Jacques Villeneuve

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 much respected father, Gilles Villeneuve, a Formula One driver, during a qualifying round 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 World Championship in 1997, the Champ Car Championship 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. Villeneuve began his racing career with kart racing, quickly moving up the ranks. He went to various racing schools and his talent was clearly recognizable. He took part in the Italian Formula Three series between 1989 and 1991, then the Japanese Formula Three series in 1992.

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 Racing 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.

Over the years, Villeneuve has taken part in and continues to take part in a variety of Motor Sports, including NASCAR, Le Mans, Speedcar and Top Race V6.

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