Jacques Villeneuve h🥃as been told that his criticism of Daniel Riccia♔rdo was false and “simplistic”.

Ex-F1 champion Villeneuve caused a stir at last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix with unexpecᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚtedly scathing words about Ricciardo.

Villeneuve questioned why Ricci🍰ardo was still an F1 driver, prompting a spicy respon🐻se from the popular Aussie.

F1 Nation podcast host Tom Clarkson said about Ricciardo: “He came in🐟 for some criticism from former world champion Jacques Villeneuveไ.

“I don’t know whether that was the source of motivation for Daniel but I’d say i�🌸�t was a really strong weekend for him.

“Certainly his strongest since he came back to F1 in the middle of l🧸ast season.

“I’d say the Daniel of old…”

Natalie Pinkham had her say: “Jacques is entitled to his opinion. I 𒅌think it wa🅰s a somewhat over simplistic view of Daniel’s career.

“To🔜 say he’s been five yea✅rs in the sport, and struggled throughout, isn’t true.

“He lost his seat at McLaren due to poor performance then earned it back at AlphaTauri. Only to breཧak his hand, and earn it back ag🎐ain.

“Jacques is entitled to his opi🐷nion but it was great to see Daniel quieten his critics in꧑ the best possible way, on the track.

“That qualܫy was fantastic. It was disappointing to see him and Yuki lose places at the start. There was an issue there.”

Clarkson said: “They lost places at the 🌊start in Imola too.”

Pinkham continued: “Ironic he𝔍 would gain a penalty for jumping the s🍎tart which still baffles him and pundits around the sport.

“Did you see him move? Potentially the wheel 🅷moved sligh𝓀tly but it didn’t come out of his box to gain an advantage.

“He served the penalty and brou𓆏ght it home in P8, partly because he benefited from Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon coming together.

“On the whole, Canada is a track which suits him. He got his first grand pri🤪x win there so it holds great memories for him.

“There 💯isn’t ꦚa driver on the grid who doesn’t relish going back to places where they perform well.

“You get a psychological boost from that.

“Good ꦦto see Daniel back hushing thos🍌e critics, long may it continue.”

Ricciardo, whose faint hopes of landing the second Red Bull seat in 2025 ended with the♚ renewal of Sergio Perez’s contract, delivered a reminder of his talents ಞin Montreal.

The RB finished eighth, a productive resul♛t after a poor period which prompted Villeneuve’s ♈criticism.