Jacques Villeneuve slams Kimi Antonelli for race-compromising collision with Charles Leclerc in F1 Dutch GP

Jacques Villeneuve has questioned if F1 is just too much for Kimi Antonelli, as he collided with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the F1 Dutch GP. The race in Zandvoort was turning out to be a positive one for the young Italian, as he had made up a lot of ground from his starting position.

The young Italian made perfect use of his Mercedes when he picked up multiple places and was in a potential podium battle that featured the quartet of Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar, Charles Leclerc, and Kimi Antonelli.

In an aggressive strategic move aimed at propelling the young Italian ahead of the Ferrari driver, Mercedes triggered the undercut and pitted him for soft tires. Charles Leclerc, on his part, was forced to respond to the young Italian and pitted on the very next lap.

As the Ferrari driver came out of the pits, Kimi Antonelli was in touching distance of him and went for the lunge into the banking section after turn 3.

Unfortunately for the rookie, his Mercedes would slide into the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and cause race-ending damage to the rival's car.

Antonelli, on his part, would also end his race outside of points after incurring multiple penalties. After the race, Jacques Villeneuve slammed Kimi Antonelli for the move and questioned if F1 is too much for him. He told Sky Sports,

"Very poor. A move that you might see in Formula 4, Formula 3, from a driver who doesn't have experience and just not calculated the way it should be. When you're in F1, you'll make mistakes, you drive too hard, you're on the limit, but that was not even that. It was just badly calculated. He shouldn't have done that. And then he got all riled up and [exceeded the] speed limit as well. Maybe F1 is just too much for him."

Villeneuve doesn't buy Kimi Antonelli's age being a factor

When questioned if age is playing a role in Kimi Antonelli making these errors, Villeneuve pushed back against these sentiments, as he felt that drivers like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were also young when they made their debuts. According to the former F1 champion, you cannot make such errors, as he asserted,

"No, he's in Formula 1. What age was Max when he arrived in F1? What age was Lewis when he arrived? Exactly. So that's not a good excuse. Look how far behind he was before the corner. He was two car lengths behind. On which planet did he think it would stick, that it would work out? Everyone knows that when you go down to the inside like this, that track doesn't work."

It is important to note that Lewis Hamilton was in his 20s when he made his F1 debut with McLaren. Max Verstappen was a teenager and of a similar age as Kimi Antonelli when he debuted, but his early career was full of incidents that the driver had while trying to make aggressive moves.

After 15 races into the season, Kimi Antonelli now finds himself only scoring 64 points as he heads to his home race in Monza.