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It is time for Ferrari to make Lewis Hamilton its number-one driver in the 2026 Formula 1 title battle, Jacques Villeneuve believes.
After struggling early on at the Scuderia, Hamilton has enjoyed his best results by far in the last three rounds, taking second in Canada and Monaco before winning on merit at Barcelona.
Before this, the seven-time world champion lay only fifth in the drivers’ standings, but he has now leapfrogged Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and George Russell to second place and reduced his deficit to leader Kimi Antonelli from 49 to 41 points.
Villeneuve has been among Hamilton’s most outspoken critics. Last December, he stated that the Briton won many world titles in overly dominant machinery and against weaker team-mates, which allegedly explained his underwhelming performance at Ferrari.
“A lot of championships were won against a team-mate, and there was no real battle really. The one fight he did have was against Nico, and he lost,” Villeneuve then told the High Performance podcast.
Jacques Villeneuve
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
“Now he goes to Ferrari and has to get back into fighting ways, and it looks like he got used to the easy years. It’s hard to get the diesel going again if you back off a bit, take it easy, or start thinking it’s easy. Once you start believing you’re untouchable, you slow down.”
Six months later, Villeneuve’s outlook on Hamilton’s prospects is quite different. The 1997 world champion believes the 40-point gap to team-mate Leclerc is enough for Ferrari to stop treating both drivers equally.
“Lewis knows how to win, and he knows what it takes. And if he gets a sniff of it, there won't be any quarters,” he told Sky Sports’ The F1 Show podcast. “I think that's where he can make the difference.
“Mercedes right now is not in a position to be even able or allowed to choose a driver over another. Ferrari is, because Ferrari has to focus on Lewis if they want a small chance of winning. So the decision is easy to make, because Leclerc is quite far back.”
Villeneuve doubled down on his criticism of Leclerc, reckoning the Monegasque – currently in his eighth season at Maranello – was given “too much too soon” by Ferrari and wasn’t prepared to cope with Hamilton’s revival.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
“Leclerc had time to build the team around him and he didn't,” Villeneuve added. "Bear in mind how he came into Ferrari after an average season at Sauber, and suddenly giving the huge mega contract, like a world champion contract… Maybe too much too soon?
"He's never really had to build anything around him. It was given, it was there. He was quick and that was plenty because the perception was, that's a car that cannot win a championship anyway. You win a few races, you beat your team-mate, which was [Sebastian] Vettel. Everybody was happy.
"Then suddenly in comes Lewis, last year, who's not having a great season. He's really having a hard time with the car, the team – it takes time to build this around yourself – so Leclerc is quite happy. He's looking good next to Lewis.
"But the minute Lewis woke up, the minute Lewis made that car and that team his own and he's going for it and doesn't leave any quarter, Leclerc is not prepared for that."
Fred Vasseur doesn’t like that questionSo, will Ferrari now focus its attention on Hamilton? This is a slightly novel situation for the Scuderia, which hasn’t been a genuine title contender since 2018 – and certainly is unprecedented for team principal Fred Vasseur, who took the reins of the squad ahead of the 2023 campaign.
Vasseur was asked about this scenario following Hamilton’s Barcelona triumph, albeit in slightly more ambiguous terms: “If at any point he were to be in a position to fight for that eighth title of his, is Ferrari in a position to give him everything in this season itself?”
With at least 15 grands prix remaining in the 2026 season, the Frenchman was understandably coy. “I'm not sure that I want to reply to this kind of question,” he retorted. “I had probably the same comments two weeks ago, that everything was a disaster, and now we are speaking about the world championship. This is the worst approach that I could have.
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images
“The approach is to go to Austria exactly with the same approach that I had in Barcelona and not to think about the championship or to project yourself with 25 more wins, what I could do… I will never do it.”
As far as Leclerc is concerned, when asked about Hamilton’s victory, he simply pledged to return to form swiftly. The longtime Ferrari driver crashed out of the Monaco GP – which he blamed on brakes – and out of Barcelona GP qualifying, before suffering a suspected hydraulic issue in the Spanish race.
“I mean, it's great for the team, it's great for Lewis,” Leclerc said. “The team has been pushing massively to bring upgrades and it seems to be working fine. So now I've got to be with him up there, which hasn't been the case since Canada.”
Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren and Livia Veiga
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