April 9, 1971
Jacques Villeneuve
(Photo credit: Jacques Villeneuve via photopin (license))
Born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.
Villeneuve is the son of Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame member and racing legend Gilles Villeneuve and raised in Monaco. His uncle, Jacques Sr., was the 1983 Can-Am Champion and in 1985 at Road America became the first Canadian to win a CART race. When Villeneuve was eleven years old, his father was killed during the qualifying session for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder following a collision with Jochen Mass.
In 1984, two years after his father's death, Villeneuve asked his mother if he could follow his father's footsteps and go motor racing. His mother, Joann, promised she would allow him to drive a kart if he got good marks in one of his weakest subjects, mathematics. Villeneuve applied himself at school and soon got the marks he required for his mother to fulfill her promise. A year later, Joann allowed him to drive a 100 cc kart at a kart track in Imola. The owners of the track, Luigi and Massimo Buratti, were impressed by the Canadian and after proving himself in a 100 cc machine, he moved up to the 135 cc version before, on the same day, being allowed onto the Grand Prix circuit with a Formula Four car. Soon, Villeneuve's uncle, Jacques Sr., enrolled him at the Jim Russell Racing Driver School in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Villeneuve's course lasted three days and in that time the Canadian demonstrated a great amount of concentration for a boy of his age. At the end of his course, the young Canadian received his diploma and chief instructor Gilbert Pednault declared Villeneuve as the best student he'd ever seen. During the summer of 1987, Villeneuve attended a racing school set up by former instructor Richard Spenard. In return for helping in the garage, the Canadian received guidance in terms of race craft as he attempted to hone his skills. At the age of seventeen, Villeneuve was too young to obtain a racing license in both his native Canada and Italy and so, with help from the Canadian Automotive Federation, got a license from Andorra. In 1988, the seventeen-year-old entered the Alfa Cup and, against former Formula One drivers Johnny Cecotto and Mauro Baldi, finished the two legged race in tenth position. Two weeks later at Monza, Villeneuve was up against the likes of Riccardo Patrese and Nicola Larini.
Villeneuve competed in the Italian Formula Three series from 1989 through 1991, but failed to make an impression. In 1992, he raced in the Japanese Formula Three series with the TOM's team, winning three races and placing second in the championship, as well as third in the non-championship Macau Grand Prix.
Villeneuve soon received an invitation from Craig Pollock to compete as a one-off in the Trois Rivières Formula Atlantic race, Villeneuve finished the race third and Pollock was impressed by Villeneuve, leading him to arrange for the Canadian to race in the North American Toyota Atlantic series for the upcoming season. During the 1993 season, Villeneuve took seven pole positions and five race victories from the 15 races. However, a few crucial driving errors cost the Canadian the series title and so finished his debut season third in the standings.
His Forsythe-Green team took Villeneuve up a level into the IndyCar championship in 1994. In his first year, Villeneuve came second at that year's Indianapolis 500 and won his first race at Road America, the circuit where his uncle had become the first Canadian to win a CART race nine years before. Villeneuve finished the season in sixth position and the Rookie of the Year award.
Villeneuve started the 1995 campaign strongly, winning the first race on the streets of Miami. Along with the win in Miami came three other victories, the most significant of which came at Indianapolis for the Indy 500. Despite a mid-race two lap penalty, Villeneuve fought his way back up through the field. Running second with less than 10 laps to go, Villeneuve claimed the lead from fellow Canadian Scott Goodyear after Goodyear was penalized for having passed the pace-car before the restart. With Goodyear out of the picture Villeneuve went on to win the race by two seconds over Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi.
His performances, as well as his family name, brought him to the attention of Frank Williams, Managerial Director of the Williams Grand Prix team. Williams signed him to his Formula One team for 1996 and Villeneuve began testing the Williams F1 car in 1995 after the IndyCar season. Villeneuve was the last CART IndyCar World Series champion before the 1996 CART/IRL split.
Villeneuve impressed during his debut race in Australia, taking pole position and almost won the race. But due to an oil leak Villeneuve was forced to slow down and allow team mate Damon Hill to pass and take victory at the opening round of the Championship, the Canadian however did manage to hold onto second place.
Villeneuve won his first Formula One race at the fourth round at the Nürburgring despite coming under pressure from the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher. Villeneuve won a further three races and managed to take the title to the final round at Suzuka. In the end, Hill won the race while Villeneuve retired on the 37th lap after his right-rear wheel came off. Having won 4 races in his debut season, Villeneuve took the record for most wins in his first championship season. He also become the first driver in Formula One history to finish second in his first championship season.
Hill was dropped by Williams for 1997, making Villeneuve the team's lead driver. Villeneuve once again challenged for the title, but instead of Hill, the Canadian found himself battling with then double World Champion Michael Schumacher. David Coulthard took the opening race in Australia but Villeneuve took the next two wins in Brazil and Argentina. Five more victories came that season at the Spanish, British, Hungarian, Austrian and Luxembourg Grand Prix. Villeneuve also claimed ten pole positions. His main rival Schumacher had five wins of his own to set up a showdown at the final race of the season. At Suzuka, Villeneuve started on pole but was placed at the back of the grid after ignoring yellow flags during Saturday practice. An appeal by Williams saw his position reinstated. However, Villeneuve finished 5th but was disqualified from the race leaving Schumacher leading the Drivers Championship by one point. The title was decided at the final round in Jerez. Villeneuve came out on top and won the World Championship in only his second season, but the race was remembered for a collision between himself and title rival Schumacher. As Villeneuve passed Schumacher at the Dry Sac corner during the 48th lap, the German turned into the Canadian's car, leaving Villeneuve with a damaged sidepod. Villeneuve recovered however and took third place and the title while Schumacher retired and was disqualified from the Championship.
Villeneuve's career went into sharp decline following his World Championship title. Remaining with Williams in 1998, he struggled with an underpowered Mecachrome engine which were basically rebadged Renault V10 engines from the previous season that despite some development had been overtaken in power by both Ferrari and the Mercedes-Benz powered McLarens. He failed to win a single race, although he did finish on the podium twice in Germany and Hungary. Villeneuve finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship.
In 1999, Villeneuve joined the newly founded British American Racing team, co-founded and partly owned by Villeneuve's personal manager, Craig Pollock, and by Adrian Reynard.
(photo credit: Jacques Villeneuve (BAR Supertec) via photopin (license))
Villeneuve would remain in Formula One until 2006, with a career total of 163 starts, 11 wins, 23 podiums, 235 points, and 13 pole positions, while driving for 5 different teams, Williams, BAR, Renault, Sauber and BMW Sauber.
On January 10, 2007, at the launch of the 908 HDi FAP diesel-powered Le Mans prototype, Villeneuve was confirmed as one of Peugeot Sport's nine drivers for the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans. This was his first drive in a sportscar since working with Toyota in 1992. For the race, Villeneuve shared the No.7 car with Marc Gené and Nicolas Minassian. Villeneuve set the fastest time of the three drivers in qualifying to put the car into fourth place on the starting grid. The car ran second for much of the race before pitting with engine problems at 12:39 pm. The car was officially retired at 1.42pm with only 100 minutes left of the race, after the team decided the problem could not be fixed. In the 2008 race, Villeneuve and his Nº 7 Peugeot team finished 2nd. The team led for several hours but would lose their in the 15th hour during a pitstop.
It was announced on August 24, 2007 that Villeneuve would run the remaining seven races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driving a Toyota Tundra for Bill Davis Racing and undertake a full-time Sprint Cup schedule in 2008. In Villeneuve's first Truck Series race on September 22, 2007, in Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he qualified in seventh position, and finished 21st. He made his NASCAR Nextel Cup race debut in the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama over the weekend of October 5–7, 2007. He qualified sixth, however, due to his lack of experience in this type of car, he elected to start the race from the back of the field and ran there for most of the race. He finished 21st due to a large number of accidents and mechanical failure on the other cars. Villeneuve failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500. He lost his ride in Bill Davis Racing's No. 27 car due to a loss of sponsorship, two days after he caused a pileup in his qualifying race, when his car got loose, then slid back up the track, colliding with another car. He took part in the Nationwide race in Montreal for Braun Racing. The race started off in the sun, but before halfway, it began to rain and the teams were told to pit and use rain-tires, for the first time in NASCAR. Qualifying 5th, Villeneuve finished 16th after crashing into a car during a caution caused by poor visibility due to the rain.
With no sponsor for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Villeneuve joined the Speedcar Series for the remainder of the 2008 season. The series is composed of road courses and stockcars similar to NASCAR and Villeneuve said "On a personal level, Speedcar will give me more road racing experience with this kind of cars which will be useful in future NASCAR road course events and it's also a great excuse to meet race fans." He raced four times with a best finish of sixth place.
In 2009, Villeneuve had two starts in the Canadian Tire Series. His best start was fifth and his best finish was fourth, both in the August 2009 event at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres. Villeneuve also had two starts in the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series, both for Braun Racing, with his best performance starting sixth and finishing fourth at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, again under wet conditions. He was then tabbed to drive the No. 32 car in Montreal and at Road America in 2010. At Road America, he qualified second and stayed in second place for much of the race including leading three laps. He was unable to complete the race since an alternator wire broke on the final lap; he was credited with a 25th place finish as the first car one lap down. For 2011 Villeneuve agreed to take over for Brad Keselowski in the number 22 car for Penske Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for two races which Keselowski could not attend. He started and finished third at Road America and won the pole at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve before finishing 27th.
In 2014 it was announced that Villeneuve will be taking part in the FIA World Rallycross Championship with Albatec Racing in a Peugeot 208. In February 2014 Albatec released Villeneuve from his contract to race in the UK round of the World Rallycross Championship so that he can race in the Indy 500 for Schmidt Peterson Motorsport. Villeneuve finished in a respectable 14th place at the 98th Indianapolis 500, after an absence of 19 years.
Outside of racing, Villeneuve the musician
(Photo; fr.canoe.ca)
released an album in 2007 titled Private Paradise.
Villeneuve also appeared briefly in the 2001 Sylvester Stallone action movie Driven as a race car driver. In 2010 Villeneuve was one of several celebrity Canadians who carried the Olympic flag into Vancouver Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympic Games. He also carried the Olympic torch.
Villeneuve was among the first group inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Also he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. He was named Canada's Athlete of the Year, receiving the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1995 and 1997. In 1998, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec.
Born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.
Villeneuve is the son of Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame member and racing legend Gilles Villeneuve and raised in Monaco. His uncle, Jacques Sr., was the 1983 Can-Am Champion and in 1985 at Road America became the first Canadian to win a CART race. When Villeneuve was eleven years old, his father was killed during the qualifying session for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder following a collision with Jochen Mass.
In 1984, two years after his father's death, Villeneuve asked his mother if he could follow his father's footsteps and go motor racing. His mother, Joann, promised she would allow him to drive a kart if he got good marks in one of his weakest subjects, mathematics. Villeneuve applied himself at school and soon got the marks he required for his mother to fulfill her promise. A year later, Joann allowed him to drive a 100 cc kart at a kart track in Imola. The owners of the track, Luigi and Massimo Buratti, were impressed by the Canadian and after proving himself in a 100 cc machine, he moved up to the 135 cc version before, on the same day, being allowed onto the Grand Prix circuit with a Formula Four car. Soon, Villeneuve's uncle, Jacques Sr., enrolled him at the Jim Russell Racing Driver School in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Villeneuve's course lasted three days and in that time the Canadian demonstrated a great amount of concentration for a boy of his age. At the end of his course, the young Canadian received his diploma and chief instructor Gilbert Pednault declared Villeneuve as the best student he'd ever seen. During the summer of 1987, Villeneuve attended a racing school set up by former instructor Richard Spenard. In return for helping in the garage, the Canadian received guidance in terms of race craft as he attempted to hone his skills. At the age of seventeen, Villeneuve was too young to obtain a racing license in both his native Canada and Italy and so, with help from the Canadian Automotive Federation, got a license from Andorra. In 1988, the seventeen-year-old entered the Alfa Cup and, against former Formula One drivers Johnny Cecotto and Mauro Baldi, finished the two legged race in tenth position. Two weeks later at Monza, Villeneuve was up against the likes of Riccardo Patrese and Nicola Larini.
Villeneuve competed in the Italian Formula Three series from 1989 through 1991, but failed to make an impression. In 1992, he raced in the Japanese Formula Three series with the TOM's team, winning three races and placing second in the championship, as well as third in the non-championship Macau Grand Prix.
Villeneuve soon received an invitation from Craig Pollock to compete as a one-off in the Trois Rivières Formula Atlantic race, Villeneuve finished the race third and Pollock was impressed by Villeneuve, leading him to arrange for the Canadian to race in the North American Toyota Atlantic series for the upcoming season. During the 1993 season, Villeneuve took seven pole positions and five race victories from the 15 races. However, a few crucial driving errors cost the Canadian the series title and so finished his debut season third in the standings.
His Forsythe-Green team took Villeneuve up a level into the IndyCar championship in 1994. In his first year, Villeneuve came second at that year's Indianapolis 500 and won his first race at Road America, the circuit where his uncle had become the first Canadian to win a CART race nine years before. Villeneuve finished the season in sixth position and the Rookie of the Year award.
Villeneuve started the 1995 campaign strongly, winning the first race on the streets of Miami. Along with the win in Miami came three other victories, the most significant of which came at Indianapolis for the Indy 500. Despite a mid-race two lap penalty, Villeneuve fought his way back up through the field. Running second with less than 10 laps to go, Villeneuve claimed the lead from fellow Canadian Scott Goodyear after Goodyear was penalized for having passed the pace-car before the restart. With Goodyear out of the picture Villeneuve went on to win the race by two seconds over Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi.
His performances, as well as his family name, brought him to the attention of Frank Williams, Managerial Director of the Williams Grand Prix team. Williams signed him to his Formula One team for 1996 and Villeneuve began testing the Williams F1 car in 1995 after the IndyCar season. Villeneuve was the last CART IndyCar World Series champion before the 1996 CART/IRL split.
Villeneuve impressed during his debut race in Australia, taking pole position and almost won the race. But due to an oil leak Villeneuve was forced to slow down and allow team mate Damon Hill to pass and take victory at the opening round of the Championship, the Canadian however did manage to hold onto second place.
Villeneuve won his first Formula One race at the fourth round at the Nürburgring despite coming under pressure from the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher. Villeneuve won a further three races and managed to take the title to the final round at Suzuka. In the end, Hill won the race while Villeneuve retired on the 37th lap after his right-rear wheel came off. Having won 4 races in his debut season, Villeneuve took the record for most wins in his first championship season. He also become the first driver in Formula One history to finish second in his first championship season.
Hill was dropped by Williams for 1997, making Villeneuve the team's lead driver. Villeneuve once again challenged for the title, but instead of Hill, the Canadian found himself battling with then double World Champion Michael Schumacher. David Coulthard took the opening race in Australia but Villeneuve took the next two wins in Brazil and Argentina. Five more victories came that season at the Spanish, British, Hungarian, Austrian and Luxembourg Grand Prix. Villeneuve also claimed ten pole positions. His main rival Schumacher had five wins of his own to set up a showdown at the final race of the season. At Suzuka, Villeneuve started on pole but was placed at the back of the grid after ignoring yellow flags during Saturday practice. An appeal by Williams saw his position reinstated. However, Villeneuve finished 5th but was disqualified from the race leaving Schumacher leading the Drivers Championship by one point. The title was decided at the final round in Jerez. Villeneuve came out on top and won the World Championship in only his second season, but the race was remembered for a collision between himself and title rival Schumacher. As Villeneuve passed Schumacher at the Dry Sac corner during the 48th lap, the German turned into the Canadian's car, leaving Villeneuve with a damaged sidepod. Villeneuve recovered however and took third place and the title while Schumacher retired and was disqualified from the Championship.
Villeneuve's career went into sharp decline following his World Championship title. Remaining with Williams in 1998, he struggled with an underpowered Mecachrome engine which were basically rebadged Renault V10 engines from the previous season that despite some development had been overtaken in power by both Ferrari and the Mercedes-Benz powered McLarens. He failed to win a single race, although he did finish on the podium twice in Germany and Hungary. Villeneuve finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship.
In 1999, Villeneuve joined the newly founded British American Racing team, co-founded and partly owned by Villeneuve's personal manager, Craig Pollock, and by Adrian Reynard.
Villeneuve would remain in Formula One until 2006, with a career total of 163 starts, 11 wins, 23 podiums, 235 points, and 13 pole positions, while driving for 5 different teams, Williams, BAR, Renault, Sauber and BMW Sauber.
On January 10, 2007, at the launch of the 908 HDi FAP diesel-powered Le Mans prototype, Villeneuve was confirmed as one of Peugeot Sport's nine drivers for the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans. This was his first drive in a sportscar since working with Toyota in 1992. For the race, Villeneuve shared the No.7 car with Marc Gené and Nicolas Minassian. Villeneuve set the fastest time of the three drivers in qualifying to put the car into fourth place on the starting grid. The car ran second for much of the race before pitting with engine problems at 12:39 pm. The car was officially retired at 1.42pm with only 100 minutes left of the race, after the team decided the problem could not be fixed. In the 2008 race, Villeneuve and his Nº 7 Peugeot team finished 2nd. The team led for several hours but would lose their in the 15th hour during a pitstop.
It was announced on August 24, 2007 that Villeneuve would run the remaining seven races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driving a Toyota Tundra for Bill Davis Racing and undertake a full-time Sprint Cup schedule in 2008. In Villeneuve's first Truck Series race on September 22, 2007, in Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he qualified in seventh position, and finished 21st. He made his NASCAR Nextel Cup race debut in the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama over the weekend of October 5–7, 2007. He qualified sixth, however, due to his lack of experience in this type of car, he elected to start the race from the back of the field and ran there for most of the race. He finished 21st due to a large number of accidents and mechanical failure on the other cars. Villeneuve failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500. He lost his ride in Bill Davis Racing's No. 27 car due to a loss of sponsorship, two days after he caused a pileup in his qualifying race, when his car got loose, then slid back up the track, colliding with another car. He took part in the Nationwide race in Montreal for Braun Racing. The race started off in the sun, but before halfway, it began to rain and the teams were told to pit and use rain-tires, for the first time in NASCAR. Qualifying 5th, Villeneuve finished 16th after crashing into a car during a caution caused by poor visibility due to the rain.
With no sponsor for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Villeneuve joined the Speedcar Series for the remainder of the 2008 season. The series is composed of road courses and stockcars similar to NASCAR and Villeneuve said "On a personal level, Speedcar will give me more road racing experience with this kind of cars which will be useful in future NASCAR road course events and it's also a great excuse to meet race fans." He raced four times with a best finish of sixth place.
In 2009, Villeneuve had two starts in the Canadian Tire Series. His best start was fifth and his best finish was fourth, both in the August 2009 event at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres. Villeneuve also had two starts in the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series, both for Braun Racing, with his best performance starting sixth and finishing fourth at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, again under wet conditions. He was then tabbed to drive the No. 32 car in Montreal and at Road America in 2010. At Road America, he qualified second and stayed in second place for much of the race including leading three laps. He was unable to complete the race since an alternator wire broke on the final lap; he was credited with a 25th place finish as the first car one lap down. For 2011 Villeneuve agreed to take over for Brad Keselowski in the number 22 car for Penske Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for two races which Keselowski could not attend. He started and finished third at Road America and won the pole at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve before finishing 27th.
In 2014 it was announced that Villeneuve will be taking part in the FIA World Rallycross Championship with Albatec Racing in a Peugeot 208. In February 2014 Albatec released Villeneuve from his contract to race in the UK round of the World Rallycross Championship so that he can race in the Indy 500 for Schmidt Peterson Motorsport. Villeneuve finished in a respectable 14th place at the 98th Indianapolis 500, after an absence of 19 years.
Outside of racing, Villeneuve the musician
released an album in 2007 titled Private Paradise.
Villeneuve also appeared briefly in the 2001 Sylvester Stallone action movie Driven as a race car driver. In 2010 Villeneuve was one of several celebrity Canadians who carried the Olympic flag into Vancouver Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympic Games. He also carried the Olympic torch.
Villeneuve was among the first group inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Also he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. He was named Canada's Athlete of the Year, receiving the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1995 and 1997. In 1998, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec.
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