Hamilton no longer a 'killer winner' - Villeneuve

Jacques Villeneuve has accused Lewis Hamilton of no longer being a "killer winner" as his time with Mercedes draws to a close and he moves on to F1 rivals Ferrari.

Since returning from F1's summer break, the form of Mercedes and Hamilton has dipped alarmingly following a burst of sensational results that saw the seven-time F1 champion return to winning ways with victories in the British and Belgian Grands Prix sandwiching a third place in Hungary.

Mercedes has struggled to build on the performance with its W15, which has developed a narrow operating window, leading to the results tapering off and culminating in Hamilton enduring one of the worst weekends of his F1 career in the United States recently.

Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 champion, is convinced Hamilton does not have one eye on his switch to Ferrari over the winter, and would rather his time with Mercedes end on a high.

The 53-year-old, however, has been left wondering about Hamilton's mindset at present, suggesting he needs to lift himself out of his malaise before joining the Scuderia.

"I don’t think Lewis is thinking about Ferrari," insisted Villeneuve, speaking to CanadaCasino.

“He is thinking about himself and how awful it is going for him. He really is not in a good place. That is not helping his driving. He needs to get out of that mindset before he goes to Ferrari."

Villeneuve was left particularly bewildered as to why Hamilton performed so poorly after a what was a four-week break in between races.

"It is tough when you have so many races back to back," he added. "You don’t really have time to change, but he’s just had three weeks off and he didn’t come back any better.

"I have no idea what is going on in his head but he will be happy that Ferrari is a better car than Mercedes. He is going to a better car and in that aspect.

"He has to be happy but generally, his demeanour indicates he doesn’t have the body language of a race winner. He is not the killer winner we have seen in the past.

"He needs to get back to his old form and attitude before he moves because Ferrari is not an easy team to be in.