Villeneuve picks his next victim: 'He was done a long time ago'

Sergio Perez had to leave Red Bull Racing due to his disappointing performances. Jacques Villeneuve told Action Network what the next step should be for the Mexican.

'Perez was done and then Red Bull took him'

"Sergio Perez should take the money and enjoy life. Endurance racing. F1 is done. He'll never get back. He was actually done and then Red Bull took him," said the Canadian.

Perez' performance did hit a peak, but according to Villeneuve, his best is long gone. "When Red Bull took him, that gave him a little spark, that gave him the hunger that made him (for a couple of years) go much better than he had been. Now it's extinguished."

Villeneuve earlier said of Daniel Ricciardo that he did not understand why the Australian was still in active in F1 and that he was better off staying at home. Afterwards, Ricciardo scored some strong performances in Miami that temporarily silenced Villeneuve. But in the end, the Australian's lack of consistency put him on the sidelines permanently, with Ricciardo even stating he 'was done' with Formula 1.

Max Verstappen was also a target of the one-time world champion who stated that if the Dutchman were to retire from F1 no one would care, contraty to the sentiments a potential Lewis Hamilton retirement from the sport would ignite.

In addition, Villeneuve gave his prediction about who the next driver to leave F1 would be. "[Yuki] Tsunoda will be the first driver to leave the grid. He’s only there because of Honda. At some point this will stop. And the writing is quite clear that this is his last season with the Red Bull family anyway. And I don't see any team wanting him unless there's a big Honda push," said the one-time world champion.

This article was written in collaboration with Sandy van Wijngaarden.

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