Villeneuve: Hamilton and Mercedes 'in crisis'

Former Formula One world champions Jacques Villeneuve thinks that Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are 'in crisis" following their poor start to the 2018 season in which they have not recorded a win as of yet, while the Brit failed to even make the podium in China on Sunday.

The Silver Arrows have been the dominant constructor team in F1 over the past few years and are going for their fifth title in a row in 2018. Thanks largely to the solid performances of Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes are still ahead in the rankings for this campaign, but Villeneuve reckons Hamilton is in crisis with his performance, while Mercedes is in crisis as they now need to rely on Bottas.

"Hamilton is in crisis and is losing points for the championship," Villeneuve told Sky Italia.

"But I think all of Mercedes is in crisis. Now they must bet on Bottas, who is not a championship driver."

"After the impressive qualifying in Melbourne, Lewis is no longer able to drive the car. It's very troubling. We saw last year that when he's in crisis he loses a lot, falls behind in the races and falls asleep, is not aggressive. We'll have to see when and if he wakes up."

Daniel Ricciardo emerged as the highly impressive winner of the Chinese GP in the Shanghai International Circuit at the weekend, and with the victory has come more chat about his future, with his contract expiring at the end of the 2018 season. Villeneuve believes Red Bull should break the bank to retain the services of the Honey Badger.

"Red Bull without Ricciardo would not be a force," the 1997 world champion added.

"But with Ricciardo it is dangerous. He's fighting for the world championship as Ferrari was two years ago, with everything needing to be fine with him and bad for the others,"