“It was rental karting”– Former F1 champion calls everything at Jeddah on Sunday absolutely wrong and urges not to make F1 a Hollywood show

Tanish Chachra | 07/12/2021
"It was rental karting"– Former F1 champion calls everything at Jeddah on Sunday absolutely wrong and urges not to make F1 a Hollywood show

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve called everything with the Saudi Arabian race wrong and asks F1 to stop the mockery.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race was an entertaining yet bizarre race, and with several F1 icons, it didn’t go well. The list includes the former world champion, Jacques Villeneuve.

The former F1 champion calls the Saudi Arabian GP as the rental karting, and according to him, there were several wrong things with the race. He also wondered whether F1 is becoming a “Hollywood show”.

“It wasn’t F1, it was rental karting,” he told Autosport. “Everything was wrong. So I’m not sure what to say. And it’s hard to stay neutral, it’s hard to give a comment on what happened every time and be perceived as being neutral.

“You will always be perceived as taking sides, and that’s when it becomes a bit too much. Do we want sport and good F1? Or do we just want a Hollywood show?”

“If you want a Hollywood show, today was amazing. But is that what F1 is all about? I don’t know. I mean, I think today Frank [Williams] would have turned in his grave, seeing this race.”

“And then when you see the team principals, everybody is shouting, and putting pressure even on the marshals and so on, that become ridiculous. It really has become ridiculous.”

“It was great for the fans. So that probably will increase the viewership. Which is great for F1. But we’re starting to get away from the sport, that’s all. So ultimately, it depends if you’re a purist or not.”

Also read: Red Bull wants to end the championship in non-controversial manner

Former F1 champion catches Lewis Hamilton’s manipulation

While talking further about Hamilton and Verstappen turn 1 incident, for which the Dutchman later had to yield his lead for going out of the track limits. Villeneuve contested that Hamilton hides his wrongdoings under the garb of good intentions.

“Max did go off and gain an advantage,” he said of the controversial Turn One passing incident. “On the other hand, his front wheels were ahead of the rear wheels of Lewis. And in the rules, it says if that happens, you have to give the right of way, which Lewis didn’t.

“So which rule should you follow at that point? Would Max have cut the corner had Lewis left enough room or not? That we will never know. Ultimately, yes, Max cut the corner, he probably wasn’t going to make it anyway.”
“But do you follow the rule to the letter, or the intention? That’s when it becomes very difficult to stay neutral. They all play these little tricks normally.”
“When Lewis does them, he does them in a way that there’s always the doubt whether he did it on purpose or not. It was the same way against [Nico] Rosberg. When Rosberg did it, he got caught out and it looked dirty.”

“When Lewis was doing it was he didn’t do it on purpose, it’s clean. And he’s a master of that and he’s amazing at that, of course.”

Also read: Max Verstappen feels it is ‘unfair’ that Lewis Hamilton wasn’t investigated for the same incident for which he himself was penalised

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Jacques Villeneuve Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Mercedes Red Bull

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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