Gilles Villeneuve

Canadian racing driver

Gilles Villeneuve and the Ferrari years

Gilles Villeneuve raced for Ferrari from 1977 to 1982, won six Grands Prix, and finished runner up in the 1979 championship.

Gilles Villeneuve was born in Saint Jean sur Richelieu, Quebec, on 18 January 1950. He started out racing snowmobiles, then won the regional Formula Ford championship in 1973 and moved up to Formula Atlantic, where he took Canadian titles in 1976 and 1977 and the American title in 1976.

McLaren gave him his Grand Prix debut at the 1977 British Grand Prix, and that one appearance was enough for Enzo Ferrari to sign him. He made his first starts for Ferrari before the end of 1977, after Niki Lauda left the team. In 1978 his first podium came in Austria, and at the season finale he won his home race in Canada at the Île Notre Dame Circuit in Montreal.

The 1979 season was his strongest. He won in South Africa, at Long Beach and at Watkins Glen and finished runner up to teammate Jody Scheckter, four points behind. That year's French Grand Prix, where he fought René Arnoux for second place, is still widely remembered. After a winless 1980 he won back to back races at Monaco and in Spain in 1981.

Villeneuve died on 8 May 1982 after a collision with Jochen Mass during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. In 67 starts he scored 6 wins, 2 pole positions, 8 fastest laps and 13 podiums. The Montreal circuit where he won in 1978 was renamed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in his honor.

0 world titles, 6 wins, 2 pole positions, 67 starts.

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