Formula One Auto Racing Driver Jacques Villeneuve

Jacques Villeneuve - A Successful F1 Driver

Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve was born in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada on the 9th of April 1971. At the tender age of eleven years, Jacques Villeneuve lost his well-loved and respected father, Gilles Villeneuve, a Formula One driver, during a qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982. Jacques Villeneuve followed his father's footsteps in his career choice and is currently a successful Canadian automobile racing driver having won the Formula One in 1997, the Champ Car championships in 1995 as well as the Indianapolis 500. This makes Villeneuve one of only three drivers to ever have accomplished all three feats, the other two drivers being Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi.

Jacques uncle also named Jacques, was also into racing and was moderately successful at it even winning one IndyCar race. At the moment Jacques Villeneuve is currently employed in Formula One by BMW Sauber as one of their race drivers. Near the end of the 2006 season Villeneuve decided to quit the team when he was told that in order to keep his seat he would have to win a shootout against Robert Kubica, an unproven rookie.

In 1993, Villeneuve moved to the North American Toyota Atlantic racing series, where he successfully finished his debut season ranked third due to the five races he had won. The following year he moved to Champ Car where he found himself Rookie of the Year. He then drove the new Reynard chasis with a Ford Cosworth engine for expatriate Australian Barry Green's team helping him finish second in the Indianapolis 500. Jacques strong performances and his family name brought him to the attention of Frank Williams, who wasted no time in signing him up into his Formula One team. This led to Villeneuve testing the Williams F1 car once the IndyCar season had ended.

The year 1996 saw Jacques Villeneuve put on a spectacular performance by becoming the second Formula One driver to ever achieve pole position as well as podium position on his maiden grand prix. That year he won four races with a total of 78 points, having reached the podium 11 times all of which are rookie records that will stand till today. When Villeneuve is not racing he retreats to his home in Villars-sur-Ollon in Switzerland although he is still considered a Canadian citizen. On May 29, 2006 Jacques married Parisienne girlfriend Johanna Martinez at a civil ceremony in Switzerland and then six months later Johanna gave birth to a boy, Jules, on November 14, 2006.