Jacques Villeneuve claims anyone could have won in Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes “He got used to the easy years”. F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve delivers a harsh critique of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari form.

An unrecognizable Lewis Hamilton. The driver who arrived at Ferrari in 2025 was arguably the worst version of Lewis Hamilton seen since his long Formula 1 journey began back in 2007. For the first time in his legendary career, the British champion failed to stand on a single podium. Furthermore, on nine separate occasions, he failed to even reach Q3 in qualifying—a staggering statistic for the absolute record holder of both career podiums (202) and pole positions (104) in the history of the sport.

The paddock is now buzzing with questions about what will happen in 2026. Many wonder if the new regulatory cycle might provide a lifeline for the seven-time world champion, specifically with the abandonment of the ground-effect cars that he has never truly managed to get to grips with.

The analysis of Jacques Villeneuve

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve analyzed Hamilton’s current predicament, taking a long-term view of his career trajectory. “He won many championships against his teammate where there wasn’t a real battle. The only real challenge he faced was against Nico Rosberg, and he lost it. Now at Ferrari, he needs to get back into combat mode, but it seems he got used to the easy years. Restarting a diesel is difficult if you slow down a bit. But once you think you’re untouchable, you slow down,” Jacques Villeneuve stated.

Jacques Villeneuve was asked to elaborate further on this provocative concept, specifically regarding the dominance of the Silver Arrows era. “His world titles were not difficult to win. The Mercedes was so far ahead that whenever things got a bit tougher, they just had to turn up the engine power. It was all there within reach. At that point, only a Mercedes could have won, practically with any driver on the grid,” the Canadian added.

This harsh assessment suggests that Lewis Hamilton’s current struggles aren’t just technical, but psychological. Villeneuve believes the years of absolute superiority may have blunted the edge of a driver who now finds himself in a much more competitive and unforgiving midfield battle, struggling to find the “fighting spirit” required to match his younger teammate, Charles Leclerc.

Jacques Villeneuve offers a blunt perspective on Lewis Hamilton’s decline, suggesting that the Briton’s record-breaking success was heavily dependent on Mercedes’ technical superiority rather than pure combat. According to the 1997 champion, the Briton’s transition to Ferrari has exposed a lack of “combat mode” after years of feeling untouchable in dominant machinery. As F1 moves toward 2026, the question remains whether Hamilton can successfully “restart the engine” or if the easy years have permanently altered his ability to fight at the very highest level of the sport.