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| Birth Name(s) : Jacques Villeneuve |
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Full Jacques Villeneuve Biography
Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve (IPA: , born April 9, 1971 in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) is a Canadian automobile racing driver, he is the son of Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve. Jacques Villeneuve is notable for winning the 1995 CART Championship, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One Championship. Alongside Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi, the Canadian is one of the rare drivers to achieve all three.
Jacques Villeneuve was born in the Canadian city of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu to then soon to be Formula One driver Gilles and his wife Joann Villeneuve on April 9, 1971. Although Villeneuve was born in Canada, he was in fact raised in Monaco. Jacques also has two sisters: Melanie and Jessica Villeneuve, the latter being a half sister. As well as his father, Jacques' uncle, Jacques Sr., was a racing driver - although Jacques Sr. didn't achieve the same level of success in Formula One as his brother Gilles did, the Canadian did however become the first driver to win a CART race in the sport's history in 1984 at Road America. 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.
During the 1993 season, Villeneuve took seven pole positions and five race victories from the 15 races. However, a few crucial driving errors cost the Canadian the series title and so finished his debut season third in the standings.
Villeneuve's career went into sharp decline following his World Championship title. Remaining with Williams in 1998, he struggled with an underpowered Mecachrome engine, basically rebadged Renault engines from the previous season, and failed to win a single race, 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.
With one year left to run on his contract Villeneuve turned down a lucrative offer to spend a season racing in CART before returning to BAR for 2004 and 2005, a deal which Villeneuve claimed was spoken about but never actually produced for him to sign. Instead, he decided that he would see out his present deal in the hope of landing a role at another Grand Prix team the following year. The Canandian was joined by Jenson Button from Benetton in 2003 as Panis was offered a drive at the Toyota which the Frenchman took. Button would prove to become the second of Villeneuve's teammates to outscore him in the Drivers' Championship as, unlike the Canadian, the Brit was able to score consistently with the BAR 005, finishing in the points every two races.
His Sauber debut at the Australian Grand Prix saw him start the grid in fourth position, although the Canadian 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 rumours began to spread that he would soon be replaced. The rumours 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 team-mate 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 team-mates were fairly evenly matched by the end of the year. Massa was later drafted into Ferrari to support Michael Schumacher's 2006 campaign.Villeneuve at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.
After replacing Villeneuve in Hungary, test driver Robert Kubica drove to a solid seventh place, despite the chaotic wet conditions, but was later disqualified because his car was too light. Within days, BMW and Villeneuve announced that they had parted company with immediate effect. The reason for his departure was later revealed that he simply didn't want to be a part of a potential "shoot-out" with Kubica, feeling that he had proven himself already.
In Villeneuve's first Craftsman Truck race on September 22 2007, in Las Vegas, he qualified in seventh position, and finished 21st. He made his NASCAR Nextel Cup race debut in the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama over the weekend of 5-7 October 2007. He qualified sixth, however, due to his lack of experience in this type of car, he elected to start the race from the back of the field. He finished 21st.
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."
Villeneuve also appeared briefly in the 2001 Sylvester Stallone action movie Driven as a race car driver. |
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