Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve is standing up for young racing talents who can’t afford to compete in Formula 1. He criticizes the sport for not doing enough to support the next generation of drivers. The path to F1 remains prohibitively expensive, and he argues that there is little help coming from the organization.
The former Williams driver revealed his concerns about the lack of support in racing during an interview with Sports Illustrated. When asked if enough is being done for young racing talent, he responded bluntly, “Nothing is being done, nothing for the next generation.” Villeneuve knows firsthand how expensive it is to train a driver from a young age.
“[Young drivers] only get help after their parents have already spent a few million to get them through karting,” explained Jacques Villeneuve. “That costs half a million per season, which is really ridiculous. They (Formula 1) want to create the image that they do enough to help, but they actually don’t.” In the Netherlands, there are plenty of examples of young racers who are labeled as ‘the next Max Verstappen’, but eventually run into budgetary problems.
Feed Racing
Jacques Villeneuve wants to return to the training model of the ’70s and ’80s. That’s why he founded Feed Racing in 2019. The company is committed to helping young drivers reach the top based on their performance. “In essence, they go through a certain trajectory, for which they have to spend a bit of money,” the Canadian explained. “After that, everything is based on the stopwatch and the winner gets a free season in Formula 4. Unfortunately, we can’t financially continue to the next step.”
Villeneuve praises a team like Williams, which has adhered to the stopwatch principle with Logan Sargeant. “Williams financed his (Sargeant’s) Formula 2 season on the condition that he would score super license points,” said Villeneuve. “So there was really a ‘if you get results, you participate’ relationship.”
