Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton’s response to Jacques Villeneuve’s baseless claim is pure gold

Lewis Hamilton’s response to fellow Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve’s baseless claim about racing simulators was pure gold.

Following the tragic Formula 2 crash that took the life of 22-year-old Anthoine Hubert at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps last Saturday, 1997 Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve stated, without evidence (as usual), that racing simulators are to blame for drivers’ “assessment of danger” and behavior on the race track.

Several Formula 1 drivers and pretty much everyone not named Jacques Villeneuve have taken exception to this statement, especially given the context in which it was made. Particularly notable was the response of five-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton.

Here is Villeneuve’s claim about the matter, according to Motorsport.

"“Instead of letting the young drivers test, they sit for a week in the race simulator. When they get to the racetrack, they behave as if they’re still in the simulator. It is not the same stress as it used to be. It does not bring the same adrenaline. The assessment of danger, of the enormous risk that they take when they go to the racetrack, is no longer the same.”"

Here is how Hamilton, the second oldest driver currently in Formula 1 at the age of 34, responded.

"“I don’t really agree with a lot of the opinions of that individual and I don’t know if anyone [does]. I personally don’t listen to that individual’s opinion.”"

Hamilton could have stopped right here because of who “that individual” is, and it would have been perfectly okay, even with his biggest critics.

His word choice here was phenomenal and emphasized just how much he disagrees with this baseless claim to the point where he even referenced, in general, past baseless claims that “that individual” has made, which are certainly of note in the midst of his most recent one.

But on a slightly more down-to-earth note, he continued.

"“But [on the simulator link] I don’t think so. I think the kids are on the track..if you look at the kids on the ski slopes, from small up they have no fears and it is the same with us race drivers, whatever age. I am sure as you get a bid older it [fear] creeps in, but the simulators don’t make you more or less fearful. I don’t agree with that no.”"

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To go along with what Hamilton stated, McLaren rookie Lando Norris also stated that Villeneuve’s claim is just an excuse, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who disagrees with the 19-year-old, especially given “that individual’s” track record with making crazy comments such as these.

This past race weekend also featured Charles Leclerc’s first career Formula 1 victory in his maiden season driving for Ferrari. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel still hasn’t won a race for the Italian team in more than a year.

Who was it that said Vettel would destroy and eat the “young cub” alive and that it would end in tears if he replaced Kimi Raikkonen, who, by the way, won just one race at Ferrari from 2014 through 2018?

I’ll give you a hint; it wasn’t Donald Trump.

Who was it that blamed Leclerc for Ferrari’s early struggles when it was Ferrari that whiffed on strategy on multiple occasions, Vettel who blew a podium finish by spinning out and an engine failure that cost Leclerc what would have been one of Ferrari’s most dominant victories of the last decade in just his second start for the team?

It wasn’t Hamilton.

It was, in fact, “that individual”, and Lewis Hamilton’s response to “that individual” will go down as one of the more underrated responses to a Jacques Villeneuve hot take that Formula 1 has seen.