Gilles Villeneuve is revered as one of the greatest drivers in the history of F1 to have never won a championship, despite coming close in 1979.
It’s over 40 years since his death during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, but he is still remembered as one of the great heroic legends of the day. His son Jacques Villeneuve would go on to win a title in 1997.
The Canadian was known for his spectacular driving style, which often meant he was seen trying to catch a slide or wheel-banging with rivals on track.
People often compare Villeneuve to Ayrton Senna, who also had a similar passionate driver style that often saw him on the edge. Gerhard Berger thinks Senna is the greatest F1 driver of all time, with Max Verstappen close to him in terms of natural talent.
Discussing the two on the recent Cameron CC podcast, Peter Windsor has pointed out one thing Villeneuve used to do that Senna could not.
Gilles Villeneuve tougher on gearboxes than Ayrton Senna
One of the things that characterised the era of F1 was the H-pattern gearboxes, which meant drivers had to take their hands off the wheel and manually change gear.
Nowadays they pull a paddle on the steering wheel and get instant gearshifts, but the generation of cars in the 70s and 80s had to be handled differently. This meant drivers needed a lot of mechanical sympathy, something Villeneuve did not have according to Windsor.
“What I remember most about Gilles Villeneuve, was how tough he was on gearboxes. He would say he was not tough, but the reality is that he would do things that Ayrton Senna would never in a million years do and that is to go from 5th Gear to 2nd Gear into Rascasse, just to get the backend out and stop the car,” said Windsor.
“He would use that to get the car set up, and if you throw that into a melting pot with 850bhp then you’ve got a guy who really has to know what he’s doing. And he did that lap after lap. You’d see him on a lap and think ‘Wow, how did he do that?’ and you’d realise he was doing that all the time. There isn’t really a driver who you can say that about today.”
Fans vote for Ayrton Senna opening lap in F1’s greatest overtakes
In the 75-year history of F1 there have been some spectacular overtakes, including Villeneuve’s impressive overtake on Rene Arnoux at the 1979 French GP which led to a race-long battle between the pair.
Taking to social media, the official F1 account asked fans which overtake has been their favourite over the years.
While some voted for various overtakes at Suzuka, with Fernando Alonso’s on Michael Schumacher getting the nod along with Kimi Raikkonen, there was overwhelming support for another driver.
Ayrton Senna’s legendary first lap at Donnington where he passed four cars in the rain was commented on most by fans, with one calling it a ‘masterclass’ in wet weather driving.
Leave feedback about this