05/07/2011
NEWS STORY
Jacques Villeneuve admits to being left bored by contemporary F1, revealing that he just can't be bothered with it.
The very name Villeneuve sends a shiver down the spine of most F1 fans, be it the memory of the Canadian battling Michael Schumacher in the late 90s or the daring exploits of his legendary father in the Ferrari twenty years earlier.
Yet now, the 1997 world champion admits to being bored by the sport, lamenting the new rules which he claims are destroying it.
Yesterday, during a visit to Williams Grove HQ at which a legendary partnership with Renault was revived, the Canadian told Reuters why the sport he loved now leaves him cold.
"I don't watch the races any more. I'm done, for the first time ever," he admitted. "I just can't be bothered... halfway through the race I'm yawning and its really tough... and I just get upset. When I see these guys not even being able to defend, like Michael (Schumacher) - he should have been on the podium in Montreal."
Outspoken as ever, the former Indy Car champion and Indy 500 winner has is currently contesting a number of rounds of the NASCAR nationwide series with Penske Racing, an experience he clearly enjoys.
"It's so much fun. It reminds me of why I got into racing in the first place," he said. "You get in the car and you are there to do your race and nothing will get in the way of that, not regulations, nothing. It's amazing. It's human against human, beast against beast. It's great. You can muscle your way through, you can work around problems, I love it."
Regulations - as ever - are one of his bug bears, the Canadian, like many F1 fans, feeling that the constant changes - and subsequent tinkering - are stifling the sport.
"I really don't care to see overtaking with DRS," he admitted. "I prefer to see Lewis going for it and sometimes it ends in tears but at least it's fun. All the other overtaking with the DRS, I'm just falling asleep... useless, boring, it's not even racing.
"I don't understand why that thing is on an F1 car right now," he continued, clearly no fan of DRS. "People now think 'Oh, he's going to overtake me. Why bother?' And that's it. No excitement. Nothing."
And then there is the constant intervention of over enthusiastic stewards.
"F1 is giving penalties for people making mistakes instead of for people driving dirty," he complains, "and that is wrong. Mistakes happen. You run into each other, that's life, that's racing and too bad. Then you see a lot of weaving and nasty stuff happening and there's no penalties for that. That's where it's wrong.
"Lewis is racing very aggressively and he forgets to use his head once in a while so he ends up crashing into people," he continues, referring to the media's current 'bad boy'. "But that should not be stopped, it's racing. That's what you want to see: battles.
"If every time someone tries to do that there's a penalty, what's the point? You need to let the drivers go for it and if they bang wheels, too bad. It's fun, it's a good show, the fans are up in the grandstands and they can scream and shout about it... that's good, that's what you want."
Indeed, Jacques, it is what we want. But when did that matter - fans forum or no fans forum.