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MONTREAL, CANADA – JUNE 08: Former Formula One Champions Jacques Villeneuve is seen in the paddock after practice for the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 8, 2012 in Montreal, Canada.
Jacques Villeneuve has hit out at present-day Formula 1 drivers, saying they are not taking the sport as serious as their predecessors. Villeneuve is the son of late Gilles Villeneuve, who was killed in the qualifying round for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. As safety standards in F1 are higher than ever, deaths in the sport have become rather uncommon whereas in the old days, drivers took into account that they have entered a highly risky sport. According to Villeneuve, this has caused a lack of respect for colleagues and the vehicles among current Formula 1 drivers.
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He said: “There is something in the new product that is a little bit strange with what they think is respectful driving and what is not and there seems to be very little common sense going on there on the race track.”
“I think in the years when F1 was dangerous, 20 or 30 years ago, the risk of dying was very high so the drivers just did not do that to each other; there was that extra respect. There was common sense and also there was a bunch of drivers who worked hard to get into racing.” According to Villeneuve, the current drivers are racing as if it is a non-dangerous video game and we can only wait until another dangerous overtaking attempt results in a serious crash.
He also complained about the, what he calls ‘ease’, with which the current drivers got into the sport, while in the old times people had to work harder to earn their place in F1. He said: “They were not racers at 12 years old, [with] the financing there in place for them to race. They had to sweat for it; they were not little daddy’s boys like you have now basically. So they are driving F1 and they are still children, they are still babies and they are kept like that.”
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