Joseph Gilles Henri Villeneuve was born in Quebec, Canada, on January 18th 1950. -Enzo Ferrari And the visibility was terrible! When Hunt got back to Europe he contacted Teddy Mayer, head of McLaren at the time, and told him about the kid who had beated him, insisting to Mayer to give him a chance to race. She told him “If Pironi is leading, you better tell him to slow down, otherwise Gilles WILL push him out of the track.At the next race at Zolder, during qualifying, Gilles was struggleing to match the times of Pironi, who was beating him by one tenth of second. Although impressed, the McLaren team was still not happy with the fact that Gilles spun the car so many times that they lost the count. Gilles got some serious fans, all saying to have got the “Villeneuve fever”1982 could have been his year, but fate chose something else. According to Mass, he did see Gilles in his mirrors, and moved to right since he said that way, it wouldn’t get in the way of Gilles’ racing line. Both cars moved to the right, Villeneuve tried to veer, but it was of no use, the front left tyre of the Ferrari collided with the rear of Jochen’s car. Gilles was able to walk away of the car by his own.Enzo Ferrari was astonished to see the underneaths of his car on the newspaper, under the tite of “Crazy Canadian”. It all started at Imola, Gilles led in front of his teammate Didier Pironi. -Niki Lauda Personally I did. Scheckter won the championship, with Gilles finishing second, 4 points behind.Things didn’t get any better for Gilles on 1980, with a 312T5 that was everything but competitive. Gilles teammate Carlos Reutemann said in an interview concerning his teammate “one day I had Niki Lauda, and the next, this maniac”. Those things used to slide a lot, which taught me a great deal about control. You can only compete like that with someone you really trust, and there is not many people like that This week on F1's official podcast - Beyond The Grid, supported by Bose - the amiable Frenchman talks us through his memorable career, regaling Tom with anecdotes of partying with former team mate James Hunt, Villeneuve’s madcap antics off-track and that turbulent Ferrari period… Listen to the full episode below. He was already 27 years old, married and had two children named Jacques and Melanie, however he didn’t have a stable income. On the next race, Japan, Gilles crashed with a Tyrrell and his car flew through the air. Good for the reactions — and it stopped me having any worries about racing in the rain. Enzo loved him, and formed a teacher-student relationship with Gilles.3 more incidents were to come on the begginig of the 1978 season (Brazil,US,Monaco), however they could not argue with Gilles’ skill and speed, his car was constantly seen going airborne, (even when he didn’t crash) which gained him the nickname of “the aviator”.However Villeneuve’s real take off happened that same year, at the 1978 Canadian GP, the last race of the season. When he asked what team was the man from, only one word came back “Ferrari”Gilles made his Ferrari debut in the 1977 Canadian GP where he finished 12th, and just like his predecessor (Lauda) was very critic with the car, calling it dull. A couple days later, trying to end the argument between his two drivers, Marco Piccinini, head of Ferrari, called for a meeting, hoping the drivers would finally settle down. 132. With a victory in Spain and Monaco, and some of the greatest overtakes the series had ever seen. Now however, I really have no idea who should I write about next, I will probably come up with something eventually but if you have any suggestions please leave it in the comments :) Please confirm you agree to the use of tracking cookies as outlined in the Unless you were leading, you could see nothing, with all the snow blowing about. James Hunt, né le 29 août 1947 à Belmont (en), Angleterre, et mort d'une crise cardiaque le 15 juin 1993 à Wimbledon, est un pilote automobile britannique qui s'est surtout illustré en Formule 1, discipline dans laquelle il a couru de 1973 à 1979 et a remporté le championnat du monde en 1976. -Rene Arnoux However they were until some point amazed by the fact that Gilles didn’t damage the car, he was even able to keep the engine running after all the spining. My battle with Gilles is something I would never forget, my most precious "souvenir" from racing. If you have read until this point, thank you very much, I really appreciate it. "During 1976 at a Formula Atlantic race, Villeneuve’s talent was noticed by a British racing driver who was among the crowd.