"We were in a 50:50 situation. Jacques followed in his father's footsteps, beginning a racing career three years after Gilles' death. Along the way he put Frentzen firmly in his place. On May 8 1982, Villeneuve was chasing pole position after losing out in his previous race. "I could feel something -- something wrong," he said. Jacques Villeneuve poses for a photo at the 98th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 17, 2014 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. Although he won only six of his 67 races and never managed to win the world title, he was widely admired as one of the most exciting and talented drivers on the circuit. "The minute he died I became a man," said Villeneuve, now 37. Jacques Villeneuve was just eleven when father Gilles was tragically killed in qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. He would regularly pester his mother to allow him to buy a video game from the shop which lined the route back home, though she rarely relented. In the end, the son did what the father never … At school when we were skiing, if there was a cliff to jump I would make sure that I would be the first one to jump, Gilles Villeneuve won the first #CanadianGP in Montreal in 1978. He was born in the small town of Berthierville, Quebec, Canada.He is now frequently known as Uncle Jacques because of the rise of his nephew. However his eventual change to dry tyres wasn't as effective as it could have been. For a year and a half I hadn't been living at home. I probably would have crashed anyway. Now 44 and a fiercely proud patriarch of three sons, Villeneuve speaks eloquently and openly about his father and how he struggled to impress and earn respect from him. "It was, 'Bugger, the whole weekend is thrown away now.' "I remember Monaco when I wasn't driving, and I was just on holiday during the race weekend, and it was amazing. You can still try to salvage a few points, which we tried, but the attrition was much smaller than it had been early on. He was taken to University St Raphael Hospital in Louvain where he was was found to have suffered a fatal neck fracture. 'My father's death drove me on' says Villeneuve. A couple of weeks before the 1997 race I asked him to recall his first outing. "I was frustrated. Drivers. "It was hard for about a week, or two of course, because suddenly you see oh, OK, well that won't be there anymore, mostly when it's someone you look up to, not as a father but as ... and often when you do not have the love of a person, you look up to them even more. So I ended up starting second anyway. 26 Oct 1997: Williams-Renault driver, Jacques Villeneuve of Canada takes the checkered flag during the European Grand Prix in Jerez, Spain. Although he won just six of his 67 races, his style and swagger made him a favorite with motorsport fans. He already knew the circuit from previous F3 outings, and he'd done a lot of street fighting in his three seasons in Formula Atlantic and CART – winning the downtown Miami IndyCar race early in 1995. One of Jacques Villeneuve’s earliest memories is of his father Gilles colouring in his now-famous crash helmet design on a prototype lid as they sat in the family motorhome. And we were part of the attrition! "He wasn't a father basically, for two years. Villeneuve plodded around as best he could – and managed to somehow stay on the track when others hit barriers or each other, including McLaren drivers Hakkinen and Coulthard, and Hill in the Arrows. Despite frequently having the best car Williams had not won in Monaco since Keke Rosberg triumphed in 1983…. "I think set-up wise we were completely out to lunch last year. Young Jacques was only 11 when his father died. However little went right for Villeneuve. Gilles Villeneuve raced in … Born in April 1971 in Quebec and raised in Monaco, young Jacques was able to experience all the upsides and downsides of the life as a Formula One driver's son. 'You've got to brave, take a risk, and it might pay. "I would say the black note where we're concerned has mostly been Monaco," Villeneuve admitted when we discussed his season later that year. I've seen that I've been criticised for having a poor show in qualifying, but normally third is not too bad anyway...". On May 8 1982, Gilles Villeneuve crashed during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix. More than 33 years have passed since the death of Gilles Villeneuve but he is always remembered, memories of one of the sport's most exciting drivers are exchanged and the name which thrilled thousands lives on. His father was a racing driver who was killed in a collision at the qualifier for 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. He won the big prize at the Indianapolis 500 before moving to. I knew it from F3, but the cars are much narrower. However, the death of his father, according to Jacques, was the key factor behind his rise from a self-confessed cry baby to a champion racer. The Canadian bounced back however, and he would eventually win that year's world championship after a dramatic showdown with the Ferrari driver in Jerez. Father – Gilles Villeneuve (Professional Formula One Racing Driver) (d. 1982) Mother – Joann Villeneuve Siblings – Melanie Villeneuve (Sister) ... Lance's father, Lawrence Stroll, is a billionaire investor who reportedly spent $80 million to get his son a … Racing driver Jacques Villeneuve remembers the day as if it was yesterday. To be fair McLaren, who shared the same forecast, put Hakkinen on slicks – but at least the team hedged its bets by giving David Coulthard intermediates. Like many other professions, racing is often passed on from generation to generation, and Jacques Villeneuve inherited the speed gene from his celebrated father Gilles and uncle Jacques. Just two weeks earlier, the Ferrari driver had been left incandescent with rage after his teammate, Didier Pironi, disobeyed team orders to claim victory at the San Marino Grand Prix. There was nothing you could do, it was just sliding and sliding. He claims he was always going to follow in his father's footsteps, though Jacques was just 11 years old when Gilles was killed in 1982. Only on the other tracks Damon was more than a second quicker than the other guys. In 1995, Villeneuve won the the IndyCar title -- a triumph which propelled him into F1. ", Having been lapped by race leader Schumacher, Villeneuve retired with damaged sustained in earlier contact with the barrier, with just 17 laps run. "So the lap time was in the car, but I made mistakes myself. His contemporaries, in tribute, lavished praise on their former opponent. When he decided to become a racer the son of legendary Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve was always going to be a name to watch. "At school when we were skiing, if there was a cliff to jump I would make sure that I would be the first one to jump it and would jump the highest, that no one else could jump.". I was tired like I've never been in F1. I didn't have much choice, so I decided to go, but there wasn't enough room once Luca had decided to turn in, so we touched…". His car was sent hurtling through the air and he suffered a fatal neck break. Just to run salt in the wound the race was won by Olivier Panis, whose Ligier started four places behind Villeneuve in 14th…. "I was on the radio with Jock and I could have come in and changed tyres then, but at that point we thought we took a risk, we might as well go the whole way. In the race the other problem was that we pitted a few laps too late. "There haven't been many international sportsmen from Quebec," he said. "A street course, in a way, is more like rallying. However the Williams team took an unfathomable decision to start both Frentzen and Villeneuve on slicks – in those days teams used their own weather service, and the info received was a little off…. "And Hakkinen would have tried to pass me there. No one would describe 1997 F1 Champion Jacques Villeneuve as reserved. He has a sister, Melanie, and a half-sister, Jessica. His father, Gilles -- a Formula One driver with Ferrari and rising superstar of the era -- had sustained a broken neck after a horrific crash during qualification for the Belgian Grand Prix. The front of the car was destroyed and Villeneuve was thrown in the air, across the track and into the fence. When Mika Hakkinen squeezed past Salo, Villeneuve was under pressure in what had by now become the battle for fifth place. Listen to Father by Jacques Villeneuve for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. Jacques Villeneuve, son of the much admired Gilles, established himself as an international star by winning the 1997 Formula One world title. If someone had watched the screen when Michael was doing his final lap, then we would have known. WATCH our circuit guide to find out >> https://t.co/2lcvtFxLCo. "To have this amazing event, because F1 is a huge sport, where it brings people together from the whole world is very special. His funeral was held three days later in Quebec, Canada. Joann Villeneuve, wife of the late great Formula 1 legend Gilles Villeneuve and mother of Canada’s only Formula 1 Champion, Jacques Villeneuve, recently took a trip down memory lane. Johnny went ahead of Badoer and I had to go as well, because the next corner was the Loews, and the thing is I couldn't overtake anyone there, because I didn't have enough lock on the steering. Like Villeneuve he was never able to follow his father into the Monaco history books. ', "Just when we left for the formation lap, it started raining again, so then I knew we were screwed. His son, Jacques, would carry on his legacy — and then some. I was driving as fast as I could, but at the same time I was lifting 50 metres before the braking area, and Mika Salo was just behind me. At 9.12 pm that night, he was pronounced dead. He signed a two-year deal with Williams and won his first race in the fourth round in Germany. It was hardly the ideal tool with which to thread the needle around the streets of the principality, and yet he did it. "Just the whole weekend was heavy going. The Canadian Formula One Grand Prix will be held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this weekend. One of several sons to follow a father into Formula 1, Jacques Villeneuve says his 1997 success put an end to ‘son of Gilles’ label. I wanted to pit earlier, but it was one of the first times where I got a wet/dry situation, and they didn't put enough fuel in the car. For his son, the reverence with which his father his held in is no more evident than in his native Canada and in Quebec where he grew up. "It's really strange. So it's a weird race, a difficult weekend, then it's a great party on Sunday. So what about that fateful decision? It left an inevitable void in his life, but it also made him stronger. At Zolder, Villeneuve had wanted to ensure he started ahead of Pironi, who led qualifying -- but on his final lap, disaster struck. During his time in F1, he won 11 races, recorded 23 podiums and claimed 13 pole positions. "We're going to be starting last anyway, if we go into the pits, we might as well really risk it. "Once in a while I would get closer to Johnny, and I thought OK these two laps I will try, but then I had to save fuel. It thus seemed logical to expect a stellar performance from him. By the time he was 15 he enrolled at Jim Russell Racing Driver's school in Quebec where his late father had learned his craft. With Jock [Clear], my engineer, we have very different ideas for this year's set-up [1997]. I was tempted to go with intermediate tyres, but then the rain stopped. It was not really wet at the start/finish line, but it was wet at the Casino. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. "But I was only 0.3sec behind, which was not much on a track where I was useless last year. The track, a few miles north of Jacques Villeneuve's birthplace of St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, is named after his father, who died driving a Formula One car in 1982. ", "There wasn't even a family unit anymore and it was, you know it was the other generation where daughters were loved but not sons, so it was a little bit strange.". But it was too late...". Instead Villeneuve's first Monaco GP was to prove a disaster, and his second start in 1997 was to be just as catastrophic, and the biggest disappointment of his title-winning season. The day was an even bigger nightmare for Hill, who led in some style until suffering an engine failure. In his brief career, he was one of Canada’s best high-speed racers. "We screwed up on the strategy, we took a big gamble, and it didn't pay off…". MONTREAL—Fans in the packed grandstands at the Canadian Grand Prix stood and cheered as Jacques Villeneuve toured the track in the car his father … It eased for a while, but rain was still in the air, and the track was damp. Smiling, he walked back with his new video game that Friday afternoon. Jacques Villeneuve, Williams FW19 Renault, followed by Jean Alesi, Benetton and Mika Hakkinen, McLaren and Eddie Irvine, Ferrari. The way you walk around, you have no room to work. There's no doubt that his famous 1981 victory in the 1981 Monaco GP plays a big part in the Gilles Villeneuve legend. Just two years after Gilles’ death, 13-year-old Jacques Villeneuve expressed a desire to follow his father into motor racing. I'm not sure it's going to work, but it should.". Villeneuve's father eventually became a Ferrari Formula One driver, finishing runner-up in the 1979season and winning six Grands Prix. When Villeneuve was eleven years old, his father was killed during the quali… You never get that ultimate line, that ultimate whatever, because the track from year to year changes slightly, the grip levels changes. However, as the race start drew close, it began to rain. [16] His mother, Joann, promised she would allow him to drive a kart if he got good marks in one of his weakest subjects, mathematics. "It was dreadful. Jacques Villeneuve twice went to the Monaco Grand Prix with a car that could have won and thus allow him to emulate the achievement of his father Gilles, but instead he endured two of the worst races of his peak years with Williams. As he said, it wasn't too bad a place to start, and history has often shown that starting on the racing line helped to propel the third-place qualifier past the second in the run to Ste Devote. Damon was quick right away, and set-up wise we were forced to go in a very, very far direction from what I thought. While the world will watch on and wait to see if drivers' leader Lewis Hamilton can get his title campaign back on track after losing out at Monaco, Villeneuve's thoughts may be elsewhere. As the cars cruised round to the grid, Villeneuve knew he was in trouble. “It was just great to waive to the crowd and see them react to the car, it was a great moment,” said Jacques Villeneuve following his lap around the track. 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