It's been twenty five years since Gilles Villeneuve died
When I was a kid growing up in Canada, I first got into Formula One racing when Gilles Villeneuve took the Grand Prix world by storm. After dominating Formula Atlantic for a couple of years, he ran a couple of races with McLaren at the end of the 1977 season. Shortly after that he signed with Ferarri as second to Carlos Reutemann and really captured the F1 world's attention at the Long Beach Grand Prix where he flung his car around on the beach front streets, leading the first half of the race before crashing – something that happened all too often in his career.
At the end of a tumultuous rookie season, he won his first race at home in Montreal at the track that would ultimately be renamed in his honor. He finished second in the 1979 championship to new teammate Jody Sheckter before a couple of fallow years with Ferrari. In 1982, as the Italian team was making a resurgence, teammate Didier Pironi ignored team orders at the Imola race and passed Villeneuve for the win. At the next race in Belgium, Gilles went all out in qualifying to beat Pironi and pushed too hard, crashing into Jochen Mass. His Ferrari was launched into the air and came down nose first. The crash took his life, and one of tne of the most exciting drivers of all time was gone. Villeneuve may not have been the best technical driver, but watching him force some evil handling cars around a track was always a pleasure, and F1 has never been the same since. There is a tribute video from YouTube after the jump.
[Source: F1-Live]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
spookthehamster 7:11PM (5/08/2007)
An amazing driver, the sport needs some no nonsense drivers like him about. I'm not too sure about that video, not only has it got some awful music, but the end is a little too much.
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Bert 7:23PM (5/08/2007)
Salut Gilles!
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C\\\'est Raoul 8:27PM (5/08/2007)
http://cgingras.com/poolf1/index.php?2005/02/26/33-arnoux-villeneuve-le-video
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FingerSled 11:07PM (5/11/2007)
This story may not be true but...
A friend of a friend of a friend of mine knew Gilles and, apparently, some guy went for a drive with him. Apparently, Gilles and this guy went for a crazy drive where Gilles crashed the car(Corvette)and the car was still driveable so, Gilles re-fired the engine and continued to drive crazy as if nothing had happened.----Mean while the guy was shaking like a leaf.---Gilles never thought anything of the crash.
That story has been going around Canada for years. I believe it!----Race car drivers are nuts!!!
NO FEAR! NO FEAR! NO FEAR!
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Rocket Punch 12:16AM (5/09/2007)
RIP Gilles. Your 312T will forever be one my favorite F1 machine!
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Bob 12:36AM (5/09/2007)
I was born in 88 so i never met you, but i have hear about you, when f1 come to montreal, people still talk about you. Gilles Villeneuve, one thing that i think is that your family have the speed in the blood. Jacque Villeneuve just took a bad road...
Tu peux vivre en paix. Tu devrais etre fier de ton fils, meme s'il est sur une route plein de nil de poule.
http://mininova.wordpress.com/
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Jesús Salgado 1:54AM (5/09/2007)
Your article has a mistake because Gilles only drove one race for Mclaren, that was also his first race in F1, where he did a great race qualifying in seventh, but the M23 wasnt in good conditions to finish in a better position than in eleventh because a faulty temperature gauge.
Gilles was unique in F1 giving amazing battles for the public.
Gilles Villeneuve ti recordiamo.
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kanadian 7:45AM (5/09/2007)
A true example of courage and genuine will to win!
Salut Gilles V
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bruce 8:54AM (5/09/2007)
I was born later in the summer after Gilles Villeneuve died. My dad still tells me about him every time we watch an F1 race in Indy or on TV. My dad was racing in an amateur rally series at the time and Villeneuve's wreck made him settle down some and give up the dream of racing professionally. That meant I got the benefit of having a gear head for a dad who was home every night in the garage teaching.
Gilles Villeneuve will always be special to my dad, and therefor he is special to me.
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bao 9:57AM (5/09/2007)
Great to see that people remember Gilles after all these years. I was eight growing up in Montreal's little Italy when he died. Gilles was my boyhood hero. The cafes would always show the races on Sunday and everyone was welcomed to cheer Ferrari and Gilles. I can still remember all my neighbours in tears and the mood was somber for weeks. I wore a button of Gilles on my jacket for years after that. Of course, I followed Senna afterwards and because they were both of them so focus on being at the limit, they could cheat death just so many time. Gilles was different than all the other F1 drivers, he did it on his own without money from anyone in the most exclusive sport on earth. Gilles used the talent he had, his dedication to be the best and with the upmost integrity. I will be there at your track this June. Salut Gilles!
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Evotec 10:20AM (5/09/2007)
He seemed like a nice guy....too bad.
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Jack 10:03PM (5/09/2007)
As a Canadian teenager Gilles was my hero, I loved his driving style - always on the edge. I remember that fateful day when my hero died, the image burned into my memory - a very sad day.
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Snix 8:57AM (5/11/2007)
Can you imagine if he had lived and raced long enough to meet Senna? Gilles death was only 3 years before Senna made his debut in 1985. 1987-1990 probably would have been amazing.
But it is not to be. R.I.P. both to Gilles and Ayrton.
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