Jacques Villeneuve

Interesting facts

Jacques Villeneuve's father, Gilles Villeneuve, was a legendary Ferrari driver who died in 1982 after colliding with Jochen Mass during Belgian Grand Prix qualifying - Jacques was only 11, and the tragedy briefly turned him away from racing out of fear. Encouraged back into the sport by his mother, on condition he improved his maths grades, he won both the Indianapolis 500 and the CART championship in 1995. On his 1996 F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix he took pole position - only the third driver ever to do so on debut. The 1997 title was decided at the Jerez season finale, where he and Schumacher collided, Schumacher slid into the gravel, and Villeneuve won the championship - making him Canada's first F1 champion and only the second driver after Mario Andretti to win the F1 title, the CART championship and the Indy 500. After his championship year his form declined; unreliable cars at BAR gave way to winless seasons at Renault and BMW Sauber, and he walked away from the sport after BMW's team boss criticised his performance. Jacques Villeneuve made his Formula 1 debut in 1996 and raced until 2006, 11 seasons in total as a Canadian driver. He won the World Championship once, in 1997. He scored a total of 235 championship points over his career.