The Jacques Villeneuve Q&A

Ahead of his appearance on Sky Sports F1 this weekend in Canada, Jacques Villeneuve opens up on the new type of F1 and the current generation's standard of driving, reveals who he regards as the best driver in the sport, and explains why he rates Jenson ahead of Lewis...

1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve will be part of the Sky Sports F1 team at this weekend's Canadian GP. Just to warm him up ahead of his Sky Sports debut, we sat Jacques down with some invited members of the press corps last week to answer questions about commentating, the start of the 2012 season and what he thinks of the new-type F1. As you might expect, the answers were typically forthright and incisive... Jacques, can I start by asking you what you think of the new look Formula 1 because in some quarters it is coming under some criticism, saying there is too much variety, maybe the tyres are not predictable. Do you like the Formula 1 you've seen this year?
Jacques: "I am not a huge fan, there's things I like and things I don't, but I guess that's the case for everybody and everything in life - not everybody will always be happy. But I am not a huge, huge fan right now." Could you explain why?
Jacques: "Because it is too unpredictable on the tyre front. There is very little the drivers can do, the tyres just suddenly disappear and that doesn't seem to be to the level that F1 should be at. There have been some races this year where in the space of one lap the tyres just disappear and that is a little bit wrong, it should be more gradual." In your experience is that an easy thing to fix or does it take a long while to change tyres and the compounds and what have you?
Jacques: "Well I don't think they are trying to fix it so I think everybody is happy because they keep saying that's what the FIA wanted so I guess that's what they are going to say. It does make the races unpredictable and I'm sure that a lot of people will actually love that. It just depends what you actually want to watch when you watch F1 at home." Would you say the best drivers are still going to come out on top? We have had six different winners in six races but people would say with Fernando there at the top, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis, so it is still a test of the best drivers and teams and at the end of the season you're confident we'll see the best guy win the Championship?
Jacques: "Ultimately the best guys always end up at the top somehow - the best teams, the best guys, whatever the difficulties or the situations. The way it is now, some of the races will be a little bit odd so it will have an effect on who is champion, but the top three guys will be at the top. "What seems to be an issue as well is the tyres are very track-temperature dependent and from a change of three to four degrees of temperature some guys will suddenly go fast and some guys that were fast will go slow. There is very little that can be done in the set up to prevent that and so some teams and drivers that may be mediocre or average will end up running at the front because suddenly it turns and there is nothing that the good teams or drivers can do because the tyres have just changed and that's what is wrong, I think." But is it not a good thing that while the races are unpredictable and it is exciting therefore for fans to see some of the midfield teams at the top, the point is that at the end of the season the best and most consistent guys will eventually, the cream will rise to the top?
Jacques: "It is always fun to see an underdog beat the establishment but, as I said, it is something that happens once in a while. Now it seems to be almost a constant and why would you want a midfield and not the best to win? In any sport in the world, it is not logical. The best should win." You had a very similar rookie year to Lewis Hamilton and you went on to win a Championship, Lewis went on to win one. Are you surprised he hasn't gone on to take another Championship yet and do you think he has had a similar experience to you?
Jacques: "I don't know. I did change team when everything went wrong so that is different. He is still in the team where he is protected, the team which gave him the Championship and he is still fast. I have never really known him personally so I really don't know how he has evolved psychologically and what could have happened through those years but obviously it has had an effect, something has happened. "His driving has changed, every year it seems to be a little bit different, either his drive or his passion, something changes every year - it comes back, it goes away, so that's a little bit strange. We don't seem to get a constant." As a driver, is there some way you can find consistency?
Jacques: "I didn't mean consistency on the track, I meant consistency on how he wants it and what he wants, how he works I guess. If you take Jenson, every year it's the same thing, the same guy, the same motivation and when the car's good he works at it and so on. It seems to be hit and miss with Lewis, that's all, it doesn't seem to be always the same goal year after year." If you were his manager would you advise him to move on from McLaren this year?
Jacques: "I don't think the management has a huge effect on the decisions, ultimately. You are World Champion, you've made your career, it's rare that it will be the management making the decisions." Who do you think is the best current driver in Formula 1?
Jacques: "I have always been a big fan of Alonso because whatever the situation, whatever the car, whatever happens, he is always there fighting and minding his own business. He is there to race, he has worked hard to get to F1, it wasn't given to him on a silver platter and whatever the situation he always - or most of the time - comes out in a winning way compared to the equipment he has. You could see that when he was at Renault, you can see that at Ferrari." And who do you think is the better driver at McLaren team and why?
Jacques: "At McLaren, I would say Jenson is more complete. Lewis is slightly quicker in qualifying although Jenson has been in front sometimes but it is not qualifying that wins you the Championship. Ultimately there have been a lot of drivers through the years who could do a quick lap but that's not what being a Formula 1 driver means. "Lewis is very quick in the races as well so they are both extremely talented, I just believe in the whole picture, everything that it takes to be a Formula 1 driver, Jenson has a little bit more of everything. It balances out." You had some great battles with Michael Schumacher over the years, a two part question: what do you make of his come-back, do you think he was right to do it and if you were offered a drive would you do so?
Jacques: "Of course he was right to do it. He is having the time of his life, he is driving Formula 1 cars and he is paid to do it so why shouldn't he do it? He is having a blast and he is really quick this year. He has been super competitive and somehow he has had an appalling season in the sense of luck. "When you look at Barcelona I was surprised that he got penalised and not Senna so when things start going wrong like that there is very little you can do but he was definitely right to do it because you can see that he still has the drive and the passion and that's what matters." Talking about Michael, do you think he has got a chance in Canada? People are saying the Mercedes will be very quick there with strong DRS and the fact that there are such high speed straights in Canada, do you think the circuit characteristics will suit him?
Jacques: "Definitely a stagger should suit them car-wise but then again the track temperature will have an effect on the tyres and quick cars might end up being slow and so on. But the lay-out should really suit the way their car is working, and he seems to like the car this year - he seems to be able to drive aggressively with it which he couldn't do in the previous years." Do you miss Formula 1 and the competition?
Jacques: "I miss racing full time, yes, definitely. Not Formula 1 in itself, all the politics that go with it, no. But sitting in a car, driving at those speeds and racing them, definitely." Do you think being the rebel, sort of the bad boy, cost you in terms of your careers and longevity of your career?
Jacques: "I think being faithful cost me ultimately. I have never thought of myself as a rebel because rebel means you just go against the establishment for the sake of it and that's not what I was doing. I never played the political game and I always said what I thought and that didn't always please so it probably cost a bit. But, ultimately, it was just having a few bad years after winning the Championship, that's what was really costly mainly." Jacques, you still need the Le Mans to win the Triple Crown, is it something you would still be keen to try and do?
Jacques: "That would be great, yes, to get the Triple Crown that would be great but Le Mans is the kind of race where there are one or two teams only that can win it and normally as an outsider, unless you are part of that family forever, it is really hard to get invited to do it so I'll just have to wait until there is the opportunity to be in a good car to do it. But even then it is a little bit of a roll of the dice, you know. You never know how it is going to end up, it is a very long race but it would be fun to accomplish that, definitely." Just going back to that question about the bad boy and the bad boy attitude, what do you think of the current crop of drivers?
Jacques: "Well you don't actually hear them, you don't hear anything. You always get the same answers from everyone. Apart from a couple - apart from Michael, Alonso, maybe one or two others - you could put anyone in the car and nobody would see a difference and that's very sad. "There's something in the new product that's a little bit strange with what they think is respectful driving and what isn't and there seems to be very little common sense going on there on the racetrack." Could you give us some examples?
Jacques: "Well all this weaving and blocking evidenced in the straight line and everybody just uses the one-move rule without realising when it is too late to actually move and cross over and when it is actually being dangerous. Basically there is no respect amongst them there and they do things that you would see in Formula 4 and that should never happen in Formula 1. "If you have a chat with them about it, they don't even realise it so there seems to be very little common sense but then ultimately it is also down to the stewards who don't seem to punish that or, when they do, they punish it the wrong way round. It is just lucky that nothing has happened in the way it has happened in GP3 in Monaco because it is bound to happen again, the way they've been driving, it's crazy." You mean there is going to be a big accident?
Jacques: "Well everybody has fallen asleep on the fact that F1 is dangerous, they all think it's a video game and it's not. It is very, very dangerous and it's tough, when you see Bruno Senna in Barcelona, he is not in the same race, he is going appallingly slow and he is blocking guys who are fighting for the points, that is just not intelligent driving for starters but secondly, when you do a little twitch down the straight, that is just wrong." Does this need more regulation or do the drivers need educating?
Jacques: "A mixture. Well not more regulation because the regulations are there, it is just for the stewards to do their job properly because the regulations are there. There are things that you are not supposed to do and it doesn't include the one move rule, the one move rule is something else so you don't get back on the line so the regulation to not do that is there, it's just that there is something in the general mentality that has just appeared. "I think in the years when F1 was dangerous, 20 or 30 years ago, they all risked, the risk of dying was very high so the drivers just didn't do that to each other, there was that extra respect, there was common sense and also there was a bunch of drivers who worked hard to get into racing. They weren't racers at 12-years-old being told all their life and the financing there in place for them to race, they had to sweat for it, they weren't little daddy boys like you have now. So they are driving F1 and they are still children, they are still babies and they are kept like that." Are you therefore suggesting now it is too safe or that the drivers can take these risks with one another?
Jacques: "It is never too safe, that's not the issue. The problem is they don't realise how dangerous it can be so they haven't learned that respect and sometimes you see them drive the same as they would drive in a video game and it is just fun. It's down to sportsmanship and always respecting the opponents and that is not there, it's really strange." Is that because we haven't had the consequences of a bad accident for a good many years and people forget?
Jacques: "Totally. They seem to forget and then one day it will happen and there will be a bunch of new rules and that will be an overreaction when it happens." I am looking forward to seeing you commentating again, I've got to say. You've got some interesting fresh opinions.
Jacques: "Oh well, hopefully I won't make too many enemies!"