Sky Sports F1 pundit calls out 'complacent' Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton

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Sky Sports F1 pundit calls out 'complacent' Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton's F1 career has been questioned

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 15 August 2025 19:57

Lewis Hamilton’s seven world titles and success in F1 have been called out by Sky Sports pundit Jacques Villeneuve.

The 1997 world champion was tasked with ranking all of his fellow title holders during an appearance on The Red Flags podcast, and was asked to choose between Fernando Alonso and Hamilton.

Despite Hamilton earning seven titles to Alonso’s two, Villeneuve named the Spaniard and also explained that the Brit had become complacent in recent years.

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“I will put Alonso. Hamilton has too many downs. Even though he has got all of the championships, it's not the quantity of championships,” Villeneuve said.

“If you look at every season there’s always been two, three, four races where he was completely disappearing and then suddenly he woke up again and started winning again.

“And too many championships were in a car that even Bottas could have won a championship if Hamilton had not been there. That put him [Hamilton] in a place where he became complacent and he forgot how hard you have to fight. You can see it now. It's a big shock to him that he actually has to fight as hard as he did in his first and second season.”

Villeneuve believes Hamilton has become 'complacent'

Villeneuve ranks F1 champions

Villeneuve continued to rank F1’s champions over the sport's 75 years, with Alonso making it into his final alongside Mario Andretti.

However, it was the American who was named the best driver according to Villeneuve, with the 1978 title holder triumphing over his fellow champions.

Andretti’s success does not just lie in F1, with Villeneuve also lauding his talents in IndyCar and endurance racing and describing him as the most complete driver.

The motorsport legend is a four-time IndyCar champion, and also a Indianapolis 500 winner, with endurance racing victories at Daytona and Sebring.

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