Jacques Villeneuve: Too many rules and judgements in modern F1

Williams

Villeneuve: Too many rules and judgements in modern F1

Are FIA regulations limiting drivers?

Matthew Bannister

Sunday 23 February 2020 13:21 Updated: 13:30

Former Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve has hit out at the FIA, claiming they over-analyse when looking for race incidents.

Speaking to France’s Auto Plus, the Canadian said that there was not as much fuss caused on the track in his day compared to today.

"The smallest incident must be analysed," he explained.

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“It was much easier when everything was left to the drivers, except in the most extreme cases. There was much less nagging on the track then.”

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The 48-year-old feels that because the FIA watches everything under a microscope that drivers today can’t act as aggressively as he did in F1.

“We could take revenge," he continued.

"You were bothered by a driver and if that was on purpose, you could just take it back the next round. Now, these gestures are the most repressed.

“In the past, drivers did not block each other in a straight line. The first to do such things was Jarno Trulli and later Michael Schumacher."

Liberty Media are set to introduce drastic regulation changes ahead of the 2021 campaign which will see, among other things, a budget cap introduced in an attempt to level the playing field among constructor teams.

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