Villeneuve: 'Williams sold their soul to Stroll's billions!'

Jacques Villeneuve hasn't changed his opinion on countryman Lance Stroll despite the Canadian silencing his critics in 2017.

In the early part of 2017, when opinions on the Williams driver were generally negative, Villeneuve labeled Stroll "the worst rookie in the history of F1".

The 19-year-old put together a string of good results however, even achieving a podium finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

"Even Massa was faster than Lance," says the 1997 world champion and the last man to deliver a title to Williams.

"His podium in Baku does not convince me as it was pure luck," added Villeneuve.

• Stroll: 'I proved I'm capable of doing a good job'

The 46-year-old was also critical of his former team, believing Williams' 2018 driver choice, which sees Sergey Sirotkin pitted against Robert Kubica, is only about money.

"They already sold their soul to the billions of Lawrence Stroll, who only cares about his son," he said, although it's likely he's confusing billions and millions.

Finally, as he casts one last look on the 2017 season, Villeneuve sees Mercedes Valtteri Bottas as nothing more than a competent number 2 driver.

"Mercedes won because they still have the best engine, but only Hamilton was able to take advantage of it. Bottas' performance was almost embarrassing," he told Auto Bild.

"He is a solid number 2 and no more. I would have chosen Wehrlein," Villeneuve said.

And there you have it from the always entertaining JV...

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter