Jacques Villeneuve doubts Alonso’s return to McLaren F1

An attentive observer of the top discipline, the 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve shared his thoughts on certain subjects, beginning with the transfers of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. While he remains convinced that the German needed a change of scenery, he doubts that immediate victory will be possible for the Spaniard.

The two drivers will be in a better state of mind than this year. Vettel no longer had the spark at Red Bull. He was no longer considered the number 1 driver. Red Bull is not a family as one might believe; the team’s only interest is to promote their protégé on the front stage: that’s what happened with Daniel Ricciardo, and Vettel had no choice but to remain silent in Milton Keynes. Sebastian did well to leave; he no longer had the same support, explains the Canadian. At Ferrari, he will be able to have the expected support in a team that is rebuilding. Patience will be required because the results will not come in 2015, but the results should be on point in 2016.

Regarding Fernando Alonso, I’m not sure about his choices. He needed a breath of fresh air because he joined Ferrari to win, but it went wrong. Unfortunately, Fernando was no longer the strong man at Maranello. The same thing happened when he had his first stint at McLaren; he wasn’t the strong man. For me, Fernando expresses himself much better on an F1 track than outside; he often used Twitter and the Internet in the past, but Ferrari, as a historic team, doesn’t like those methods. Ferrari is more used to protecting its drivers when things go wrong. Ferrari is more of a family than Red Bull; just look at how they handled Kimi’s situation, he explains.

Villeneuve highlights the central question since 2014 of the hybrid turbo engine in the “McLaren-Honda-Alonso” equation: « McLaren had the best engine available, but they failed to compete with Williams, sometimes Force India was close with a smaller budget. Does this mean there is a problem? And what about the Honda engine in all this, will it be able to be a competitive power unit? It’s a tradition in Japan to build good turbo engines, but building a V6 is another matter. Ferrari and Renault made excellent turbo engines in the ’80s, but who is winning in engine design today? It’s Mercedes that knows best how to exploit the hybrid part. Honda is an unknown in the field. What will Alonso be able to do in this context? Hard to say, but thank God they kept Jenson Button at Woking; so Jenson’s experience will be helpful to solve problems very quickly. Honda can afford to wait to reconnect with success, while Alonso is in a hurry and wants to win immediately ».

Gilles Villeneuve’s son delved deeper into the situation at the Mercedes team – which is emerging from a historic season where it won its first constructors’ title and where Lewis Hamilton claimed the drivers’ title, the first since Fangio in 1955. The Quebecer does not rule out the idea of Mercedes leaving F1 if the team wins more world championships: « It’s not out of the question given that they will have achieved their goals. Even in the 50s when they dominated F1, they left. Just look at Audi in the 24 Hours of Le Mans: their presence no longer makes sense because after an incredible series of victories, if Audi starts losing, people will talk about it. I think it’s better to leave as a winner. It wasn’t their power unit that made Mercedes win in 2014, it was the fact that they had the best car and the two best drivers in the paddock. They had all the conditions to dominate this season, and they did. It will be difficult to find a balance between Nico and Lewis as the latter’s contract ends in 2015. »

His view on today’s F1 is different; it’s an F1 that no longer makes him dream: « This season the championship was exciting, even though there was a lack of noise. F1 cars no longer seem as complicated to drive as they used to be. Verstappen does 10 laps and he’s considered a talented driver. Look at Susie Wolff managing to hold her own; it seems anyone can drive an F1 car. When my father was driving an F1, it was more complicated; they were considered heroes driving almost impossible machines. F1 moved me at that time, even though I came from the world of IndyCar. This F1 doesn’t excite me; the cars are slow ».

While the FIA has modified the conditions for granting the Super License—setting the minimum age for obtaining it at 18—the former Williams and BAR driver would like to be more radical: The minimum age should be 21. You should only have access to F1 if you have won something, if you possess significant experience.

This is not a category to learn F1. Max Verstappen is an abuse. Does Red Bull realize they are putting a kid in an F1? I do not doubt that he is talented, but he has no experience. I arrived in F1 when I was 25 after winning in IndyCar, so I had a wealth of experience that Max does not have. Before fighting in life, you have to learn how to fight. That is not the purpose of F1, he believes. Yes, he has made headlines in the press, but the impact has not been what Red Bull wanted. For the image of F1, seeing a 17-year-old driver start is a negative message. I think this time the media impact will not be as positive as you think, he concluded.