Jacques Villeneuve drops honest verdict on Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari, compares it with Michael Schumacher

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has claimed that Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari is the biggest move by a driver since Michael Schumacher moved to the Italian team. The 2024 season began with a shocker when the Brit announced that he was leaving Mercedes after more than a decade-long association.

It came as an even bigger surprise that he was moving to Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton had been a part of Mercedes since 2013. As part of the team, the driver had dominated Formula 1 from 2014 to 2020, where he won six out of the seven world titles. Things had not gone as well for the partnership from 2021 onwards, where they lost the title to Max Verstappen in the last race of the season.

This was followed by a regulations change in F1 that dropped Mercedes even further as Red Bull went on a dominant run. Citing new challenges, Lewis Hamilton took the plunge to do something that every driver aspires to, i.e., win with Ferrari. Talking about the move made by the driver, Jacques Villeneuve told The Action Network that this was the biggest move in the sport since Michael Schumacher joined the team.

In 1996, Michael Schumacher had won two titles in a row with Benetton and took on the challenge to bring Ferrari back to its glory days. Drawing comparisons to that, the Canadian said (via GP Blog):

"Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari is the most high-profile F1 move since Michael Schumacher left Benetton for Ferrari. Independent of race results, Lewis Hamilton is the biggest driver of all time because of all the following he has."

He added:

"He's very different. He’s unique. He’s broken the mold. There's a lot that hangs on him. He has the biggest image. His image goes beyond F1. And there's not many drivers like that."

Villeneuve repudiates Briatore's comments about Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari

The Canadian also pushed back on comments made by Alpine boss Flavio Briatore, where the Italian had questioned Ferrari signing Hamilton. The former champion talked about how it's not just the Italian team but the entire brand and industry that gains from the signing. He said:

"That's very short-sighted from Briatore suggesting he can’t see the logic of signing Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari. You just have to look at the value of Ferrari the minute they signed him. You can't look at Ferrari just as a racing team. It's a whole industry."

He added:

"Yes, they are there to win, but winning helps them sell more cars and adds to the value of Ferrari. That's what the business is and signing Lewis was worth millions and millions, so it was the best move they've ever done."

The driver has reportedly signed a multi-year contract with the team, and it would be interesting to see how well he gels with the team in the upcoming season.