Peter Windsor once recalled (in one of his 2005 features in F1 Racing Magazine entitled "Super Villanova") riding with Gilles Villeneuve in a VW hire car. Gilles was flooring the throttle, power-shifting, pushing that rental car to its limit.
It was Gilles Villeneuve's trademark: the uncanny feel for the limit of any car, even normal cars available for the average person. And never once did anyone doubt that Gilles Villeneuve was always on the absolute limit inside his Formula 1 car.
It was Gilles Villeneuve's trademark: the uncanny feel for the limit of any car, even normal cars available for the average person. And never once did anyone doubt that Gilles Villeneuve was always on the absolute limit inside his Formula 1 car.
Villeneuve was a true natural, in every sense of the word. His driving could be described in two words: flat-out. He wasn't the type to think about tallying points, settling for second or third place finishes, if the six or four points were enough to maintain the championship lead. If he was in a position to overtake, he'd go for it in a heartbeat. The only time that he didn't was when he willingly chose to support his teammate Jody Scheckter to win the 1979 Italian GP and consequently, that year's drivers' title.
But team orders aside, Gilles always raced in the fastest possible way he could in any given scenario. Once during a very drenched practice session in Watkins Glen back in 1979, he recorded a lap time 11 seconds quicker than the second fastest man, his teammate Jody Scheckter driving an identical Ferrari 312/T4. That was the type of commitment he had. Where other drivers lifted the throttle to avoid any risk of a shunt, Gilles would floor the pedal the moment he could sense that it was possible to do so. If the back end of the car suddenly felt loose, Gilles would simply flick the steering wheel in the opposite direction, with his foot still pressing hard on the gas, bringing his Formula 1 car in a slide fit for rallying.
Others have criticized him for being crazy. But in Gilles' own words, it's a racing driver's job to go as fast as he/she can. If a racing driver isn't because of the fear of a shunt, than he/she wasn't a racing driver but simply a person who drives racing cars.
Six wins, two pole positions and no titles may look like a lackluster record compared to the racing stats put up by Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio. But Gilles Villeneuve is still easily among the elite.
If one looks beyond the statistics, Gilles Villeneuve was always driving the lesser car. He drove at a time when Scuderia Ferrari was struggling when ground effect and turbo engines took over the world of Formula 1. But despite any technological disadvantage, Gilles still found a way to win. His last two wins in Monaco and Jarama in 1981 were thought to be impossible in a Ferrari 126CK with terrible throttle lag. But Gilles still found a way.
When he did have a turly competitive car underneath him, he was killed in qualifying: a tragic accident in Zolder, the 8th of May 1982. The title that should have been never was.
But despite the lack of the title, Gilles Villeneuve was considered undeniably as the fastest racing driver of his generation. And until this very day, 26 years later, he is still remembered as one of racing's true greats.
Salut Gilles!!!
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