The two former Formula 1 World Champions and bitter rivals at least agree on one point: an excellent driver cannot do miracles behind the wheel of an average race car.
The Canadian is back home in Montreal after having spent the winter in Europe trying to find a ride in Formula 1 for this season.
Villeneuve understands Michael Schumacher's problems at the wheel of the Mercedes W01.
"Well, in fact, Michael has done quite well in the first three races of the year," Villeneuve told Auto123.com.
"His lap times were really close to those of (Nico) Rosberg. On several occasions, he was just a few tenths away. It's only in China that Michael didn't do very well," Villeneuve said.
The Canadian explained that no driver can compensate for the deficiencies of his race car. After his experience with BAR, Villeneuve knows very well what he's talking about.
"When it rains, fans have no idea how a badly set-up car is nearly impossible to drive," Villeneuve said.
"The current cars are extremely sensitive. Michael is experiencing handling problems on dry pavement caused by weight imbalance. He is a little bit heavier than Rosberg. That has an influence on the position and height of the centre of gravity of his car. Michael then tries to overcome the problem by running some fancy suspension set-ups. That puts a band-aid on the problem but it does not solve it," Villeneuve added.
Qualifying for the Grand Prix of China was done on dry pavement while the race was run in the wet. Since the teams are not allowed to modify the cars when they are locked in the Parc Fermé, Schumacher had to contest the Grand Prix with his W01 set-up for the dry
"When you have no grip on the dry tarmac, how can you expect to have more in the rain?" Villeneuve pointed out.
"If the set-up does not work on dry pavement, things will only get worse in the rain. Michael was stuck to drive a car that was nearly impossible to drive. It's the only occasion this season he did not perform very well."
The Canadian is back home in Montreal after having spent the winter in Europe trying to find a ride in Formula 1 for this season.
Villeneuve understands Michael Schumacher's problems at the wheel of the Mercedes W01.
"Well, in fact, Michael has done quite well in the first three races of the year," Villeneuve told Auto123.com.
"His lap times were really close to those of (Nico) Rosberg. On several occasions, he was just a few tenths away. It's only in China that Michael didn't do very well," Villeneuve said.
The Canadian explained that no driver can compensate for the deficiencies of his race car. After his experience with BAR, Villeneuve knows very well what he's talking about.
"When it rains, fans have no idea how a badly set-up car is nearly impossible to drive," Villeneuve said.
"The current cars are extremely sensitive. Michael is experiencing handling problems on dry pavement caused by weight imbalance. He is a little bit heavier than Rosberg. That has an influence on the position and height of the centre of gravity of his car. Michael then tries to overcome the problem by running some fancy suspension set-ups. That puts a band-aid on the problem but it does not solve it," Villeneuve added.
Qualifying for the Grand Prix of China was done on dry pavement while the race was run in the wet. Since the teams are not allowed to modify the cars when they are locked in the Parc Fermé, Schumacher had to contest the Grand Prix with his W01 set-up for the dry
"When you have no grip on the dry tarmac, how can you expect to have more in the rain?" Villeneuve pointed out.
"If the set-up does not work on dry pavement, things will only get worse in the rain. Michael was stuck to drive a car that was nearly impossible to drive. It's the only occasion this season he did not perform very well."