Villeneuve: Hamilton won't leave Ferrari or retire now

But 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve insists Hamilton will not walk from Formula 1 nor Ferrari before the sport’s major regulations reset in 2026.

Will Hamilton leave the Scuderia any time soon? Speaking to the Coomeon Sport media team, Villeneuve was emphatic in his reply: “Hamilton won’t leave, not now because 2026 is a new car, new engine, a whole new package and everybody's waiting for that.

“It was cheap for them, really. They’ve got so much value out of getting Lewis into the team that it cost them nothing to do it. He is still the only true global superstar driver out there.

“You don't want to do too many seasons like this because then your value does go down at some point. There's the thing. First season there, new regulations next year, and so on and so on. That gives a little bit of leeway but that's it. Next year? Next year it has to work," insisted Villeneuve

Hamilton’s frustrations boiled over in Hungary when he labelled himself “absolutely useless” and suggested Ferrari should “find another driver” after a poor qualifying. Villeneuve believes the Briton is being tested in a way he has not been since his rookie McLaren year.

“The first McLaren year with Alonso? That was character building. The Mercedes years weren't,” Villeneuve explained. “Now he's a little bit back to square one because he's had a lot of those years at Mercedes but he's shown when he was at McLaren that he's very capable of working around those kinds of pressures.”

The Canadian also highlighted deeper issues within Ferrari’s structure that he believes are amplifying Hamilton’s struggles: “A lack of chemistry [is the cause of Ferrari’s pressures]. No one seems to work hand in hand. Everyone seems to be doing their own thing in their own little corners.

"You can hear it on the radio communication between driver and engineers. It's really odd. It's always easier from the outside, isn't it? Everything in life is. When you're in the thick of it, when you're in the middle of the forest, you only see a few trees around you. You don't see the whole forest," explained Villeneuve.

The double no score at Zandvoort has not been kind to Ferrari's 2025 F1 World Championship scorecard. Although the Reds are still P2, in P3, Mercedes are now only 12 points adrift of their rivals.