Jacques Villeneuve's Ferrari claim will concern the rest of the F1 field

Jacques Villeneuve has drawn comparisons between Ferrari’s bright early start to the season and Mercedes‘ recent period of dominance in recent years.

The Scuderia have started this campaign in fine form and look like a team that is ready to challenge once more for both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ championships.

Indeed, they lead the way in both tables at the moment, and they look the strongest package on the grid with them coupling speed and reliability.

Certainly, there are shades of Mercedes’ performance in recent years with the way Ferrari are looking so strong and, whilst it’s early to be saying the Scuderia are going to embark on a run of eight consecutive Constructors’ titles, Villeneuve has clearly been left impressed with what he has seen from the team.

Writing in his latest formule1.nl column, he said:

“Because Charles Leclerc keeps winning. He has the championship under control now.

“Of course, there are still 20 races to go and a lot of work to be done.

“But he has his teammate at bay, the team more or less behind him and a gap to his main rival Max Verstappen.

“In Italy, I’ve been talked to many times, ‘Is this the year, is it really going to happen?’ The Tifosi find it hard to believe.

“You can see them thinking, ‘When will it go wrong?’ Surely they are used to that after the Alonso and Vettel years.

“But Ferrari is very fast, in fact it is the new Mercedes!”

Without a doubt, the Ferrari is the pick of the 2022 bunch at the moment and it is up to the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes to try and reel them in.

With the start the Scuderia have made, though, they will be hoping that this is at last the year they get a championship heading back to Maranello after so long.