Jacques Villeneuve accuses overhyped F1 driver of ‘getting worse’ after spotting one big failure this season

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Jacques Villeneuve is never afraid to speak his mind, and the 1997 F1 champion has just taken aim at one driver who received “too much hype” before the 2025 season.

This term has seen a changing of the guard in multiple ways, with McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fighting for the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship. The Briton or the Australian may become the first F1 champion not called Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen since 2016.

Verstappen has now effectively thrown in the towel on retaining his title for a fifth season in a row. The Red Bull driver heads into his home race at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix trailing championship leader Piastri by 97 points, and Norris by 88, as he sits in a distant third place.

Jacques Villeneuve thinks Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli is ‘getting worse’

The 2025 F1 season also saw rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli replace Hamilton at Mercedes, as Toto Wolff opted to back one of their own to replace the seven-time champion as he moved to Ferrari. But Villeneuve thinks Antonelli was overhyped at the start, and is “getting worse”.

READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats

Villeneuve is adamant that Antonelli, who only turned 19 on August 25, needed to be on or at close to the levels of his Mercedes teammate George Russell by now. But the Italian will go into the Dutch GP with just 64 points to his name, compared to the Briton’s 172 this season.

Antonelli also did not have a clean return to action at Zandvoort on Friday after the summer break, which Villeneuve feels the Bologna boy needed to “reset”. First practice for the Dutch GP was red-flagged, as Antonelli locked up and beached his Mercedes in the Turn 9 gravel.

Villeneuve told Sky Sports News (30/08, 08:37): “[He] came in with a lot of hype, too much hype, and that hasn’t played in his favour.

“It’s been half a season. At that point, he should be on George’s level, or very close to it. That’s what Max did when he came in, Hamilton when he came in, and he hasn’t done that.

“It seems that the pressure is affecting him, and he’s not driving better. It’s actually getting worse as the season is going on. He needed the summer holiday to reset, and that hasn’t worked out.”

Toto Wolff admits Mercedes put Andrea Kimi Antonelli “under maximum pressure”

Antonelli enjoyed a record-breaking start to his Formula 1 career, but the wheels came off the wagon when the season arrived in Europe. After earning points in five of his first six Grands Prix, the Mercedes star only took points in two of the eight Grands Prix before the summer.

Additionally, only his one point for P10 in the Hungarian GP came in Europe, after Antonelli got his first F1 podium with P3 in the Canadian GP. He also retired in Imola (throttle), Spain (engine), Austria and Britain (crash), and was P18 in the Monaco GP after he crashed in Q1.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Mercedes F1 CEO and team principal Toto Wolff

Mercedes team principal Wolff has admitted at the Dutch GP that they put Antonelli “under maximum pressure” by naming the Italian as Hamilton’s replacement. The teenager running alongside Russell even ensured Antonelli’s results have been “under the magnifying glass”.

Wolff’s comments have tempted suggestions that it might have been better if Mercedes had delayed Antonelli’s graduation until 2027, at the earliest. But Villeneuve questions who else could have replaced Hamilton, as Mercedes always saw Antonelli eventually taking the seat.

Villeneuve said: “Who was he going to put in the car for one year? Who was going to sign the contract for one year? Toto has invested [a lot in Antonelli].

“It was decided years ago that Antonelli would be the future of Mercedes. Toto decided it [and] invested a lot of money into him.”