Formula 1: Jacques Villeneuve ridiculously trashes Charles Leclerc once again

Jacques Villeneuve, once again, made a ridiculous claim about Charles Leclerc, this time after Leclerc secured his second consecutive Formula 1 victory in the Italian Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve spewing negativity about rising Formula 1 superstar Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari is nothing new.

And based on some of the ridiculous claims that he has made, it may never get old.

Villeneuve believes that Leclerc should have been penalized for the way he raced Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton in the Italian Grand Prix at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, which Leclerc ended up winning to double his career win total from one to two.

Here is video of this run-in.

As you can see from the video, Leclerc took the traditional line the whole way around, and by the time he made the “questionable” move, Hamilton already had a wheel on the curb with only a fraction of a chance of executing the pass anyway. Additionally, Hamilton had time to correct his car but played it safe by going into the run-off area before rejoining the track.

But Villeneuve really went over the edge by comparing the “stupid” and “dangerous” Leclerc to Kevin Magnussen, who has become well-known for going all-out and blocking in extremely dangerous fashion — even in practice.

Here is what Villeneuve had to say about Leclerc, according to Motorsport-Magazin.com.

"“You have to judge him the same way as any other driver and this Sunday he did ‘a Magnussen’, that’s the truth. When he made the move before the second chicane, at the most dangerous place – if that was on another track or if it was another driver, that would normally have been a penalty. He knew he could risk it, so he played with the limits and it worked for him.”“It’s like being allowed to do a stupid action in the race. They’re going to start abusing it soon, depending on whether the yellow card is transferred to the next race, then of course the driver does not have that option.”"

I guess you can back up fake news by saying “that’s the truth”. After all, it is 2019.

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There were other instances that looked like Leclerc may have been blocking, but many were illusions created by the fact that Hamilton was doing all kinds of swerving behind him, looking for a place to make a pass. Leclerc drove straight every time and defended like he had been defending against Hamilton for years.

To Villeneuve’s credit, the incident he discussed was the most notable one, but it was still hardly worth noting. The race stewards agreed, hence the black and white “warning” flag that was issued to Leclerc.

Hamilton ended up having to pit for new tires anyway, which it appeared as though he would even before this run-in with Leclerc. He was on medium tires while Leclerc was on hard tires, and the time spent in Leclerc’s dirty air did Hamilton’s tires no favors. Hamilton’s tires were also one lap older than Leclerc’s.

The outcome of the race was not altered, and the race stewards did not feel the need to change that. To compare Leclerc to Magnussen, whose most ridiculous blocks are usually for 14th or 15th place, is borderline comical.

Of course, there are others who share the opinion that Leclerc should have been penalized. That said, Villeneuve’s claim, especially his reference to Magnussen, is notable considering how often he has ripped Leclerc in the past, only to be proven wrong each and every time.

The guy said that Leclerc’s teammate Sebastian Vettel, who now hasn’t won a race in over a year and has unfortunately grown accustomed to making crucial errors, would make him cry.

How much more wrong can you get, for Pete’s sake?

Jacques Villeneuve has made a habit out of trashing Charles Leclerc, and unfortunately — more so for Villeneuve since he’s making himself look bad to a far greater extent than he is Leclerc — that continued after Leclerc doubled his career Formula 1 win total in the Italian Grand Prix. What’s next?