Gilles Villeneuve Biography, Wiki, Age, Height, Net Worth, F1 Career

Gilles Villeneuve Biography: Joseph Gilles Henri Villeneuve was a Canadian racing driver who competed in Formula One for Ferrari for six years, winning six Grand Prix and receiving widespread acclaim.

Gilles Villeneuve Biography

Gilles Villeneuve Biography: Gilles Villeneuve was born on January 18, 1950, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada, to piano tuner Seville Villeneuve and his wife Georgette and grew up in Berthierville. He married Joann Barthe in 1970, and they had two children, Jacques and Mélanie. During his early career, Villeneuve moved with his family into a motorhome during the racing season, a practice he continued to some extent during his Formula One career. Gilles was considering divorce with Joann at his death: he had been having an illicit affair with a Torontonian woman for some time.

Gilles Villeneuve Wiki

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Gilles Villeneuve Net Worth

Gilles Villeneuve was a Canadian racing driver who died in 1982 with a net worth of $10 million.

Gilles Villeneuve Career

Following Villeneuve’s victory over James Hunt and several other Grand Prix drivers in a non-championship Formula Atlantic race at Trois-Rivières in 1976, the McLaren team offered Villeneuve a Formula One contract for up to five races in a third car during the 1977 season. At the 1977 British Grand Prix, Villeneuve qualified ninth in a McLaren M23, ahead of regular drivers James Hunt and Jochen Mass, who were piloting newer M26s. In the race, he completed the fifth-fastest lap and finished eleventh after a defective temperature gauge caused him to lose two laps. The British press coverage of Villeneuve’s performance was largely favorable, with John Blunsden of The Times saying, “Anyone seeking a future World Champion needs to look no further than this quietly assured young man.”

Despite this, shortly after the British race, the veteran team manager of McLaren, Teddy Mayer, decided not to retain Villeneuve for the following season. He explained that Villeneuve “seemed like he might be a bit pricey” and that Patrick Tambay, the team’s eventual selection for 1978, showed comparable promise. Villeneuve was left without viable choices for 1978, although Canadian Walter Wolf, for which Villeneuve had driven in Can-Am competitions, provided for offering him a seat at Wolf Racing. Villeneuve flew to Italy in August 1977 to meet Enzo Ferrari, that was immediately reminded of Tazio Nuvolari, the pre-war European champion, due to rumors that Villeneuve was one of several drivers in whom Ferrari’s team was interested.

“When they presented me with this “piccolo Canadese,” I immediately saw him the physique of Nuvolari and said, “Let’s give him a shot.”Ferrari agreed with Villeneuve’s promise after a session at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track, considering the Canadian’s numerous errors and relatively slow lap times, & Villeneuve signed to drive for Ferrari in the final two races of 1977 and the entire 1978 season. Villeneuve later remarked, “If someone had told me I could have three desires, the first would have been to get into racing, the second would have been to be in Formula 1, and the third would have been to drive for Ferrari.

In 2007, John Hogan, Ferrari’s retired Vice President of Marketing, sponsored Phillip Morris. Later, the Jaguar Racing team principal, the sponsor during Villeneuve’s career, rejected the claim that Pironi had violated a prior agreement with Villeneuve. He stated, “Neither of them would have ever agreed to what was essentially race-fixing.” “I believe Gilles noticed that someone had outraced him and caught him completely off guard.” A comparison of the two drivers’ lap timings revealed that Villeneuve lapped significantly slower when in the lead, indicating that he had been trying to save fuel.