Editing Gilles Villeneuve (section)

==Formula One career==
After Villeneuve impressed [[James Hunt]] by beating him and several other Grand Prix stars in a non-championship Formula Atlantic race at [[Circuit Trois-Rivières|Trois-Rivières]] in 1976, Hunt's [[McLaren]] team offered Villeneuve a Formula One deal for up to five races in a third car during the [[1977 Formula One season|1977 season]].<ref>Donaldson (2003) pp.63–67</ref> Villeneuve made his debut at the [[1977 British Grand Prix]], where he qualified 9th in McLaren's old [[McLaren M23|M23]], separating the regular drivers Hunt and [[Jochen Mass]] who were driving newer [[McLaren M26|M26s]]. In the race he set fifth fastest lap and finished 11th after being delayed for two laps by a faulty temperature gauge. The British press coverage of Villeneuve's performance was generally complimentary, including John Blunsden's comment in ''[[The Times]]'' that "Anyone seeking a future World Champion need look no further than this quietly assured young man."<ref>Donaldson (2003) p.88. [[Denis Jenkinson]] noted "the smooth, confident way that he had driven" and [[Nigel Roebuck]] said that he had "demonstrated enormous natural talent."</ref>

Despite this, shortly after the British race McLaren's experienced team manager [[Teddy Mayer]] decided not to continue with Villeneuve for the following year. His explanation was that Villeneuve "was looking as though he might be a bit expensive" and that [[Patrick Tambay]], the team's eventual choice for 1978, was showing similar promise.<ref>Donaldson (2003) pp.90–91</ref> Villeneuve was left with no solid options for 1978, although Canadian [[Walter Wolf]], for whom Villeneuve had driven in [[Can-Am]] racing, considered giving him a drive at [[Walter Wolf Racing|Wolf Racing]]. Rumours circulated that Villeneuve was one of several drivers in whom [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari's team]] was interested, and in August 1977 he flew to Italy to meet [[Enzo Ferrari]], who was immediately reminded of [[Tazio Nuvolari]], the pre-war [[AIACR European Championship|European champion]]. "When they presented me with this 'piccolo Canadese' (little Canadian), this minuscule bundle of nerves, I immediately recognised in him the physique of Nuvolari and said to myself, let's give him a try."<ref>Donaldson (2003) pp.107–108</ref> Ferrari was satisfied with Villeneuve's promise after a session at Ferrari's [[Fiorano Circuit|Fiorano]] test track, despite the Canadian making many mistakes and setting relatively slow times, and Villeneuve signed to drive for Ferrari in the last two races of 1977, as well as the full 1978 season.<ref>Donaldson (2003) pp.95–104</ref> Villeneuve later remarked that: "If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari..."<ref name=roebuck1 />

Villeneuve's arrival was prompted by Ferrari driver [[Niki Lauda]] quitting the team at the penultimate race of the 1977 season, the {{F1GP|1977|Canadian}} at [[Mosport Park]] near [[Toronto]], having already clinched his second championship with the Italian team.<ref>Donaldson (2003) p.111</ref> Villeneuve retired from his home race after sliding off the track on another competitor's oil. He also raced in the last race of that season, the {{F1GP|1977|Japanese}} at the Mount Fuji Speedway near Tokyo but retired on lap five when he tried to outbrake the [[Tyrrell P34]] of [[Ronnie Peterson]]. The pair banged wheels causing Villeneuve's Ferrari to become airborne. It landed on a group of spectators watching the race from a prohibited area, killing one spectator and a [[Motorsport marshal|race marshal]] and injuring seven people. After an investigation into the incident no blame was apportioned and, although he was "terribly sad" at the deaths, Villeneuve did not feel responsible for them.<ref>Donaldson (2003) pp.120–122</ref>

[[File:Gilles_Villeneuve_imola_1979.jpg|thumb|left|Villeneuve sitting on his car at [[Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari|Imola]] in {{F1|1979}}]]
The [[1978 Formula One season|1978 season]] saw a succession of retirements for Villeneuve, often after problems with the new [[Michelin]] [[radial tyre]]s. Early in the season, he started on the front row at the [[1978 United States Grand Prix West|United States Grand Prix West in Long Beach]], but crashed out of the lead on lap&nbsp;39. Despite calls in the Italian press for him to be replaced, Ferrari persisted with him. Towards the end of the season, Villeneuve's results improved. He finished second on the road at the {{F1GP|1978|Italian}}, although he was penalised a minute for jumping the start, and ran second at the {{F1GP|1978|United States}} before his engine failed. Finally at the season-ending {{F1GP|1978|Canadian}}, this time at the Circuit Notre Dame Island in Montreal (a circuit that was eventually named after him) Villeneuve scored his first Grand Prix win after [[Jean-Pierre Jarier]]'s Lotus stopped with engine trouble.<ref>Fearnley (August 2006)</ref> To date, he remains the only Canadian to win the Canadian Grand Prix.<ref>{{cite news|last=Beacon|first=Bill|title=Gilles Villeneuve's 1978 winning car to get show drive by son at Canada GP|url=https://nationalpost.com/pmn/sports-pmn/gilles-villeneuves-1978-winning-car-to-get-show-drive-by-son-at-canada-gp|work=National Post|agency=The Canadian Press|date=June 7, 2018|access-date=May 9, 2019|url-status=live|archive-date=November 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105075732/https://nationalpost.com/pmn/sports-pmn/gilles-villeneuves-1978-winning-car-to-get-show-drive-by-son-at-canada-gp}}</ref>

[[File:GillesVilleneuve ReneArnoux Dijion1979.jpg|thumb|right|In the [[1979 French Grand Prix]] Villeneuve and [[René Arnoux]] had a memorable duel for second place.]]
Villeneuve was joined by [[Jody Scheckter]] in 1979 after [[Carlos Reutemann]] moved to [[Team Lotus|Lotus]]. Villeneuve won three races during the year and even briefly led the championship after winning back to back races in Long Beach and Kyalami. However, the season is mostly remembered for Villeneuve's wheel-banging duel with [[René Arnoux]] in the last laps of the [[1979 French Grand Prix]].<ref>Donaldson (2003) p.184–187</ref> Arnoux passed Villeneuve for second place with three laps to go, but Villeneuve re-passed him on the next lap. On the final lap Arnoux attempted to pass Villeneuve again, and the pair ran side by side through the first few corners of the lap, making contact several times. Arnoux took the position but Villeneuve attempted an outside pass one corner later. The cars bumped hard, Villeneuve slid wide but then passed Arnoux on the inside at a hairpin turn and held him off for the last half of the lap to secure second place. Villeneuve commented afterwards, "I tell you, that was really fun! I thought for sure we were going to get on our heads, you know, because when you start interlocking wheels it's very easy for one car to climb over another."<ref>Donaldson (2003) p.187</ref> At the {{F1GP|1979|Dutch}} a slow puncture collapsed Villeneuve's left rear tyre and put him off the track. He returned to the circuit and limped back to the [[Pit stop|pit lane]] on three wheels, losing the damaged wheel on the way. On his return to the pit lane Villeneuve insisted that the team replace the missing wheel, and had to be persuaded that the car was beyond repair.<ref>Donaldson (2003) pp.194–196</ref> Villeneuve might have won the World Championship by ignoring team orders to beat Scheckter at the {{F1 GP|1979|Italian}}, but chose to finish behind him, ending his own championship challenge. The pair finished first and second in the championship, with Scheckter beating Villeneuve by just four points. During the extremely wet Friday practice session for the season-ending {{F1GP|1979|United States}}, Villeneuve set a time variously reported to be either 9 or 11 seconds faster than any other driver. His teammate Jody Scheckter, who was second fastest, recalled that "I scared myself rigid that day. I thought I had to be quickest. Then I saw Gilles's time and — I still don't really understand how it was possible. Eleven seconds!"<ref>Roebuck (1986) p.208 gives the gap as 11 seconds. Walker (January 1980) reports the gap to be 9 seconds. Autosport (October 11, 1979 p. 17) reports Villeneuve's lap to be 2:01.437 and second placed Scheckter's 2:11.089, a gap being 9.652 sec</ref>

The [[1980 Formula One season|1980 season]] was sub-par for Ferrari. Villeneuve had been considered favourite for the Drivers' Championship by bookmakers in the United Kingdom,<ref>Donaldson (2003) p.223</ref> though he only scored six points in the whole campaign in the [[Ferrari 312T|312T5]] which had only partial [[ground effect in cars|ground effects]]. Scheckter scored only two points and retired at the end of the season.

For the [[1981 Formula One season|1981 season]], Ferrari introduced their first turbocharged engined F1 car, the [[Ferrari 126 C|126C]], which produced tremendous power but was let down by its poor handling. Villeneuve was partnered with [[Didier Pironi]] who noted that Villeneuve "had a little family [at Ferrari] but he made me welcome and made me feel at home overnight&nbsp;... [He] treated me as an equal in every way."<ref>Donaldson (2003) p.240</ref>  Villeneuve won two races during the season. At the {{F1GP|1981|Spanish}} Villeneuve kept five quicker cars behind him for most of the race using the superior straight-line speed of his car. After an hour and 46 minutes of racing, Villeneuve led second-placed [[Jacques Laffite]] by only 0.22 seconds. Fifth-placed [[Elio de Angelis]] was only just over a second further back.<ref>Donaldson (2003) pp.253–256</ref> [[Harvey Postlethwaite]], who was hired by Ferrari to design the follow-on and much more successful 126C2 that won the Constructors' Championship in 1982, later commented on the 126C: "That car...had literally one quarter of the downforce that, say Williams or Brabham had. It had a power advantage over the Cosworths for sure, but it also had massive throttle lag at that time. In terms of sheer ability I think Gilles was on a different plane to the other drivers. To win those races, the 1981 GPs at Monaco and Jarama — on tight circuits — was quite out of this world. I ''know'' how bad that car was."<ref>Roebuck (1986) p.214</ref> At the [[1981 Canadian Grand Prix]] Villeneuve damaged the front wing of his Ferrari and drove for most of the race in heavy rain with the wing obscuring his view ahead. There was a risk of being disqualified but eventually the wing detached and Villeneuve drove on to finish third with the nose section of his car missing.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fagnan|first=René|title=1981 Canadian Grand Prix – Gilles Villeneuve never surrenders|url=https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/1981-canadian-grand-prix-gilles-villeneuve-never-surrenders-906337/906337/|publisher=motorsport.com|date=May 19, 2017|access-date=May 9, 2019|url-status=live|archive-date=May 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509055323/https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/1981-canadian-grand-prix-gilles-villeneuve-never-surrenders-906337/906337/}}</ref>

He was offered a deal by team owner [[Ron Dennis]] to rejoin McLaren in 1982, which he rejected because he was nervous over ending his contract with Ferrari but optimistic that the Italian team would be competitive.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hughes|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Hughes (journalist)|date=May 2012|title=What if ...? When Gilles Villeneuve died 30 years ago, the world lost the chance to see the fastest driver in F1 history fulfill his potential in a car worthy of his talents. And it would have happened ...|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A286719591/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=083345a1|journal=[[Racer (magazine)|Racer]]|pages=68+|url-access=subscription|access-date=May 14, 2020|via=Gale In Context: Biography}}</ref> The first few races of the [[1982 Formula One season|1982 season]] saw Villeneuve leading in Brazil in the new 126C2, before spinning into retirement, and finishing third at the [[1982 United States Grand Prix West|United States Grand Prix West]] before being disqualified for a technical infringement. The Ferraris were handed an unexpected advantage at the {{F1GP|1982|San Marino}} as an escalation of the [[FISA–FOCA war]] saw the FOCA teams boycott the race, effectively leaving Renault as Ferrari's only serious opposition. With Renault driver Prost retiring from fourth place on lap 7 followed by his teammate Arnoux on the 44th lap, Ferrari seemed to have the win guaranteed. In order to conserve fuel and ensure the cars finished, the Ferrari team ordered both drivers to slow down. Villeneuve believed that the order also meant that the drivers were to maintain position but Pironi passed Villeneuve. A few laps later Villeneuve re-passed Pironi and slowed down again, believing that Pironi was simply trying to entertain the Italian crowd. On the last lap Pironi passed and aggressively chopped across the front of Gilles in Villeneuve corner and took the win. Villeneuve was irate as he believed that Pironi had disobeyed the order to hold position. Meanwhile, Pironi claimed that he had done nothing wrong as the team had only ordered the cars to slow down, not maintain position. Villeneuve stated after the race "I think it is well known that if I want someone to stay behind me and I am faster, then he stays behind me."<ref>Roebuck (1999) p.182</ref> Feeling betrayed and angry Villeneuve vowed never to speak to Pironi again.<ref>Donaldson (2003) p.289</ref>

In 2007, [[John Hogan (motorsport executive)|John Hogan]], the retired Vice President of Marketing at Ferrari sponsor Phillip Morris and later Jaguar Racing team principal who was at the sponsor during Villeneuve's career, disputed the claim that Pironi had gone back on a prior arrangement with Villeneuve. He said: "Neither of them would ever have agreed to what effectively was throwing a race. I think Gilles was stunned somebody had out-driven him and that it just caught him so much by surprise."  A comparison of the lap times of the two drivers showed that Villeneuve lapped far slower when he was in the lead, suggesting that he had indeed been trying to save fuel.<ref name="f1fdoubtovervpfacts">{{cite web | title = Doubt over facts of Villeneuve-Pironi row | publisher = F1Fanatic.co.uk | year = 2007 | url = http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/07/24/doubt-over-facts-of-villeneuve-pironi-row/ | access-date = July 24, 2007 | archive-date = October 25, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071025035044/http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/07/24/doubt-over-facts-of-villeneuve-pironi-row/ | url-status = live }}</ref>