Villeneuve Blow Off

[Tony Holder]

Jacques Villeneuve has lashed out at the current crop of drivers, claiming that they treat F1 like a video game and lack common sense.
Villeneuve, whose father Gilles was killed following a crash in qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, believes that drivers nowadays do not have the same respect for their craft because safety improvements have made deaths - and even serious injuries - uncommon.

source

Is he right?

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I read the article this morning.
Although some of what he says makes sense, Villeneuve will always make a douchebag comment just before the Canadian GP. He seems to do it every year to get a bit of attention.

 

[Tony Holder]

I read the article this morning.
Although some of what he says makes sense, Villeneuve will always make a douchebag comment just before the Canadian GP. He seems to do it every year to get a bit of attention.

I feel he has an issue with the drivers of today...they can't drive in the rain....they have no respect anymore.....they are tooooo slow...... He does have a point though.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

True but had he retired from F1 through his own choice, he wouldn't be making these comments.
It's only because he was sacked off by BMW that he has this bitterness towards the sport.

 

[Bradley Vanian]

If someone such as Jackie Stewart, Mika Hakkinen or any other respectable F1 Driver said this, I would actual bother to think about it.

However, Jacques Villeneuve is the most undeserving world champion and he deserves no respect due to his attitude in motorsport in general. This is the 8th time in the last 12 months he has said something bad about F1.

I remember when he said Raikkonen didn't deserve to win the championship in 2007.
Oh, the irony.

 

[Ramon Alonso]

I like J.V. , but what he's saying I couldn't care less. Drivers today and F1 are what they are because of what happened in the past. Yes, years ago you needed talent and especially balls of steel to be an F1 driver, but guess what , nowadays we value human life more than back then. Don't go blame drivers, they are a product of the times. Chris Jenkins said it right when J.V. is looking for some attention.

 

[Omer Said]

I believe today's drivers are mostly great and professional. That is why we see much fewer accidents compared to the old times, i think. Also it's not so easy to find a seat unlike the old times.

Actually, how can Villenueve criticize drivers in this manner with plenty of stupid accidents he caused in his career.

 

[Thomas Dougherty]

You know, if he's so pissed off at Formula 1, why does he still watch it?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Heh, first forum I've been on today, that basically slaughters JV. Not often I find myself agreeing with the autosport-guys compared to other places, but this time I am.

I find JV talking quite a lot sense here. As we see in NASCAR, it's so "impossible" to be killed or injured these days that there are a lot of outright dangerous driving, racing game kind of driving. This gets clearer for each year that passes, with the new breed of young drivers coming up from lower classes. The driving gets a tiny bit more reckless for each year, until, one year it goes a bit too far. Then we get a shitload of knee-jerk reactions.

Uhm, I actually writes what JV says... It's the same thing I've said for a couple of years now.

And, I do get his point when it comes to the young drivers. They get pampered with from early age, when they reach F1, they still get pampered with, and they mature slowly.

 

[Lee Palmer]

"Lack Common Sense"

Ahem

 

[Lee Knight]

That is why we see much fewer accidents compared to the old times, i think.

I thought it would've been due to the way tracks have been sanitized & made 'safe' these days.
After all, even if it's the same venue that they raced at 10/20/30 etc years ago, they're definitely not the same tracks!

Actually, how can Villenueve criticize drivers in this manner with plenty of stupid accidents he caused in his career.

I've certainly got to agree with you there Omer!
Although I believe Villenueve does have a point there & not just in F1 & especially when it comes to normal every day drivers out there on the street in public away from racing!

 

[Yves Larose]

i have to say that its the media the problem here, JV have been saying that for years and even when he was in F1 so his opinion haven,t change thru the years. JV always speak whats its on his mind and the medias knows it so once or twice a year they go to him for an interview knowing that what he is going to say is going to make people react so to me medias just want to make a show nothing more.

as for the ones that saying that JV driving standard is questionnable you base your opinion on only when he was in F1 which is the smallest part of his carreer. i,ve seen him do things in his carreer that only exceptionnal and daring drivers can do, i remember one race at Montreal when he was in Formula Atlantic that still give me the goose bump. i also remember his first win in Indy cart which was simply amazing driving, then in his first year in F1 when they went to Estoril, everybody was saying that a past couldn't be made from the outside at the last long right hander and he said that they were doing it all the time in Indy cart and didn,t see why it couldn't be done in F1 and guess what he did during the race ? well he pass none other then MS from the outside at that final turn.

don't forget JV is like his father but JV is more technical then his father was but some times his true nature come to the surface and thats when you see the real true skills of JV but it also sometimes ends bad and sometimes not.

here's a little vid that show all the skills of JV

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

here's a little vid that show all the skills of JV

*snip the video*

I'm sorry Yves... but...

"Treat F1 like a video game" Ok wow JV so... great example you're putting here aren't cha...

Oh also let's not forget you missing T1 of Montreal then deciding to try to CUT BACK THROUGH THE GRASS instead of just cutting then letting Ambrose by... which NASCAR drivers have done to each other before at Montreal

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Well, 2011 wasn't a great year for a JV-fan, trust me.

However, it doesn't take anything away from what he says, he is completely right, Oh, I remember I was a bit puzzled on how the commentators was against JV after that Road America hit, biased? Nah.

EDIT: Not puzzled that they were critical to the move, but how darn critical they were. Usually, or, at least up til the Busch Brothers did their part in the last couple of races last year - they seemed to have a "anything goes" policy, that just didn't count when it came to JV.

 

[William Levesque]

I was so pissed when that stuff happened last year...

Hopefully it'll be back on the right track this year

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

However, it doesn't take anything away from what he says, he is completely right, Oh, I remember I was a bit puzzled on how the commentators was against JV after that Road America hit, biased? Nah.

EDIT: Not puzzled that they were critical to the move, but how darn critical they were. Usually, or, at least up til the Busch Brothers did their part in the last couple of races last year - they seemed to have a "anything goes" policy, that just didn't count when it came to JV.

Biased? Probably, NASCAR loves it when they see drivers from other series struggle in their series.

Probably too much name-calling sure, but doesn't change the fact that it was a very dumb move. As a Max Papis fan (say what you want about him failing in open wheel he is a beast in Grand-Am) I was immensely pissed when JV basically wiped him out by trying to pass cars on the grass.

You can argue JV lost it at Montreal and just didn't react quick enough. I can't see how anyone can defend JV ducking out only to realize that the road ends and that there's grass there. You'd figure a veteran like JV wouldn't look so amateur. Mark Skaife bashing JV in V8 Supercar is also fair game. That was an amateur spin too, that one you can't call biased because James Hinchcliffe actually called EJ Viso names for doing the EXACT same thing to him in 2011 at Barber in IndyCar. I'm sure other similar incidents has happened in international motorsports but the IndyCar example was what I can come up with off the top of my head as an indycar nut

 

[Dmitry Zaharov]

Never was his fan but what he speaks makes some sense. I think races like Spa'98 won't happen today. Watching some races from the near past makes me wonder if drivers like Hakkinen, Frentzen and Alesi had more courage and bigger balls than todays "professionals".

 

[Hampus Andersson]

He´s made sense since he first grabbed the Sky Sports mic in this event imo.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

He´s made sense since he first grabbed the Sky Sports mic in this event imo.

True. I think he's only a douchebag away from the camera. Not when people can challenge him.

 

[Ivan Navarro]

From Kimi interview:

Q: In Monaco you raced with the name James Hunt on your helmet. What did you see in him? Where do you see a connection between you? Soul mates?

KR: To cut a long story short, I like the times when he raced as I believe they had more fun than we have now. Would I have loved to race in those days? I not only cannot see into the future, I also cannot connect to the past. It is just that I believe the fun factor was higher, that’s all.

Komi thinks danger is fun! LOL