Jacques Villeneuve Stunned After Father's Statue Stolen in Quebec
Nov.12 - Jacques Villeneuve admitted to losing sleep after a life-size bronze statue of his iconic father, Formula 1 legend Gilles Villeneuve, was stolen. Days ago, operators of..
Name | Jacques Villeneuve |
Country | Canada |
Height | 1.68 meter / 5 feet 6 inch |
Place of Birth | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu |
Date of Birth | Apr 9th 1971 - 53 years old |
Season Entries | 11 |
Car Number | 17 |
First Race | 1996 Australian F1 GP |
Last Race | 2006 German F1 GP |
First Pole | 1996 Australian F1 GP |
Last Pole | 1997 European F1 GP |
First Win | 1996 European F1 GP |
Last Win | 1997 Luxembourg F1 GP |
First Win from Pole | 1997 Brazilian F1 GP |
Last Win from Pole | 1997 Austrian F1 GP |
First Hat-trick | 1997 Brazilian F1 GP |
Last Hat-trick | 1997 Austrian F1 GP |
F1 Teams History | Williams (1996-1998) BAR (1999-2003) Renault (2004) Sauber (2005) BMW Sauber (2006) |
Jacques Villeneuve F1 Stats | |
Drivers' Titles | 1 |
Grand Prix Entries | 165 |
Grand Prix Starts | 164 |
Total Points | 235.00 |
Avg. Points per GP | 1.42 |
Grand Prix Wins | 11 (6,7%) |
Wins from pole | 5 (3,0%) |
Pole Positions | 13 (7,9%) |
Front Row Starts | 23 (13,9%) |
Avg. GP Grid | 9.1 |
GP Podiums | 23 (13,9%) |
GP Fastest Laps | 9 (5,5%) |
GP Points Finish | 53 (32,1%) |
Avg. GP Position | 7.0 |
Hat-tricks | 2 (1,2%) |
GP Retirements | 63 (38,2%) |
GP DNF's | 55 (33,3%) |
Total GP Laps | 8.314 |
Born in April, Canada, on April 9th, 1971, Jacques Villeneuve is Formula 1 World Champion who is the son of a legend who should’ve won a WDC throughout his motor racing career, Gilles Villeneuve .
His name was always going to give Jacques opportunities in the motor racing world, but his early days of racing came in skiing, not in the tarmac. However, after having a taste of the racing world since he was a kid, his passion for motorsport was always there.
Eventually, Jacques decided to get into motor racing, and his first taste of a track came with a kart at Imola, when he was a 14-year-old boy. Then, he drove at Mont Tremblant during a Jim Russell curse and looked well.
In Europe, where he lived during a good part of his teenage years, Villeneuve drove saloon cars in Italy before embarking in F3 campaigns that kept him in Italy, and then put him on a journey to Japan, which he saw as a chance to “get off the normal path” and “develop as a man” as published by the MotorSport Magazine.
He won his first three single-seater races at Japan with TOM’s and finished second in the 1992 championship. After an appearance in a Formula Atlantic race in August 1992, he was noticed by sponsors in Canada and his manager Craig Pollock, who was his former skiing instructor, found him a deal to compete in the 1993 Formula Atlantic at Canada and the US, followed by two years at the IndyCar series.
He finished third in Formula Atlantic in 1993, with five wins and seven Poles in 15 races, and he entered Indy the next year. Villeneuve’s first few races in Indy were not easy, though the Forsythe/Green team was built around him, but he did take a huge boost of confidence after finishing second in his first appearance in the Indianapolis 500, behind the series’ eventual champion Al Unser Jr.
Villeneuve then took his first IndyCar win at Road America, and finished the year with a podium at Laguna Seca. He was sixth in the championship and earned Rookie of the Year honors. He was already racing against the likes of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Stefan Johansson, Eddie Cheever and other high-profile names.
In 1995, Villeneuve was the class of the field at Indy and won the Indianapolis 500 in his second attempt and after receiving a two-lap penalty, and took the IndyCar championship over Unser Jr.
In Europe, Jacques’ name was gathering big attention, and Bernie Ecclestone wanted to bring a driver with impact to the Formula 1 field, which helped Villeneuve to get a test invitation from Frank Williams, and initiated his road to the Formula 1 World Championship.
He was selected to drive for Williams alongside Damon Hill in 1996, and the big amount of testing he put together before his F1 debut helped him mightily to become the then most successful rookie in F1 history with his four GP wins in 1996 (Germany, Britain, Hungary and Portugal) and he even fought for the championship against Hill in the last race of the season at Suzuka.
Hill was replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen for 1997, and Villeneuve became the team leader and was adjusted better to Williams’ FW19 for the season. The campaign was historic, as Villeneuve fought with Ferrari’s two-time champion Michael Schumacher for the championship.
In the end, it was all decided in the finale, the 1997 European Grand Prix at Jerez, and Villeneuve came out with the championship after he and Schumacher collided controversially at the hairpin and the German had to retire from the race and was later disqualified from the World Championship for his actions, as he was judged to try to finish both cars’ races to maintain his advantage in the standings.
Villeneuve finished 1997 with 10 Pole Positions, seven victories, and eight podiums. At that point in his career, the Canadian had 11 wins, had won the Indy 500, had 19 F1 podiums, and 13 Pole Positions.
However, his statistics in Formula 1 did not improve that much over the following seasons, as Williams suffered the absence of Renault engines since the end of 1997, Villeneuve finished only fifth in 1998 with two podiums.
Then, Villeneuve made the decision to embark in a new adventure with a team he helped build, British American Racing, but first with Supertec engines, and then with Honda, the team struggled heavily.
Villeneuve finished three of 16 races in 1999 and scored no points, and then scored 17 points in 2000, but without any podium finish. The 2001 season brought Villeneuve the final two podiums of his F1 career, but he only scored 12 points in that year.
He spent two more seasons with BAR, scoring only 10 points between 2002 and 2003. Before the final race of 2003 at Japan, Takuma Sato was announced by BAR for 2004, and Villeneuve left the team immediately and asked to be released, which gave Sato his F1 debut in 2003.
He returned in 2004 to complete the final three races of the year for Renault, a team that he could’ve joined in 2001 before signing another deal with BAR. Sauber gave him the chance to drive in 2005, but only three point-scoring races were not much in that campaign.
BMW came in for the 2006 campaign, and Villeneuve drove in 12 of the calendar’s 18 races, as the team dropped him after the 2006 German Grand Prix in favor of Robert Kubica.
His F1 career finished with the 2006 German GP, and Villeneuve later drove in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Le Mans Series, 24 Hours of Spa, NASCAR, Touring Cars, and even Formula E, but he was not as successful as he was in Indy and his early Formula 1 campaigns.
Villeneuve might be a controversial figure with his opinions on the current state of Formula 1 and so on, but there’s no denying that his opinion has certain value, otherwise, no one would ask him to voice his thoughts about the sport.
“I love a lot of high speed turns, turns where you have to push yourself, force yourself to go fast. Then there's something telling your foot to lift off, because it's so fast, and it's impressive when you get that feeling and just drive on”.
1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2nd | 1st | 5th | 22nd | 7th | 7th | 13th | 15th | 24th | 14th | 15th |
Year | Team | Engine | GP | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pod | Pole | Laps | FL | Avg Pts | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | BMW Sauber | BMW | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 646 | 0 | 0.58 | 7 |
2005 | Sauber | Petronas | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1033 | 0 | 0.50 | 9 |
2004 | Renault | Renault | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 177 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
2003 | BAR | Honda | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 662 | 0 | 0.40 | 6 |
2002 | BAR | Honda | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 794 | 0 | 0.24 | 4 |
2001 | BAR | Honda | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 790 | 0 | 0.71 | 12 |
2000 | BAR | Honda | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 900 | 0 | 1.00 | 17 |
1999 | BAR | Supertec | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 573 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
1998 | Williams | Mecachrome | 16 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 939 | 0 | 1.31 | 21 |
1997 | Williams | Renault | 17 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 863 | 3 | 4.76 | 81 |
1996 | Williams | Renault | 16 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 937 | 6 | 4.88 | 78 |
1st | 11 Times |
2nd | 5 Times |
3rd | 7 Times |
4th | 10 Times |
5th | 6 Times |
6th | 10 Times |
7th | 9 Times |
8th | 11 Times |
9th | 8 Times |
10th | 9 Times |
11th | 7 Times |
12th | 7 Times |
13th | 2 Times |
14th | 2 Times |
15th | 3 Times |
16th | 1 Time |
DNF | 55 Times |
DSQ | 1 Time |
DNS | 1 Time |
Year | Race | No | Team | Engine | Grid | Pos | Retired | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 | 1997 | 1997 European F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
12 | 1997 | 1997 Japanese F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | DSQ | Disqualified | 0 |
11 | 1997 | 1997 Austrian F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
10 | 1997 | 1997 Belgian F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 5 | 2 | |
9 | 1997 | 1997 British F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
8 | 1997 | 1997 Spanish F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
7 | 1997 | 1997 San Marino F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | DNF | Gearbox | 0 |
6 | 1997 | 1997 Argentine F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
5 | 1997 | 1997 Brazilian F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
4 | 1997 | 1997 Australian F1 GP | 3 | Williams | Renault | 1 | DNF | Collision | 0 |
3 | 1996 | 1996 Japanese F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Renault | 1 | DNF | Wheel | 0 |
2 | 1996 | 1996 Belgian F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
1 | 1996 | 1996 Australian F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Renault | 1 | 2 | 6 |
Year | Team | Team Mate | Best Pos | Points | Wins | Poles | Pos | Quali | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Williams | Damon Hill | 1 | 1 | 78 | 97 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 13 |
1997 | Williams | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 1 | 1 | 81 | 42 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 4 |
1998 | Williams | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 3 | 3 | 21 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 6 |
1999 | BAR | Mika Salo | 14 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Ricardo Zonta | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 1 | ||
2000 | BAR | Ricardo Zonta | 4 | 6 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 15 | 2 |
2001 | BAR | Olivier Panis | 3 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 6 |
2002 | BAR | Olivier Panis | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 7 |
2003 | BAR | Jenson Button | 6 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 8 |
2004 | Renault | Fernando Alonso | 10 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
2005 | Sauber | Felipe Massa | 4 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 12 |
2006 | BMW Sauber | Nick Heidfeld | 6 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 |
Nov.12 - Jacques Villeneuve admitted to losing sleep after a life-size bronze statue of his iconic father, Formula 1 legend Gilles Villeneuve, was stolen. Days ago, operators of..
Sep.18 - Max Verstappen's demeanour and racing style has changed amid the declining performance and internal management issues at Red Bull. That's the assessment of 1997 world..
Aug.20 - Two outspoken motor racing pundits are unanimous - Guanyu Zhou does not belong on the Formula 1 grid. Technically, the Chinese driver is still in the running to stay at..
Aug.19 - The boss of F1's smallest team has rubbished comparisons between 2025 rookie Oliver Bearman and former Haas driver Nikita Mazepin. Since Haas unsuccessfully paired..
Jun.11 - Jacques Villeneuve has hit back at embattled F1 veteran Daniel Ricciardo getting "personal" in Montreal last weekend. The 1997 world champion suggested the Australian,..
Jun.10 - In another clear sign that Daniel Ricciardo's Formula 1 career may be ending, Dr Helmut Marko has declined to chide Jacques Villeneuve. Villeneuve, the outspoken 1997..
May 27 - Kevin Magnussen's driving would have been different "in my time", according to 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve. Although some think Sergio Perez could have given..
Apr.16 - Jacques Villeneuve is sceptical about Audi's forthcoming works Formula 1 project. The 1997 world champion is actually a big fan of the VW-owned German carmaker, having..
Mar.2 - 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has lashed out at one of the sport's most popular personalities. He thinks Daniel Ricciardo, the always-smiling and cheerful..
Feb.21 - Ferrari gave Charles Leclerc a long and lucrative new contract to keep him "quiet" for the bombshell news of Lewis Hamilton's 2025 arrival at Ferrari. That is the view of..
Read more Jacques Villeneuve News »
Recent Comments