Villeneuve: "No More Warriors in Formula One!"

Jacques Villeneuve revealed the reasons why he doesn't consider Formula One such an exciting sport anymore. The 1997 F1 champion argued that the “warriors era” is gone and that the drivers currently battling for the world title “don't hate each other” like they used to. The lack of rivalries inside the sport is a true argument for its decline over the past few years, said Villeneuve.

“The problem with formula one is that there are no more warriors,” said Villeneuve for German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, while also naming Fernando Alonso as the only successor to still have that combative spirit inside the sport.

“Alonso is one (a warrior), but who else is there? These days no-one says anything unless a PR person has told them they are allowed to. There are no more fights.”

“I realized it last year, when Massa was fighting Hamilton for the title; you didn't get the impression that these guys want to win so badly that they hate each other. It was different with myself and Michael Schumacher or Eddie Irvine,” argued the Canadian driver.

He also believes a lot of one driver's personality is taken away by the PR stuff around the sport, as the competitors have to carefully check their statements when in front of a camera. Everything says the right stuff and does the right things for the sponsors' sake, and that's something Villeneuve is not very fond of.

“I think you always have to be yourself in everything you do, but I am not sure this is the case with all the drivers of today. I remember in 1992 when I was driving F3 in Japan, I got an offer to go to Indycars but they said I had to change my helmet design to the colors of the sponsor. I said 'forget it, I'll stay here'. The people around me shook their heads, but I didn't care. Two years later I went to Indycars anyway, with my own helmet!” added the former Williams & BAR driver.