Jacques Villeneuve: Lando Norris’s title fight brought back Michael Schumacher battle memories

Lando Norris's 2025 championship title brought back memories for Jacques Villeneuve of when he won the 1997 Formula 1 championship.

During an appearance on the High Performance podcast, Villeneuve discussed the types of championship wins that take him back to his own experience of claiming a title in 1997.

“Depends which kind of world championship it is and how it's won. Because we've seen some easy championships won with four or five races to go or the battle only against a team-mate but not really the two drivers at the same level," the Canadian said when asked if the 2025 season brought back memories of his own championship fight.

"When you get a championship like this year, where there's two or three drivers, two separate teams, and there's tension because there was tension. Lando had to react because Max was coming back with a vengeance. I mean, he was really reeling them in, surprisingly, and he caught them.

"He caught both McLaren drivers and the team by surprise. Lando had to react. So that made it exciting, that made it tense. It's a championship he could have lost and in the end he made sure that he drove the same way he drove at the end of last year when he was fighting Max, and that gave him the title. So those kind of championships, yes they do bring memories.”

After finishing runner-up in his rookie season at Williams behind his team-mate at the time, Damon Hill, Villeneuve partnered with Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 1997. The driver battled against his team-mate and Michael Schumacher in a tense championship fight and started the season strongly with seven grand prix wins and eight pole positions in the first 14 races.

Jacques Villeneuve

Photo by: Marco Canoniero / LightRocket via Getty Images

The championship fight went down to the wire at the season-ending European Grand Prix, similarly to the 2025 championship in Abu Dhabi. Heading into the race weekend, Villeneuve was one point behind Schumacher, which meant he had to finish in the top six ahead of the German driver to win the title. 

In a close qualifying session, Villeneuve, Schumacher and Frentzen all set the same time, but it was Villeneuve who took pole position as he was the first of the three to complete the lap. During the race, Schumacher was sent into a gravel trap after a crash with his championship rival, which ultimately resulted in the Williams driver taking his first title.