"He was very selfish, he knew he was protected by Helmut Marko": Jacques Villeneuve's blunt verdict on Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull stint

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has branded Sebastian Vettel as "selfish" for not following team orders during his Red Bull stint. The Canadian believes this was because Vettel knew he had unconditional support from team advisor Helmut Marko.

Villeneuve gave his verdict on Vettel's time at Red Bull while ranking the greatest ever F1 world champion on The Red Flags Podcast. The 54-year-old spoke mostly positively about the German, praising him as a talented and impressive driver.

But he did offer one piece of slight criticism about Vettel's attitude at Red Bull, claiming that he didn't fear any repercussions due to his strong relationship with Marko.

"He was really selfish because he didn't follow team orders, he didn't care. He knew he was protected by Helmut Marko," said Villeneuve. "And at least two of his four championships were won in really difficult conditions, he really had to fight hard for them, and they were very impressive," he added.

Villeneuve also claimed that Vettel tried to "over drive" and "overcompensate" when the Red Bull wasn't the quickest car on the grid anymore post 2013, eventually leading to his downfall at the team.

This was after he picked himself as a better driver than Vettel. Villeneuve won his maiden F1 world championship with Williams in 1997, while Vettel won four consecutive world titles from 2010 to 2013.

The former Williams driver claimed that his determination to succeed as co-founder of the British American Racing team, coupled with his feat of winning the Indianapolis 500, makes him a better overall driver than Vettel.

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Jacques Villeneuve's assessment of Sebastian Vettel's post-Red Bull career

Sebastian Vettel with Ferrari at the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Speaking on the aforementioned podcast, Jacques Villeneuve concluded that Sebastian Vettel's time at Ferrari was impressive, with him just losing out in certain situations during his title battles with Lewis Hamilton.

Villeneuve also compared Vettel's time at Ferrari to Fernando Alonso's after his world championship winning seasons.

"Then he moved to Ferrari and the same happened as Fernando [Alonso]. He drove really well, got close to winning the championship, but it collapsed at some point in the season," said Villeneuve. "And after his years at Ferrari he just wasn't at that level anymore," he added.

After leaving Red Bull and joining Ferrari in 2015, Vettel won three races that year. This was followed by a barren season in 2016, before five race wins each in 2017 and 2018.

The German only added his final F1 career win in 2019, before going winless again in 2020, and eventually leaving the Italian team. He then joined Aston Martin in the twilight of his career for two seasons, where he was competing mostly in the midfield. The highlight of the partnership came at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP, when he finished second.

Edited by Tushar Bahl