Jacques Villeneuve highlights what he found ‘odd’ about Ferrari’s approach to the Austrian Grand Prix

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Ferrari found themselves in no man’s land during the Austrian Grand Prix, even though their drivers finished in third and fourth place on track.

Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were unable to challenge the fighting McLarens because they were told to lift and coast by their engineers early into the race.

While drivers are normally instructed to lift and coast to save fuel and tyres early in a race, it is suspected that Ferrari were doing it to save wear on their skid blocks.

Ferrari was disqualified from the Chinese GP due to excessive plank wear, and now they are having to manage this until an upgrade arrives for the British GP that could fix the problem.

Speaking on his Instagram page, Jacques Villeneuve also pointed out one thing that he felt was ‘odd’ between the team and their drivers.

Jacques Villeneuve criticises Ferrari for ‘odd’ communication with drivers

Ferrari has been criticised for its radio messages over the season, notably either because of their vagueness and or for not listening to their drivers.

Hamilton got into a confrontation with his engineer, Ricciardo Adami, over a pit stop that he didn’t want to do at the end of the race. Villeneuve felt it was an odd moment for the seven-time world champion.

“That was a bit of a different race, obviously the McLaren was ahead of the opposition, but great battle from the two drivers. They fought it off from the last lap to the end, at some point they had to calm Piastri down a bit as he went overboard, but still a great show,” said Villeneuve.

“Ferrari in the hunt, both a good result. But once again the communication between the engineer and the driver, doesn’t seem to be on the right track. It was Leclerc in Montreal, Lewis Hamilton this time, this is a little bit odd.”

Jacques Villeneuve says Kimi Antonelli ‘should’ve known’ about Turn 3 after Max Verstappen crash

Max Verstappen is now over 50 points behind Oscar Piastri in the title race, after being crashed out of the Austrian GP after just three corners by Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

It was a rookie mistake from the Mercedes driver but Villeneuve felt he should have known about the uphill nature of the Red Bull Ring.

“Not a good day for Red Bull with Antonelli making a rookie mistake on Verstappen, he should’ve known about that hairpin on the first lap. He’s been here in F2, he knows that it slows down like this,” said Villeneuve.

“But even experienced drivers have made that mistake, so he will learn from that. Bortoleto did great, Lawson did amazing as well and that was a great battle with Alonso at the end. Great fight to keep that seventh position.”

Red Bull did not score any points at its home race after Yuki Tsunoda finished last, following a ten-second time penalty for a collision with Franco Colapinto.