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Villeneuve: Any other race and Hamilton would have lifted off the gas sooner

After seeing Lewis Hamilton collide with Max Verstappen at the British GP, Jacques Villeneuve had flashbacks to his championship win when he was nearly sent off track by Michael Schumacher.

Jacques Villeneuve believes Lewis Hamilton misjudged the situation that resulted him taking Max Verstappen out of the British GP on the opening lap. The championship leader was out of the race before it even started after the Briton clipped him from behind at Copse corner on the opening lap. Hamilton, who received a 10-second penalty, eventually battled back to take the chequered flag, but Villeneuve believes the seven-time World Champion took a risk that he otherwise wouldn't have taken at another event. "Lewis misjudged the situation," Villeneuve told F1-Insider. "He should have known that at that speed, when he was behind, there would be dirty air which could cause his car to slide into Max's car. "I think the pressure - to not be beaten by Max at his home race - was so great that he subconsciously accepted this risk. I think in any other race he would have lifted off the gas earlier in that corner." Villeneuve was involved in his own high-profile accident back with Michael Schumacher at Jerez in 1997. That day the German steered into the Canadian to try and take him out of the race, however the Canadian doesn't believe Hamilton deliberately hit his rival. "It wasn't like Lewis deliberately steered into Max's car, like Michael Schumacher did at Jerez in 1997," Villeneuve concluded. "He just took his chances."

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