Villeneuve, Montoya slam IRL

The pair were both visitors to last weekend's Miami Champ Car race. The drivers said that their time spent racing in CART had taught them valuable lessons before switching to F1.

Villeneuve said: "The IRL hurts CART a lot by doing a cheap series that there was no reason for its existence. What the IRL has created is entertainment. It's not racing.

"It's too bad because there is talent there but it doesn't show and the thing is, it's so dangerous. They have the Indy 500 but the rest of the series is nothing."

The Canadian was also critical of the IRL cars, saying that they have too much downforce, not enough power and claiming "there's no driving skill involved". He added: "Hopefully, the people who are moving to the IRL will regret their move."

Villeneuve is angry that the IRL has been pitched as an all-American series. "They really don't care about that," he said. "It was just an excuse to get the American public and sponsors interested. But now there's not much American left in it, and when it becomes political like that I have a hard time to believe in it."

Montoya echoed Villeneuve's views and also said that the IRL does not offer anything to provide drivers with experience to move on to F1. "When you see them running around side-by-side for 20 laps, it may look good to some people, but that's not racing. They're down on power and everybody's stuck together."

The Colombian won the Indy 500 in an IRL car, but said: "There's no way that winning the Indy 500 could be stronger than winning in Champ Cars."