Jacques Villeneuve has suggested that Lewis Hamilton is not driving at the "maximum of his potential" after his strongest performance at the Canadian GP.
Jacques Villeneuve has suggested that Lewis Hamilton is not driving at the "fullest of his potential" after his strongest performance at the Canadian GP.
The seven-time world champion stood on the podium for the first time since the season opener in Bahrain and also finished ahead of his teammate George Russell for the second time in 2022.
Despite this, Villeneuve believes that Russell would probably have qualified ahead of Hamilton had he not risked the slicks with the track still wet at the end of qualifying.
"He definitely had the pace (to overtake Hamilton)," Villeneuve said on the podcast .
"Lewis was still a little bit discouraged, he needs to start well to stay motivated, to be in 100 percent form. This year, you get the impression that he hasn't been driving to his full potential."
Villeneuve feels that Hamilton's comments at the start of the Spanish GP - where he seemed to suggest he should abandon after dropping to the last positions due to an incident on the first lap - reflect a different approach than that of Max Verstappen, his 2021 rival.
"He said 'well, let's stop and save the engine.' He didn't want to continue, and at the end of the day he went ahead and was competitive. So I think that was the difference with Max last year. Max is on 100 percent all the time, Hamilton is not."
"However, he stayed ahead of his teammate and got on the podium (in Canada). Yes, he had extreme pace. Why didn't he have that speed earlier in the season? Because, obviously, he has the ability to do that."