Former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has criticized Daniel Ricciardo, questioning why the Australian is still racing in Formula 1.

The 1997 Championship winner made these comments to Sky Sports ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve—named after Jacques' father—in Montreal.

Villeneuve said, 'We have been hearing the same thing for the last four or five years.

'We have to make the car better for him.

' Sorry, it's been five years of that.

No, you are in F1.

Maybe you make that effort for Lewis Hamilton who has won multiple championships.

You don't make that effort for a driver that can't cut it.

If you can't cut it, go home, there's someone else to take your place.

That's how it's always been in racing, it's the pinnacle of the sport.

'Jacques Villeneuve won the 1997 F1 world title, 11 Grands Prix, the 1995 Champ Car championship, and the Indy 500 in his career.

Ricciardo has not finished higher than 12th spot in any of this year's eight races for Red Bull's sister team, Racing Bulls.

F1 is a cut-throat sport that demands immediate success.

Daniel Ricciardo could be winning races again, but he has to show speed in a slower car, writes Michael Doyle.

The 34-year-old, who made his debut in F1 in 2011 and won his first race in Canada during the 2014 season in which he came third in the overall standings, is currently fighting for his career in the sport.

Despite recording 32 race podiums in his career, Ricciardo has underperformed this season, with teammate Yuki Tsunoda finishing ahead of him in all but one race.

Ricciardo is a winner of eight F1 Grands Prix, but only has one podium finish in his last 63 starts, a surprise victory at Monza in 2021.

Villeneuve added, 'You all talk about that first season or first two seasons.

He was beating a [Sebastian] Vettel that was burnt out, that was trying to invent things with the car to go win and just making a mess of his weekends.

Then he was beating for half a season [Max] Verstappen when Verstappen was 18 years old, just starting.

That was it, he stopped beating anyone after that.

'Ricciardo was 11th fastest in Practice 1 and fifth quickest in Practice 2 on Friday ahead of Saturday's qualifying—on both occasions going faster than Tsunoda.

The Canadian Grand Prix is the ninth of 20 races this season and gets underway at 4 am on Monday morning (AEST).

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