997 world champion says: “Lewis knows how to win, and he knows what it takes. And if he senses even the slightest chance, he’ll show no mercy. And I believe that’s precisely where his decisive advantage lies. So the decision is an easy one, because Charles Leclerc is quite a long way behind.”

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Charles Leclerc’s failure

Leclerc, on the other hand, missed the opportunity to use that time to build the team around him, Villeneuve is certain. He emphasises: “You have to bear in mind that he joined Ferrari after an average season at Sauber and suddenly landed this massive mega-contract – the sort of world champion’s contract – which was perhaps too big and too soon, too much all at once.”

And the eleven-time Grand Prix winner continues: “So he never really had to build anything around him. It was simply handed to him. He was quick, and that was quite enough, because the general consensus was: ‘Well, it’s a car that can’t win the World Championship anyway.’ You win a few races, beat your team-mate – who was Sebastian Vettel at the time – and everyone was happy.”

“Then suddenly Lewis came into the picture. Last year he didn’t have a great season; he really struggled with the car and the team. It takes time to build something like that around yourself. So Leclerc was quite content; he cut a fine figure alongside Lewis. But now the moment has come when Lewis has woken up, when he’s made the car and the team his own, and Leclerc wasn’t prepared for that.”