Jacques Villeneuve has never shied away from sharing his opinions off the track and has provided his verdict on the Austrian Grand Prix.
After the opening laps, few would have expected there to have been a battle for the lead between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the closing stages given how comfortable he looked running at the front.
However, the Austrian Grand Prix was the perfect demonstration of how Red Bull no longer have a level of dominance over the rest of the field.
Last season, Verstappen only won the Austrian Grand Prix by five seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc but the gap to Lando Norris was nearly half a minute.
This year McLaren are almost on par with Red Bull and it felt like Norris was biding his time behind Verstappen waiting for him to make a mistake before he changed onto new medium tyres for the final stint.
He was given a helping hand by Red Bull’s pit crew who produced an uncharacteristically slow stop which led to the battle that ended Norris’s race and prevented Verstappen from winning his 8 Grand Prix of the season.
Villeneuve shared his thoughts on the race on Instagram and the one driver who really stood out for the former world champion was Lando Norris.
He admitted he was a ‘bit disappointed’ with his teammate Oscar Piastri who arguably threw away a chance to win his first Formula 1 race by marginally going over the white lines in qualifying and having his best lap time deleted.
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Jacques Villeneuve very impressed with Lando Norris at the Austrian Grand Prix
Reviewing the race on social media, Villeneuve said: “What a race! That was an exciting race!
“Lando [Norris], we saw in Barcelona and in the Sprint Race, he’s quick at the end of the races, used his tyres, had lower fuel and he’s a good racer.
“He knows how to position himself, he knows how to drive, how to overtake, he was really, really impressive today.
“And [Max] Verstappen was a bit over the top in his defence, changing direction, changing line during braking, that’s a no-no, that’s a no-go. They do it a lot but it should not happen, that’s the most dangerous [thing].
“And in the end, they touched wheels and who paid the high price? Lando, which is a shame as he really deserved that win and he was Driver of the Day.
“Championship wise, it’s really good, with [George] Russell winning, [Carlos] Sainz third, [Oscar] Piastri second again, bit disappointing for him.
“It groups them all in the points standings so that could be a good battle at the end of the season.”
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Lando Norris was left frustrated by Austrian Grand Prix crash with Max Verstappen
It’s no surprise that Villeneuve was so impressed with Lando Norris after another very strong weekend.
He was frustrated with his mistake in the Sprint Race that potentially cost him victory and definitely saw him throw away 2 place when he was overtaken by Oscar Piastri in the same move.
READ MORE: Lando Norris sends message to George Russell after winning the Austrian Grand Prix
However, he was nearly perfect for the rest of the weekend and while he could have been slightly tidier in his attempts to overtake Verstappen, there was very little he could do during the incident that ended his race.
Damon Hill agreed with the fan’s assessment that Norris was the Driver of the Day on Sunday while also pointing the finger at Verstappen.
He will hope that the British Grand Prix has a more positive outcome, while Red Bull and Verstappen will be wondering what they can do to make sure McLaren can’t continue to close the gap.
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