Former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Mercedes need to win a title without Sir Lewis Hamilton. The German outfit won the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles for the past seven seasons. Out of those seven Drivers’ titles, Hamilton has won six, adding to his first achieved with McLaren back in 2008. “Mercedes may have received its ultimate media backlash; winning again with or without Lewis doesn’t do much,” he said in response to a question from Motorsport.com at the Canal+ motorsport season launch conference. “Having Lewis in the car, yes, it brings them a lot but [at the moment] we’re more in a position where it’s Lewis’ image that’s growing and not Mercedes’ image that seems to be growing. That’s the perception. What would really help Mercedes’ image is to win with a driver other than Lewis Hamilton.” After starting 2021 without a contract in place, Mercedes and Hamilton did eventually strike a deal, though it was only for one year. “Clearly the two parties did not agree, whether it was financial or social issues, from what we understand, Lewis wanted to work less and less and get paid more and more, generally it doesn’t work together this way,” Villeneuve explained.
Source: PlanetF1/ *Join us on Telegram!/ Follow us on Twitter!