Jacques Villeneuve Criticizes McLaren’s Focus on Constructors’ Championship Over Drivers’ Title

Former Formula 1 driver Jacques Villeneuve finds the statements of McLaren team boss Andrea Stella incomprehensible. After Max Verstappen’s crushing victory at the São Paulo Grand Prix, the Italian stated that McLaren’s priority has always been to win the constructors’ championship. According to Villeneuve, the constructors’ title only brings in money, and nobody else cares about it.

Although McLaren enjoys a 36-point lead over its closest rival Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, Lando Norris’s chances of winning the drivers’ title seem to be dashed. Max Verstappen dealt a crushing blow to his British rival in São Paulo, winning the Grand Prix from seventeenth place. However, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said after the race that the drivers’ title was never the priority. “The constructors’ championship was always our priority,” the Italian team boss explained.

Nonsense, says former racer Jacques Villeneuve. “McLaren said something very strange after Brazil, namely that the team’s priority was not the drivers’ championship, but the constructors’ title. That’s very strange. That’s what teams that don’t win say,” Villeneuve told Grosvenor Sport.

“Okay, the constructors’ title brings in money. But nobody cares about the constructors’ title. People only remember who the world champion was and the team that was associated with that world champion,” continues the eleven-time Grand Prix winner. “The constructors’ title is only good on paper and for the extra money it brings in for the team. That’s about it. Outside the team itself, nobody cares.”

Las Vegas

According to the Canadian, McLaren’s statements from the team boss actually admitted that it “didn’t really help Lando Norris much”. Villeneuve now hopes that the way is clear for Verstappen to claim his fourth world title in Las Vegas. “The odds are very much in Max’s favor. He just has to get around (Norris, ed.) and finish. If he wins in Vegas, he is a deserving champion.”