Jacques Villeneuve Sympathises With Smaller Teams Due to Lack of Racing in 2020

Former F1 driver and 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve believes the COVID-19 effect on the F1 calendar adversely affects a few teams. Villeneuve asserted that the biggest losers in the current F1 crisis were the smaller teams. Additionally, AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost revealed the consequences of Italy’s lockdown and how the team was coping with the change.

Jacques Villeneuve highlights midfield F1 teams’ plight

Even if F1 doesn’t hold a single race, the top 3 teams can still function as usual for the upcoming season. It wouldn’t be the end of the world for Ferrari or Mercedes, should F1 call off the 2020 Championship. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for midfield teams.

As we move down the Championship Standings, the situation only worsens for the teams. For example, McLaren won’t suffer as much as Williams should the 2020 season never take off. Teams’ revenue streams take a major hit if races aren’t held. Sponsorship money and many other commitments are contingent on the cars participating in a race weekend.

Former Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve echoed these words. Speaking to Sky Italia, the Canadian said:

“The cancellation of six races out of 22 is not such a big problem,”

“But this will hit small teams like Williams financially.

“The engineers can use this time working from home, and for the drivers, not much changes. It really only depends on whether they get their salary,” 

Williams, in particular, had a disastrous campaign in 2019 and are in a spot of bother financially. The team struggled to even make it to preseason testing last year. Hence, the current scenario is less than ideal for the British team.

Tost on AlphaTauri’s predicament

AlphaTauri, another midfield team, faces a bigger problem in the form of a lockdown. The Italian team is worst affected by Coronavirus after Ferrari. Team Principal Franz Tost provided an update on how the team was getting through a difficult situation.

Speaking to f1-insider.com, Tost said:

“We wanted to keep producing parts but this is no longer possible. So we have to discuss how to proceed,

“It’s important that you don’t give up,”

That the hard time passes. And not if it passes, but when.”

The F1 calendar is currently down by 8 races. Fingers crossed, we get some form of racing in 2020.