F1 champion claims former Mercedes star 'doesn't care about racing'

The 2016 United States Grand Prix podium — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

F1 champion claims former Mercedes star 'doesn't care about racing'

Villeneuve has delivered a brutal assessment of a fellow champion

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 19 August 2025 04:00

F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has delivered a brutal assessment of a fellow champion's racing career.

The 1997 world champion is known for speaking his mind, famously taking down Daniel Ricciardo on Sky's broadcast at the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix.

During a recent appearance on The Red Flags podcast’s YouTube, the Canadian was asked to rank all of F1’s champions in a head-to-head style format. When asked to rank Mario Andretti against 2016 champion Nico Rosberg, Villeneuve did not hold back and claimed that the German had ‘no passion for racing’.

“Rosberg, the minute he won you could see he was completely spent,” Villeneuve said.

“He won mentally- he played the game, played the political game. He was quick in that season against Lewis. But Lewis never really saw it coming, so we never saw the best Lewis.

Rosberg's passion for racing questioned

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Rosberg famously retired from F1 after winning his first and only world title in 2016, beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton after a fierce inter-team rivalry at Mercedes.

Reflecting on his abrupt departure, Rosberg claimed that he reached the ‘pinnacle’ of his career and he wished to spend more time with his young family – wife Vivian and their two daughters.

Rosberg is the son of 1982 F1 champion Keke Rosberg, and having a successful F1 driver as a father is something Villeneuve can relate to, being the son of legendary racer Gilles Villeneuve.

When asked if he could understand Rosberg in this respect, Villeneuve responded: “I have a hard time with this, because I wonder, why have you been racing anyway? Why did you race in the first place if you never had the passion?

“And what’s sad is that even without that passion you can still, once in a while, have a winner. And that just goes against my instinct, the roots of racing. But it happens, there’s been a few and often - it's only after winning - you wonder, why am I doing it?

“Actually you realise, I don’t like racing that much, I don’t like spending my life on the road. It's better to stop at that point, it’s a bit sad.”

NASCAR Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Formula 1 Daniel Ricciardo Jacques Villeneuve