Jacques Villeneuve thinks Mercedes' image could only improve if they can win a championship without Lewis Hamilton. The 1997 F1 World Champion believes that Mercedes' positive media image has reached saturation point and that Hamilton continuing to add titles won't garner them any further gain. "Mercedes may have received its peak of media response," Villeneuve is quoted by Motorsport.com, speaking at a Canal+ press conference. "Winning again, with or without Lewis, doesn't do much. Having Lewis in the car, yes, it gets them a lot, but [currently] it seem more that the image of Lewis is growing and not that of Mercedes which could gain with any driver. It is the perception." “What would really help Mercedes in its image is to win with a driver other than Lewis Hamilton." However, with Hamilton on the verge of clinching a record eighth world title, Villeneuve said keeping him onboard for another season to attempt this feat made sense. "Clearly, to go and break all the records, to be the World Champion with the most championships in history; Mercedes wants that too and, for that, it only takes a season." Villeneuve believes the late announcement of Hamilton's contract extension at Mercedes was because the two sides weren't able to agree on some undisclosed sticking point. "Clearly the two sides did not agree, whether it was financial or social need…" he said. "From what we understood, Lewis wanted to work less and get paid more and more, usually it doesn't work together!" Romain Grosjean, also speaking at the press conference, agreed with Villeneuve's assessment of the situation. "Indeed Lewis, the first things we could read from him were 'I want to continue, I'm happy to be in F1', so if the contract is not signed right away, we imagine [that] financially they did not agree and I imagine that Lewis was more and more greedy." "And that is the only reason why it was delayed like that since, on paper, Mercedes wanted to continue with Lewis and Lewis wanted to continue with Mercedes. For me, it's just a guess, it was financial or they didn't agree."
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