“The driver is just a passenger again. I don’t see the point. I don’t
understand what they’ve been trying to do with those rules. I know it’s the
concept of trying to make it look greenier because people will be happier,
but ultimately it’s not greener. It’s not F1. It’s just a perception, that
is destroying Formula One a little bit.
“If they can’t fix it, and I hope I’m wrong, it will damage F1, which is a
shame. The first test was a little bit complicated. It seems to be too
complex.”
The teams are battling with the most wide-ranging changes to the sport’s
regulations for a generation, with all-new turbo engines which make
extensive use of electrical energy.
Villeneuve, who will race for Dumfries-based Albatec in the first year in
which Rallycross has fully-fledged FIA world championship status, has never
been one to bite his tongue. After Michael Schumacher’s blatant attempt to
take him out in the title-deciding race in Jerez in 1997, the former Indy
500 winner joked: “Either Michael had his eyes closed or somehow his hands
slipped on the steering or something.”
But the Canadian’s latest comments echo those of the sport’s supremo, Bernie
Ecclestone, and he also expressed fears the cars will be too slow in 2014.
“It can’t be a good thing [the cars being slower]. The lap times [in
pre-season testing] were barely faster than what we did in 1997 in Jerez,
when the three of us got the same qualifying time. That’s 17 years ago. 17
years later and you’re not going faster, so it’s obvious something is wrong.
That’s not the way it should have gone. I’m not sure why it has become so
important to keep going slower.”
Unlike
his former team-mate at Williams, Damon Hill, Villeneuve was also
scathing in his criticism of the double points rule at the final race of
2014 in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s turning F1 into a non-epic show, or a game, instead of a proper sport.
In a way it’s saying, we’re losing fans, how can we make it fakely more
exciting?
“The new young fans, their interest span is five minutes on anything. They’ll
watch a little race of this, and a little bit of that, and then they’ll
check the internet for this, and then after two hours they’ve seen 10
things, and you cannot keep their interest for more than five minutes.
“F1 is trying to reinvent itself with a mixture of what it was before, and
that’s impossible”, Villeneuve concluded.