Jacques Villeneuve spots crucial Lewis Hamilton change after ‘strange’ observation

Jacques Villeneuve has theorized that Lewis Hamilton has undergone a significant mindset shift over the F1 summer shutdown, citing the seven-time World Champion’s positivity after Dutch Grand Prix qualifying as a key example.

For Villeneuve, nothing can throw a driver off quite like trying too hard to secure a performance that his car isn’t capable of. Coming to terms with that may very well have turned Hamilton’s season around.

Lewis Hamilton undergoes mindset change ahead of Dutch GP

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Just before the 2025 summer break, Lewis Hamilton ended qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix criticizing himself as “useless” and suggesting that Ferrari get rid of the faulty driver behind the wheel.

Villeneuve had reflected on Hamilton’s interview demeanour as “really strange“, and hinted at “something really odd happening” more widely at Ferrari.

Contrast that to Hamilton’s response to qualifying seventh for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix, and it’s a complete transformation.

“I tried to have a slight different approach into the weekend,” Hamilton told media, including PlanetF1.com.

“I’m not going to go into details of what that is, but I’ve made some tweaks, before I even got here, and then through the weekend, and it’s been a lot smoother.”

While Hamilton was clear that there’s still work to be done to improve the performance of the SF-25, there was a marked note of positivity in his voice that hasn’t been present in recent events.

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Meanwhile, Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc has taken on more of a negative pall. He deemed his Friday the worst of the 2025 season, while he was “very disappointed with my own performance” in qualifying, where he secured the sixth-fastest time in Q3.

That represents a significant mental shift, and it was a major topic of conversation for the Sky Sports F1 team after Dutch GP qualifying.

Former driver turned pundit Jacques Villeneuve pointed out that Ferrari is “not far off” the pace, and that with “a tenth or two,” they could have been P4.

“It’s not as bad as it looked earlier,” the Canadian pointed out.

But he then contrasted the perspectives of both Ferrari drivers.

“It’s funny, and it’s weird to see how different the two drivers are,” Villeneuve said.

“Like, Charles is really upset and berating himself, beating himself up — and Lewis actually super happy, like ‘Oh, that’s quite good.’

“If you look at the last race, and now, he’s on par with his teammate. He’s had a good weekend. It’s up here. He’s changed his mindset, and it’s affecting his driving.”

Fellow pundit Naomi Schiff continued the conversation, wondering, “What I would be really interested to understand is when Lewis is saying he’s changed his approach; what does that mean?

“Because, of course, we’ve had a summer break. He’s hit reset, but ultimately his issue was the fact that he wasn’t getting along with the way that the car was handling, and he wasn’t able to extract what he could out of it.

“So I wonder what’s changed, besides just the mindset to make him feel that comfortable — especially on a circuit like this, where if you’re not feeling the car, you can very easily make a mistake and go off.

“What gives him the confidence all of a sudden this weekend? I’d love to understand.”

For Villeneuve, though, there doesn’t need to be a major transformation with the car itself. It could instead be a matter of perspective.

“You know what can make a difference, is accepting that the car is not quick enough, and then you stop over-driving it,” the 1997 champion explained.

“You stop trying to figure out a setup that will get you pole when the car can’t get pole, and then you end up going a bit faster because of that.”

He drew a comparison to the Red Bull Racing team of 2014, when Daniel Ricciardo arrived to great fanfare and success while his more experienced teammate Sebastian Vettel struggled.

“That reminds me of when Ricciardo joined Red Bull with Vettel, and Vettel was trying to invent a car to go win, and he couldn’t. So he was going backwards and backwards with the stress,” Villeneuve said.

“Maybe that’s what Lewis has changed. Like, ‘okay, this car’s just not quick enough. Let’s accept it. Let’s just drive and have fun.'”

It’s entirely possible that Hamilton took advantage of the summer break to reorient himself, taking to Instagram to promise he’ll “keep going even when it’s difficult.”

It’s a move in the right mental direction, but whether or not this transformation has staying power remains to be seen. There are still 10 races remaining in the F1 2025 season, and anything can happen.

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