Villeneuve hits out at Hamilton tactics

1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve says Lewis Hamilton’s start-line tactics are beginning to remind him of Michael Schumacher.

Villeneuve, who left the BMW-Sauber team and the sport mid-way through the 2006 season, was among the most outspoken critics of Schumacher’s tendency to ‘chop’ his rivals on the dash to the first corner at races.

And “Lewis is not getting penalised” either, Canadian Villeneuve marvelled to the British print magazine Autosport.

Villeneuve said McLaren’s Hamilton has therefore been “lucky” to avoid the stewards’ wrath, and suggested that his popularity might be one explanation for why he is getting away with it.