Jacques Villeneuve has branded Max Verstappen’s debut in Formula 1 next season “an insult” and a negative for the sport.
Verstappen will become the youngest driver to race in F1 next year when he starts for Toro Rosso at the age of just 17.
“Should I tell you the truth? I think Max is an insult,” Villeneuve told Omnicorse.
“Do Red Bull realise they are putting a child in Formula One?”
The decision has been criticised by many as Verstappen has just a single years experience competing in Formula 3. Before that he was racing go-karts.
As a result, the FIA recently imposed a minimum age limit of 18 starting in 2016, but Villeneuve says that hasn’t gone far enough.
“It should be 21,” he added. “I do not doubt that he is fast, but he has no experience. I arrived in F1 when I was 25, after winning in Indycars.
“Before you are fighting against the lives of others, you have to learn, and it is not F1’s role to teach. You should arrive in F1 as a winner and with a wealth of experience. F1 is not the place to come and develop as a driver.”
The 1997 champion blames the cars for being too easy to drive and therefore failing to challenge drivers like Verstappen, which is giving F1 a negative image.
“The debut of a 17-year-old is a negative message for F1 and I think the impact so far has not been as positive as Red Bull expected,” added the Canadian.
“Verstappen arrives, does ten laps and immediately looks strong. It seems that anyone can drive an F1 car, while in my father’s day the drivers were considered heroes at the wheel of almost impossible monsters.
“F1 impressed me when I arrived, even though I came from Indycar. But this F1 is not exciting. The cars seem slow.”
