F1 News
Villeneuve sees no other winner in '24: "Odd's are in his favour"
"The odds are very much in Max's favour," claims Jacques Villeneuve, Formula 1's 1997 world champion. And it's hard to argue with him. Heading into the final three races of the 2024 F1 season, Max Verstappen is 62 points ahead of his nearest competitor Lando Norris. All the Dutchman needs to do in Las Vegas to secure his fourth consecutive world title is finish ahead of the British driver.
Villeneuve expects Verstappen championship
"Verstappen winning in Vegas, that's a good place to do it if he does!" Villeneuve told Grosvenor Sport. "It's an exciting place to win it. He's just got to go get around and finish. If he does win in Vegas, he'll be a very deserving champion." Verstappen started the season with four wins in the first five races, but since then, the Red Bull hasn't looked as competitive as it used to. Despite this, Verstappen still took a further four race wins but went 10 straight races without a Grand Prix victory.
Villeneuve continued, "The odds are very much in Max's favour. He's just got to go get around and finish. If he does win it in Vegas, he’ll be a very deserving champion. No issues there. It will still have been a great championship. And it was already unexpected to have someone bring the fight to Red Bull and to Max. Whatever happens till the end of the season, it will still have been a great championship and a good battle. And whichever of the two wins, they’ll be a deserving champion."
Villeneuve critical of rules
The FIA's stewards have been under scrutiny in the last few races after Norris and Verstappen were penalised at the US Grand Prix and the Mexican Grand Prix respectively. In Brazil qualifying, Verstappen was furious with the stewards after they took 45 seconds to throw the red flag after Lance Stroll's crash, allowing some drivers time to complete their laps but the Dutchman was denied the chance to complete his.
Villeneuve, however, said that Verstappen knowing the edges of the rules is what will win him his fourth championship, but was also critical of the rules. "In June Max was so far ahead, that we thought this is going to be a boring championship, and then Max drove to the rules; maximized the rules. They are very difficult rules to write because it's never black and white. There's always a grey area and you have different marshals for every race. So, you have a different decision made on the same action, race after race. The drivers don't even know if they'll get penalised or if the other driver will get penalised for the same action. That makes it very complicated.”
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