F1 needs more characters like Jean Alesi and Eddie Irvine and fewer “corporate robots” such as Mark Webber or Antonia Pizzonia, says 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.
F1 needs more characters like Jean Alesi and Eddie Irvine and fewer “corporate robots” such as Mark Webber or Antonia Pizzonia, says 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.
“The sport is short of characters,” the outspoken and often tempestuous BAR driver told this week. “These young, inexperienced drivers are so happy to be a part of it that they never say what they think.
“Losing Jean Alesi hurt the sport. If Eddie Irvine doesn’t find a drive next season that will hurt the business, too. It’s a bit sad.”
The fiery French-Sicilian Alesi retired at the end of the 2001 season to race for Mercedes-Benz in the German touring car series. The outspoken Irvine, who describes himself as the second best driver in F1 (next to Michael Schumacher), was fired from Jaguar Racing team at the end of the season. He has an outside chance of driving for Jordan next year, but still has no deal in place.
“F1 has become a corporate sport and corporations don’t want human beings driving, they want robots. Nobody sees the difference. They still see the same cars winning and that’s what they want,” said Villeneuve.
“What they don’t understand is that they won’t have any fans watching the racing if they keep doing that.”
Villeneuve, who does less corporate work than most of his fellow drivers, said Williams BMW ace Juan-Pablo Montoya was an exception. “But a lot of the other drivers haven’t even sweated to get into F1. All the other drivers are picked out of Formula Ford because the corporation thinks they will provide the personality it wants,” the Canadian said.
Villeneuve suggested that characters such as British rally driver Colin McRae or Italian motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi were the sort of people F1 needed.
Having had several run-ins with Michael Schumacher on and off the track over the years, Villeneuve also criticized Jaguar’s new line-up of Australian Mark Webber and Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia.
“Let’s be honest, even Colin McRae couldn’t do much worse than the drivers currently at Jaguar,” said Villeneuve.
But Webber, who was signed by Jaguar after a year at Minardi, was not intimidated by the 1997 World Champion’s opinion.
“I don’t know why Villeneuve’s having a pop at the young guys,” he said. “Perhaps he’s just been a bit short of publicity lately. We intend to prove him wrong next year and I’m sure we will.”