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Jacques Villeneuve feels Lewis Hamilton has had some “amazing races” in 2026, but the only thing the Ferrari driver can “rely on” to win the F1 title is out of his control.
Hamilton climbed up to second place in the standings after securing his second P2 finish in a row in Monaco last week, following his earlier P2 result in Canada. But the 41-year-old faces a 66-point deficit to Mercedes rival Andrea Kimi Antonelli after the first six of the 22 rounds.
Securing the silver spoon around the streets of the Principality put Hamilton onto 90 points, while Antonelli boasts 156 after sealing his fifth successive Grand Prix win. Antonelli has set a new record by taking five-straight wins for his first victories and will go for six in Barcelona.
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Hamilton is also enjoying his best run of results for 23 months, with his P2 finishes both also denoting his best results with Ferrari. The Briton fought Red Bull star Max Verstappen for P2 in Canada, and he was clearly the second-fastest driver at the Monaco GP behind Antonelli.
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But unless Antonelli starts to trip over his Mercedes teammate George Russell and Hamilton can pick up the pieces, then Villeneuve doubts a title tilt awaits the seven-time champion in 2026. Despite Hamilton being “on a roll”, he needs to hope for misfortune to hit his rivals.
Villeneuve said on Sky Sports F1 (12/6, 15:48): “Lewis has had two amazing races, but it still wasn’t enough to beat Mercedes in a straight fight.
“But what he can rely on is Russell fighting Antonelli [and] both going off, or that creates some issues, and beating them, and then getting the points. That’s what he can rely on.
“But, right now, he’s on a roll. He’s in a good place. He feels good. His car is working well. He’s aggressive…
“[Ferrari] are not far off, and you just need to start putting pressure on the driver for them to maybe start making mistakes, not driving in the zone, and losing a 10th or two a lap, and that’s enough to make the difference. And you start questioning your driving, and that’s it.
“Right now, Antonelli is on top of the world, and he’s driving like it, and he knows it, and he believes it. He’s got the world champion’s luck, and everything is going his way. It just takes one thing to go wrong, and maybe start doubting, and then he’s in the wrong spin.”
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Antonelli has been almost unbreakable since the 19-year-old capitalised on Russell suffering from reliability issues during qualifying in China back in round two. The Italian seized on the Briton’s misfortune to secure his first career F1 pole, and it set up his first Grand Prix victory.
Since then, luck has stayed with Antonelli as Villeneuve notes, with the Italian profiting from the timing of a safety car to win in Japan and he even inherited the lead of the Grand Prix in Canada after Russell retired. But luck played zero role in Antonelli’s dominant win in Monaco.
Hamilton tried to keep Antonelli honest after Verstappen suffered an instant reliability issue at the start of the Monaco GP. But the Italian never felt the Briton’s threat, as he continually opened a comfortable lead – including by 6.271 seconds over the final eight laps to triumph.
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