Villeneuve believes 'Hamilton has gone stale'

'Lewis at Mercedes is now stale' 

Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013, and has won six Drivers Championships with the team, as well as eight Constructors. However, in February, the shock announcement came that the Brit would be leaving the team, which has seemed to have struggled since the 2022 regulation changes. This season, Mercedes currently sits in fourth in the championship, with Hamilton's teammate frequently outperforming him. In the Drivers championship, George Russell sits in seventh, whilst Hamilton sits 12 points behind in eighth. 

Nonetheless, Villeneuve can see why: "You get bored with the same taste over and over again. That taste for Lewis at Mercedes is now stale. Every driver has a preference with their car. Max will be quick in any car but he will be quicker in a car that suits him. Lewis is in the situation where the car is not doing what he is expecting it to, so he is always second guessing."

"There is always more thought process going into his driving which can leave you a thousandth of a second behind and that will make you just that little bit slower. It makes it very difficult to set the car up because you cannot pinpoint what the issue is. That is an issue that has developed over the past few years," he added.

Hamilton's results started to improve in China. The Brit finished second in the sprint race but made a key mistake in qualifying and started the Grand Prix towards the back of the grid. He made a good recovery drive to score two points in the Sunday race. From then on, Hamilton has finished inside the top seven, beating his teammates in Miami and Imola.