Former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve believes there is a rift between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
Lewis Hamilton has had a dramatic downfall since losing the championship to Max Verstappen. The latter overtook Hamilton after the safety car ended to become the new world champion.
Since then, Lewis Hamilton has not spoken about the incident with the media. Besides, Jacques Villeneuve believes this silence is an indication that Hamilton is distancing himself from Toto Wolff.
The 1997 World Champion believes that there is a fallout between Hamilton and Toto Wolff. The Briton signed a two-year extension with Mercedes last year, but things are not going well inside the paddock.
Toto Wolff has damaged his image – Villeneuve
Toto Wolff might just have damaged his reputation after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Villeneuve explained: “I interpret his silence as a way of distancing himself from Wolff.”
Villeneuve believes that Toto threw tantrums after losing the championship and it did not go well with Hamilton. Adding to this, he stated: “For me, he [Wolff] has damaged his image.”
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Jacques Villeneuve believes that there are other things going on in Hamilton’s mind right now. One of the reasons for distancing from Wolff is that Hamilton is sensitive to this issue.
Secondly, per him, Hollywood pleasures in America are one of Hamilton’s aims in the future. Comments from his boss are doing no favour for the seven times world champion to stay at Mercedes for long.
Lewis Hamilton is tired and the scars have not healed
The 1997 World Champion believes that Hamilton’s scars of Abu Dhabi have not healed yet and he is a ‘bit tired’ due to this. Taking sights from back-to-back championships after Nico Rosberg’s retirement, the Canadian expressed his concern over Hamilton’s 2021 loss.
He stated: “He thought he could easily break records and that wasn’t the case. Then when you lose a title like that. It’s as if you had a diamond in your hand, and then it’s taken away from you.”
Villeneuve concluded by stating: “It hurts much more than if Verstappen had led the whole race.”