1997 Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has expressed his concerns about the lack of support for emerging young drivers in the sport. In an exclusive interview with Lydia Mee via Sports Illustrated, Villeneuve critiqued the efforts by Formula One teams to assist the next generation.
The Canadian racing legend founded Feed Racing in 2019 as a response to what he perceives to be a failing system to properly nurture racing talent. Feed Racing aims to offer young aspiring drivers a more accessible route into professional racing, specifically targeting entry into Formula Four—a critical stepping stone in a driver's career. Despite these efforts, Villeneuve remains critical of the broader motorsport industry's approach to developing talent.
When asked if he felt enough was done to nurture young talent, Villeneuve responded:
"Nothing is done, nothing is done for the younger generation, nothing at all.
"They want the image of being perceived as helping, but they're not. The only team I've seen doing that has been Williams with Logan [Sargeant]. Williams financed his Formula Two season and the caveat was if you get your super license points, then you'll be an F1. So there was a proper, 'you get the result you're in'."
However, Villeneuve believes that such examples are too few and far between.
"I haven't seen any other team doing that. So no, they're not being helped. They're helped after the parents have already spent a few millions to get them through karting, you know, half a million a season of karting, which is ridiculous and so on," he continued.
Feed Racing was designed to mimic the more inclusive driver development models of the 1970s and '80s, which helped racers like Alain Prost and Olivier Panis ascend to Formula One. Unfortunately, the financial reality makes it challenging to support drivers beyond the initial stages.
"We just tried to recreate what used to exist in the '70s and the '80s, Alain Prost got to through F1 like this, [Olivier] Panis as well. But there's only so much we can do because it's all self-financed," explained Villeneuve.
"Basically, they do the course, they have to spend a little bit of money. Obviously it's all based on the clock, and the winner gets a free season in Formula 4. But financially, we cannot then follow to the next step for this.
"A linked team like Williams would be amazing, but then it's really purely based on results. You don't always get the winner you want, but you go with the result, you put them under pressure and F1 is also, it's not just being the quickest, it's how you perform under pressure."
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