Information

Birth: 9 April 1971

Was Born: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu

Status: Sandrine is his little girlfriend

Size: 1.68 m

Weight: 66.6 kg (147 lbs)

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blond

In 1995, Jacques Villeneuve won the Indianapolis 500 - perhaps the most famous of all auto races. Soon after, he became the youngest driver ever to win the PPG IndyCar Championship. All of this in his second year as an IndyCar driver! The following season, he moved to Formula One, joining the magnificent Williams team. In his rookie season, Jacques Villeneuve was the runner-up in the F1 Championship, behind his teammate Damon Hill.

Going into the 1997 season, Jacques was heavily favoured to win the drivers' championship. Many people expected Michael Schumacher to finish a distant second in his steadily improving Ferrari. However, the battle for the championship was close all season, and came down to the final race. Villeneuve arrived at Jerez, Spain trailing Schumacher by one point, after a season plagued by mechanical failures, crashes, and disputes with F1 officials. During the race at Jerez, Villeneuve saw an opportunity to pass Schumacher for the lead - in both the race and the championship - and took it. In a move that was strikingly reminiscent of Adelaide, Australia in 1994, Schumacher turned in on the Williams, in an apparent attempt to take Villeneuve out of the race. In 1994, Schumacher succeeded in knocking Damon Hill (and himself) out of the race, thus retaining his points lead and winning the championship. 1997 was different. Schumacher was knocked into the gravel trap, where he retired, and Villeneuve went on to bring his damaged car home third in the race and first in the championship. He became the first Canadian to win the Formula One Drivers' title, and one of a select few drivers to enjoy enormous success in both CART (IndyCar) and F1 racing.

Jacques is not the first Villeneuve to enjoy tremendous success in the world of Formula One racing. His father, the late Gilles Villeneuve, was also a popular and talented F1 driver. Gilles' legend lives on, despite the crash that claimed his life during practice for a 1982 race, and Jacques now finds himself being compared to his father at every turn. Unfortunately, he has been hounded by the press, who considers him disrepectful because he has said that he drives for himself, not for his father. He wants to be known for his own accomplishments, not for his father's, and although I do not consider that disrespectful, many people obviously do. All controversy aside, Jacques is an incredibly talented driver, and it is unfortunate that Williams is having such difficulty adjusting to the new FIA regulations for the cars.

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