Jacques Villeneuve ‘didn’t want to be proven right’ with Daniel Ricciardo criticism

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve didn’t take any satisfaction in being proven right about his criticism of Daniel Ricciardo following the latter’s axing.

Ricciardo was dropped by RB after the Singapore Grand Prix following another difficult weekend.

The decision to ditch him mid-season effectively ended Ricciardo’s F1 career, with the driver since confirming he has zero interest in returning to the sport with Cadillac.

Villeneuve was a vocal critic of Ricciardo, particularly during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

On duty as a pundit for Sky Sports F1 in Montreal, Villeneuve questioned why Ricciardo was still competing in the sport.

The former Williams driver said: “Why’s he still in F1? Why?

“We are hearing the same thing now for the last four or five years. ‘We have to make the car better for him.’ Sorry, it’s been five years of that. No, you are in F1.

“Maybe you make that effort for Lewis Hamilton, who’s won multiple championships. You don’t make that effort for a driver who can’t cut it.

“If you can’t cut it, go home, there’s someone else to take your place. That’s how it’s always been in racing; it’s the pinnacle of the sport.

“There’s no reason to keep going and to keep finding excuses. And you all talk about that first season or first two seasons—he was beating a Vettel that was burnt out, that was trying to invent things with the car to go win and just making a mess of his weekends.

“Then he was beating, for half a season, Verstappen when Verstappen was 18 years old, just starting—that was it. He stopped beating anyone after that.”

Ricciardo hit back at the Canadian later in the weekend, admitting he was disappointed by the criticism, particularly as Villeneuve was a successful F1 driver himself and should empathise with the situation.

However, Ricciardo’s form didn’t improve, and Liam Lawson ultimately took his place alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the remainder of the season.

Villeneuve reflects on Ricciardo criticism

With Ricciardo’s F1 career now over, Villeneuve’s criticism appeared justified.

However, Villeneuve doesn’t view the end of Ricciardo’s time in F1 as vindication for his comments.

“It never crossed my mind that I wanted to be proven right. It got a lot of reaction, a lot of negative and some positive,” he told Sportscasting.

“It got a lot of people discussing the subject openly. It's not a question of destroying someone, but you have to look at reality. I think people realised, ‘Okay, Jacques has a fair point, let’s discuss it in depth,’ and that happened. That’s what I’m happy about.

“My feelings wouldn’t be any different if Daniel Ricciardo stayed at Red Bull. I’m not saying, ‘Oh, I’m happy now he’s left F1.’ I’m just glad to have brought reality to the fore.

“Daniel still has a great image and a great career; it hasn’t done him any damage. It was just a conversation about the racing industry, which has got a bit sidetracked about what is important. It was a case of saying what everybody was thinking. It’s not about me feeling vindicated about him being out of F1 or not.

“When you do punditry, you just try to talk about what is pertinent. It doesn’t mean you’re right, and it’s hard to be neutral, no matter how hard you try. We all have feelings which come out. You want to make sure you give enough food for thought and enough material to make sure discussions happen. That’s what I’m glad about.”