Jacques Villeneuve claims Lewis Hamilton has gone "stale" at Mercedes ahead of his move to Ferrari.
The Brit will call time on more than a decade with the team when he leaves to join the iconic Italian outfit. Hamilton's last year with the Silver Arrows is, so far, not going to plan with a fairytale ending looking unlikely as he struggles to extract the best from his car.
A sixth place finish is the best he's been able to manage this season with Hamilton struggling to find synergy with the Mercedes as his constant tweaks fail to yield the improvement he's seeking. Another underwhelming qualifying display in Canada underlined his frustration with Villeneuve suggesting there is little left in the tank where he is.
He said: "That taste for Lewis at Mercedes is now stale. Every driver has a preference with their car. Max will be quick in any car but he will be quicker in a car that suits him. Lewis is in the situation where the car is not doing what he is expecting it to, so he is always second guessing.
"There is always more thought process going into his driving which can leave you a thousandth of a second behind and that will make you just that little bit slower. It makes it very difficult to set the car up because you cannot pinpoint what the issue is."
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Whilst Hamilton is struggling team-mate George Russell has been able to find strong performance from the Silver Arrows. He will start on pole position in Canada as his qualifying dominance over his veteran colleague continues.
Hamilton has been outgunned by Russell eight times in nine races so far this season with Villeneuve now adamant that the former Williams man has been a better performer across the two and a bit years he's been alongside the seven-time world champion.
Ferrari will welcome Lewis Hamilton from 2025 (Getty)He said: “To be honest that started the first season George was there and had the upper hand on Lewis. George has been a better driver than Lewis since he arrived there. Lewis has won so much and when you’re not winning it can be dull and frustrating. The same thing happened when Ricciardo joined Vettel."
Hamilton bemoaned his pace on Saturday in Canada as he said: "The car was feeling great all weekend and as soon as we got to qualifying, that kind of vanished for me.
"The grip just disappears for me. P3, I had plenty of pace in me, and then get to qualifying and the tyres won't work. Nothing had changed on the car."
Team boss Toto Wolff added: "We can't comprehend at the moment why it wasn't a little bit more in our favour."
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