Williams "will never get out of this crisis", according to the once-great F1 team's last world champion, 1997 title winner Jacques Villeneuve.

Villeneuve, outspoken on most F1 issues as he works today as a pundit for Italian television, has been highly critical of his former team as Williams slumped to the back of the grid under Claire Williams' leadership.

"Williams will never get out of this crisis," he told Auto Plus.

"I was just talking about Renault, so to compare (the two teams) - they (Renault) have competent people in the leadership, they have passion in the team. There is a lot of doubt that Williams is still the same.

"When Renault comments on a race, they ask themselves if they did everything right. Williams never do that," Villeneuve added.