Jacques Villeneuve claims Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc ‘destroyed Ferrari’s race’ in Chinese GP battle

Jacques Villeneuve said Ferrari’s battle between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc during the Chinese Grand Prix was too intense and cost the team a stronger result

1997 Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has argued that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc's on-track battle during the Chinese Grand Prix "destroyed Ferrari's race."

The race at the Shanghai International Circuit featured an exciting back-and-forth between the two drivers. Hamilton finished the race in third, scoring his first podium with the Maranello outfit, while Leclerc was fourth.

"Well, it was fair because he finished third, so and he managed to beat his team-mates, so yes, it turned out OK, but it was a little bit extreme, and it destroyed Ferrari's race," Villeneuve told Sky Sports F1 of Hamilton. "They were running second and third."

While watching a replay, the Canadian added: "He did it on the braking, quite late, and then they were fighting so hard, destroying their tyres, and in those two laps they lost five seconds to Antonelli."

Three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick disagreed, arguing that Ferrari realised that Mercedes, which finished first and second with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, were not their fight today.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

"I don't think Mercedes were their battle today though, and I quite like the fact they're going at it, to be honest," she said. "I also liked the fact that they both seemed to be quite happy. Charles as well is like, 'I'm actually having a bit of fun.'

"OK, yes, the initial start of the overtake is instigated by the new deployment we have, and that seems a bit different and a bit hard to maybe get your head around, but what I like is the execution of the overtake is still really risky.

"To have good race craft, you have to have good awareness, and I think that part I quite like, and that's where you see a world champion like Lewis Hamilton just excels and even with Charles here, he's just got such good awareness of racecraft. That's what got him his podium today and was great to see."