Jacques Villeneuve

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Jacques Villeneuve Biography

French-Canadian who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1995 and the Formula 1 championship in 1997.

He grew up in a family of race car drivers.

He recorded a music album, but it sold less than 1,000 copies in North America.

His son Jules was born in November 2006. He married his second wife Camilla Lopez in 2012.

He had the small role as a race car driver in the 2001 Sylvester Stallone action movie Driven.

Villeneuve was one of several celebrity Canadians who carried the Olympic flag into Vancouver Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympic Games. He also carried the Olympic torch.

The title went down to the final round in Jerez. Villeneuve came out as the Drivers World Champion in only his second season. But the race was remembered for a highly controversial collision between himself and title rival Michael Schumacher. As Villeneuve passed Schumacher at the Dry Sac corner on the 48th lap, the German turned into the Canadian’s car; leaving Villeneuve with a damaged sidepod. Villeneuve recovered however and took third place while Schumacher retired. The FIA deemed Schumachers actions deliberate and thus disqualified him from the Championship.

Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve OQ (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɑk vilnœv] ; born April 9, 1971) is a Canadian professional auto racing driver and amateur musician. Villeneuve currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the #5 car for FEED Vict Racing in the EuroNASCAR PRO class. He is the son of Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, and is the namesake of his uncle, who was also a racer. Villeneuve won the 1995 CART Championship, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One World Championship, making him only the third driver after Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to achieve such a feat. As of 2019, no other Canadian has won the Indianapolis 500 or the Formula One Drivers’ title.

In 1984, two years after his father’s death, Villeneuve asked his mother if he could follow his father’s footsteps and go motor racing. His mother, Joann, promised she would allow him to drive a kart if he got good marks in one of his weakest subjects, mathematics. Villeneuve applied himself at school and soon got the marks he required for his mother to fulfill her promise. A year later, Joann allowed him to drive a 100 cc kart at a kart track in Imola. The owners of the track, Luigi and Massimo Buratti, were impressed by him and after proving himself in a 100 cc machine, he moved up to the 135 cc version before, on the same day, being allowed onto the Grand Prix circuit with a Formula Four car.

Villeneuve was born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, to aspiring Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve and his wife Joann and raised in Monaco. He has a sister Melanie and a half sister Jessica. His uncle, Jacques Sr., was also a racing driver and in 1985 at Road America became the first Canadian to win a CART race. When Villeneuve was eleven years old, his father was killed during the qualifying session for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder following a collision with Jochen Mass.

Soon, Villeneuve’s uncle, Jacques Sr., enrolled him at the Jim Russell Racing Driver School in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Villeneuve’s course lasted three days and in that time he demonstrated a great amount of concentration for a boy of his age. At the end of his course, the young Canadian received his diploma and chief instructor Gilbert Pednault declared Villeneuve as the best student he’d ever seen. During the summer of 1987, Villeneuve attended a racing school set up by former instructor Richard Spenard. In return for helping in the garage, Villeneuve received guidance in terms of race craft as he attempted to hone his skills. At the age of seventeen, Villeneuve was too young to obtain a racing license in both his native Canada and Italy and so, with help from the Canadian Automotive Federation, got a license from Andorra.

In 1988, the seventeen-year-old entered the Alfa Cup and, against former Formula One drivers Johnny Cecotto and Mauro Baldi, finished the two legged race in tenth position. Two weeks later at Monza, Villeneuve was up against the likes of Riccardo Patrese and Nicola Larini.

Villeneuve competed in the Italian Formula Three series from 1989 through 1991, but failed to make an impression.

In 1992, he raced in the Japanese Formula Three series with the TOM’s team, winning three races and placing second in the championship, as well as third in the non-championship Macau Grand Prix. Daniel Desmarais acted as Jacques’ facilitator during his season in Japan.

During the 1993 season, Villeneuve took seven pole positions and five race victories from the 15 races. However, a few crucial driving errors cost him the series title and so finished his debut season third in the standings.

His Forsythe-Green team took Villeneuve up a level into the IndyCar championship in 1994. In his first year, Villeneuve came second at that year’s Indianapolis 500 and won his first race at Road America, the circuit where his uncle had become the first Canadian to win a CART race nine years before. Villeneuve finished the season in sixth position; 131 points behind champion Al Unser Jr. and also taking the Rookie of the Year award.

Villeneuve started the 1995 campaign strongly, winning the first race on the streets of Miami. Along with the win in Miami came three other victories, the most significant of which came at Indianapolis for the Indy 500. Despite a mid-race two lap penalty, Villeneuve fought his way back up through the field. Running second with less than 10 laps to go, Villeneuve claimed the lead from fellow Canadian Scott Goodyear after Goodyear was penalized for having passed the pace-car before the restart. With Goodyear out of the picture Villeneuve went on to win the race by two seconds over Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi.

His performances, as well as his family name, brought him to the attention of Frank Williams, Managerial Director of the Williams Grand Prix team. Williams signed him to his Formula One team for 1996 and Villeneuve began testing the Williams F1 car in 1995 after the IndyCar season. Villeneuve was the last CART IndyCar World Series champion before the 1996 CART/IRL split created two rival series: The Indy Racing League (IRL) and the Champ Car World Series.

From 1996 to 2002 he lived in Monaco, and from 2002 to 2007 he lived in Switzerland. In 2007 he moved to Quebec, buying a $3 million house in Westmount, Montreal, with his mother acting as real estate agent. Villeneuve owned a nightclub and restaurant in Montreal called Newtown, but he sold it in 2009. In 2012 he moved to Andorra, stating that he was leaving Quebec because of the province’s language laws, business climate and the general “morose ambiance.” Villeneuve and family are currently living in Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland.

In 1997, following his win of the Formula One World Championship, Villeneuve appeared in a Volkswagen advert on Quebec television. Villeneuve was seen driving a VW before stopping and saying at the camera that he has nothing against German guys, much less for the “allemandes”, referring to the vehicle and German girls—a reference to his rivalry with Michael Schumacher and for the incident at the 1997 European Grand Prix.

Villeneuve also appeared in a Canadian commercial alongside Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter and countryman Donovan Bailey shortly after winning his 1997 F1 World Driver’s title. The ad proclaimed Canada to be the “fastest nation on earth.”

Damon Hill was dropped by Williams for the 1997 season, making Villeneuve the team’s lead driver. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was brought in to replace Hill. Villeneuve once again challenged for the title, but instead of Hill, the Canadian found himself battling with then double World Champion Michael Schumacher.

Following two successful years in CART, Villeneuve moved into Formula One with the front-running Williams team, alongside Damon Hill. In his debut season, Villeneuve challenged teammate Hill for the title, winning four races and taking the fight to the final round in Japan, where Villeneuve retired and Hill won the race and the title. Villeneuve, however, did win the following year’s title, this time challenging Michael Schumacher and once again taking it to the final round in Jerez, where Schumacher retired after the two collided. 1997 would be the last year in which Villeneuve would win a championship level race and finish the season in the top three. For 1998, Villeneuve’s Williams team had to fare with less competitive Mecachrome engines, and Villeneuve moved to the newly formed British American Racing team in 1999. He stayed there for the next four seasons but, following poor results he was replaced by former British Formula Three Champion Takuma Sato. Villeneuve also drove for Renault at the end of 2004, and Sauber in the 2005 season and eleven races of the 2006 season before suffering an injury in Germany. Villeneuve was replaced by Robert Kubica and soon BMW and Villeneuve parted company.

Villeneuve’s career went into sharp decline following his World Championship title. Remaining with Williams in 1998 (and becoming the first Williams driver since Keke Rosberg in 1982 to stay with the team for his title defense), he struggled with an underpowered Mecachrome engine which were basically rebadged Renault V10 engines from the previous season that despite some development had been overtaken in power by both Ferrari and the Mercedes-Benz powered McLarens. He failed to win a single race (like Hill the previous season), although he did finish on the podium twice in Germany and Hungary. Villeneuve finished fifth in the Drivers’ Championship with 21 points, 79 points behind Champion Mika Häkkinen in the McLaren-Mercedes.

Villeneuve was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 1998.

Despite the lack of a competitive car in 1999, Villeneuve remained loyal to Pollock’s team, as did Zonta. The Supertec engines of the previous season were replaced by Honda engines, and the new BAR-Honda package proved to be more competitive, with Villeneuve finishing in the points on seven different occasions and almost securing a podium finish at the United States Grand Prix.

In 1999, Villeneuve joined the newly founded British American Racing (BAR) team, co-founded and partly owned by Villeneuve’s personal manager, Craig Pollock, and by Adrian Reynard. Joining him as his teammate was Brazilian Ricardo Zonta. There was a lot of media hype about the new squad, but despite the high expectations, BAR had a poor season, retiring from the first eleven races of the season and not scoring a single Championship point. At times the car showed a promising pace, with Villeneuve running in third place at Barcelona, but often technical problems ruined his chances. Villeneuve suffered a high speed crash during practice at the Belgian Grand Prix at the Eau Rouge corner, from which he emerged unharmed.

Villeneuve also appeared briefly in the 2001 Sylvester Stallone action movie Driven as himself.

Zonta left BAR in 2001 to join Jordan as a test driver. Zonta was replaced by experienced Frenchman Olivier Panis. Villeneuve was involved in a crash at the Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the season, when he hit the back of Ralf Schumacher’s Williams. A track marshal was killed when a stray tyre hit him in the chest. Villeneuve scored five points less than the previous season, but finished on the podium twice in Spain and Germany. The latter was the final podium finish of his Grand Prix career.

Pollock was removed from his post as team manager in 2002 and was replaced by Prodrive boss David Richards. Along with Pollock, Richards removed Technical Director Malcolm Oastler and fifty members of staff at BAR. Richards soon began to debate over Villeneuve’s £15 million annual salary. From this point on, Villeneuve felt less comfortable at the team. The BAR 004 proved to be a much less competitive car than the teams’ previous two, with neither Villeneuve or Panis scoring points consistently with only seven points scored between them, Villeneuve scoring four points to Panis’s three.

With no contract for 2004, Villeneuve was forced to take a sabbatical, but maintained that he wanted to return to the sport. He continued training and made a special appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed driving his late father’s Ferrari. In September, Villeneuve returned to Formula One, driving the final three Grands Prix of the season for the French Renault team. Jarno Trulli had fallen out of favour and team boss Flavio Briatore felt Villeneuve would be worth a gamble. Although vowing to help Renault achieve second place in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of his former team BAR, Villeneuve failed to score a single point, unable to finish any of his races on the lead lap; Renault settled for third in the final standings. Villeneuve admitted that the enforced lay-off had cost him vital seat time. With the cars so much faster than in 2003, he found it difficult to adapt, and with an up-and-coming Fernando Alonso as teammate his task was made all the more difficult. Just before his 3-race Renault comeback, Villeneuve signed a two-year contract to drive for Sauber, starting in 2005.

With no contract for 2004, Villeneuve was forced to take a sabbatical, but maintained that he wanted to return to the sport. He continued training and made a special appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed driving his late father’s Ferrari. In September, Villeneuve returned to Formula One, driving the final three Grands Prix of the season for the French Renault team. Jarno Trulli had fallen out of favour and team boss Flavio Briatore felt Villeneuve would be worth a gamble. Although vowing to help Renault achieve second place in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of his former team BAR, Villeneuve failed to score a single point, unable to finish any of his races on the lead lap; Renault settled for third in the final standings. Villeneuve admitted that the enforced lay-off had cost him vital seat time. With the cars so much faster than in 2003, he found it difficult to adapt, and with an up-and-coming Fernando Alonso as teammate his task was made all the more difficult. Just before his 3-race Renault comeback, Villeneuve signed a two-year contract to drive for Sauber, starting in 2005.

After much uncertainty, in late 2005 BMW confirmed that Villeneuve would race for BMW Sauber in 2006. GP2 frontrunner Heikki Kovalainen and Indycar champion Dan Wheldon had both been linked with the seat, but BMW opted to honour Villeneuve’s contract; to cut the contract would possibly have been an expensive exercise that would have cost them around $2 million, and Villeneuve was popular with the sponsors and team personnel.

Villeneuve has appeared in various TV commercials for Honda when he was driving for the BAR team. In March 2006, when driving for BMW Sauber, he appeared in television campaign for Intel’s Centrino laptop campaign, in which he touts the benefits of using Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology.

His Sauber debut at the Australian Grand Prix saw him start on the grid in fourth position, although he would finish the race nine places down the order in thirteenth and a lap down. For the opening three races he was the slowest driver on Michelin tyres, and rumors began to spread that he would soon be replaced. The rumors proved unfounded, and at Imola he scored his first points for the team with a fourth place. The pressure was soon back on him when he forced teammate Felipe Massa off the track when attempting to overtake the Brazilian in Monaco, ruining both their races. Towards the end of the season, his pace improved and he scored more points at Belgium, where he finished sixth, moving ahead of Massa in the championship tables, although Massa repassed him after finishing 6th in the season finale in China. In terms of speed, the two teammates were fairly evenly matched by the end of the year. Massa was later drafted into Ferrari to support Michael Schumacher’s 2006 campaign.

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