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Lewis Hamilton’s resurgence at Ferrari in 2026 has led Jacques Villeneuve to blast F1 fans for calling for him to retire last season.
Hamilton will probably be the first to admit that his first year with Ferrari was a disaster. It was the first year that he did not score a podium, and many believed that the Brit might quit F1 at the end of the season.
Bernie Ecclestone told Hamilton to retire, as he was worried that fans would forget his success if he stayed at Ferrari. Ralf Schumacher and F1 fans agreed that Hamilton should retire, but the seven-time champion has proved people wrong in 2026.
Lewis Hamilton is now only missing a Grand Prix pole position for Ferrari 🏆 Predict when it will come?
Jacques Villeneuve did not understand people calling for Lewis Hamilton to retire
The regulation changes have certainly benefited Hamilton, but Ferrari’s change in approach has been even more successful. The 41-year-old changed his race engineer, brakes and was allowed more influence over the car.
Fred Vasseur highlighted Hamilton’s tireless work behind the scenes to improve his fortunes, and it is all coming together in 2026. He won his first race for Ferrari in Barcelona and is now 41 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
He has silenced any doubts about his ability and whether he should stay in F1. Villeneuve could not understand the chatter around Hamilton last year, blasting fans via The F1 Show.
“I was always of the opposite thought. Why retire?” he said. “I don’t understand this concept of, ‘Oh, it’s too late. He has to retire. Poor him.’
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“If the fire is still there, why retire? Just because people want to remember a champion at his peak, and suddenly there’s a bad or two, and it hurts them, not the driver, not the sportsman himself.
“It hurts them as a fan, and they don’t want to see their hero failing. So in their mind, ‘Oh, he should retire so we can keep him at his top.’ But they’re not the sportsman. They don’t understand what’s going on.
“So you get there, you get a chance to drive with the biggest team, to rebuild it. And you’re all still making, what, 40, 50, 60 million a year. Why should you retire?
“He wasn’t running last. He wasn’t qualifying last. He was still out there giving his best. The best wasn’t good enough last year because it didn’t work out with his engineer, with the team, and it’s a very selfish sport.
“He took his time, and then he became a little bit more forceful. Changed his engineer, changed his brake, got the car to where he wanted it to win. Uh so he’s proven that all these naysayers were wrong.”
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Jacques Villeneuve draws comparisons to people doubting Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes
The 1997 F1 champion highlighted that people were saying the same thing about Hamilton when he left McLaren for Mercedes. Just like he is doing now with Ferrari, he transformed the Silver Arrows and turned them into a winning machine.
Villeneuve added: “The same thing was said when he moved to Mercedes. A lot of people, ‘Oh my god, why would he leave McLaren? OK, he sold his soul. He went for the money,’ whatever.
“And look, few years, built the team around himself and started winning. And that’s kind of what he’s done at Ferrari. So always be careful with the fans’ perspective because it’s a very selfish thought about wanting your hero to not falter.”
Hamilton gave a speech in the Ferrari garage after the Barcelona-Catalunya GP, imploring his team to keep pushing and make more steps forward. He has put himself right in the title picture, and Ferrari are closing the gap to Mercedes.
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