163 Facts About Jacques Villeneuve

Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve is a Canadian professional racing driver and amateur musician who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams.

Jacques Villeneuve currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Vanwall Racing Team.

Jacques Villeneuve is the son of former Ferrari racing driver Gilles Villeneuve.

Jacques Villeneuve moved to the higher-tier Toyota Atlantic Championship, participating in one race during the 1992 season and finishing third overall in the 1993 championship.

Jacques Villeneuve moved to Williams in F1 for the 1996 season, claiming four Grand Prix victories, and becoming the first rookie runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship after a season-long duel with teammate Damon Hill.

Jacques Villeneuve finished fifth in the 1998 season achieving two podiums and helped Williams finish third in the World Constructors' Championship behind Ferrari and McLaren.

Jacques Villeneuve left Formula One mid-way through the 2006 season and began competing in various forms of motor racing such as sports car racing, NASCAR, and touring car racing.

Jacques Villeneuve was appointed Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 1998.

Jacques Villeneuve was voted the winner of both the Lou Marsh Trophy and the Lionel Conacher Award in each of 1995 and 1997.

Jacques Villeneuve is an inductee of the Canadian Motor Sports Hall of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and the FIA Hall of Fame.

On 9 April 1971, Jacques Villeneuve was born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a small town outside of Montreal in the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec.

Jacques Villeneuve is the son of snowmobile and future Ferrari racer Gilles Villeneuve and his wife Joann Barthe.

Jacques Villeneuve has a sister, Melanie, and a half sister Jessica.

Jacques Villeneuve spent most of his formative years travelling with the racing fraternity with his parents.

Jacques Villeneuve excelled in skiing, BASE jumping, ice hockey, motocross and water skiing.

Jacques Villeneuve left the school by mutual consent between his mother and the school owners.

Jacques Villeneuve's mother was aware from when he was five that he wanted to race, and he went go-karting with his uncle several times in Canada.

Jacques Villeneuve became less interested in motor racing after that, fearing the sport's dangers.

Jacques Villeneuve's mother agreed to let him race on the condition he improved his academic performance in one of his weakest subjects, mathematics.

In early September 1985, Jacques Villeneuve was invited by a SAGIS employee to race in 100 cc go-kart at Italy's Imola Circuit.

Jacques Villeneuve impressed the track owners so much that they let him test a 135 cc kart and then a Formula Four car.

Villeneuve did not have the money to pay for the course and his mother would not fund it because she thought Jacques finishing his education was more important.

Aged 17, Jacques Villeneuve was invited to make his car racing debut in the Italian Touring Car Championship, driving a Salerno Course-entered Group N Alfa Romeo 33 car for three rounds of the 1988 season.

Jacques Villeneuve went on to sign a three-year contract to drive a Reynard-Alfa Romeo car for Prema in the Italian Formula Three Championship, a deal that was aided by the squad obtaining sponsorship from the Camel cigarette company.

Jacques Villeneuve did not qualify five times, failed to finish three of the eleven races, and scored no points.

Jacques Villeneuve was considered a title favourite for the 1991 championship.

In late 1991, Jacques Villeneuve finished eighth in both the Macau Grand Prix and the Formula 3 Fuji Cup.

Jacques Villeneuve accepted an offer to relocate to Japan and drive a Toyota 032F car for the TOM'S squad in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship in 1992 following advice from Tambay.

Jacques Villeneuve felt the Japanese series was almost as good as the Italian one, and he did not want to remain in Europe.

Jacques Villeneuve was the only driver to receive works support from TOM'S, and he got driver training.

Jacques Villeneuve won three races and finished no lower than sixth nine times, earning second in the Drivers' Championship and 45 points.

People in the racing world observed that ten years after his father's death, Jacques Villeneuve was becoming a well-known racer.

Jacques Villeneuve finished third in the No 49 Swift DB4-Toyota car lent by the ComPred team.

Four months later, Jacques Villeneuve accepted an invite to share a TOM'S-entered Toyota TS010 car with Eddie Irvine and Tom Kristensen at the final round of the 1992 All Japan Sports Prototype Car Endurance Championship at Mine Circuit, finishing fourth.

Jacques Villeneuve was fourth at the Macau Grand Prix for TOM'S.

In Trois-Rivieres, Jacques Villeneuve met crew chief Barry Green who wanted a driver for his new Forsythe-Green Racing squad.

Jacques Villeneuve accepted a three-year contract from Green with personal sponsorship from sports marketing arm Player's November 1992.

Jacques Villeneuve raced the lower-tier 1993 Atlantic Championship which featured more powerful cars with more grip and downforce to become better acquainted with American open-wheel racing before progressing to Championship Auto Racing Teams in 1994.

Jacques Villeneuve built a close working relationship with aerodynamicist Tony Cicale.

Jacques Villeneuve was named the series' Rookie of the Year, and ended 1993 retiring from the Macau Grand Prix driving a March Racing Ralt 93C-Fiat car.

Jacques Villeneuve began participating in CART in the 1994 season for Forsythe-Green Racing, driving the No 12 Reynard 94I-Ford XB vehicle after Green obtained sponsorship.

Jacques Villeneuve debuted at the season-opening Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix at Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, starting eighth and finishing 17th after colliding with Stefan Johansson.

Qualifying fourth for his first Indianapolis 500, Jacques Villeneuve finished second, earning Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors as the highest-finishing rookie.

Jacques Villeneuve finished ninth or higher in six of the next nine rounds, before beating Al Unser Jr.

Jacques Villeneuve placed seventh and third in the final two rounds ending the year with Rookie of the Year honors and was sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 94 points.

Jacques Villeneuve won the season-opening Grand Prix of Miami after starting eighth, but he only finished two of the next four races.

Jacques Villeneuve won the championship with 172 points, four victories and six pole positions.

In early 1995, the Williams F1 team and engine supplier Renault became interested in Jacques Villeneuve replacing the outgoing David Coulthard.

Jacques Villeneuve lapped two seconds slower than driver Damon Hill.

Jacques Villeneuve drove the docile FW18 car equipped with a powerful, reliable Renault engine and a better gearbox.

Jacques Villeneuve built up a rapport with his race engineer Jock Clear and learnt from his teammate Hill.

Jacques Villeneuve beat Ferrari's Michael Schumacher in the European Grand Prix three races later for his maiden F1 victory.

Jacques Villeneuve scored points in eight of the next eleven events and won the British Grand Prix, the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve finished runner-up to Hill in the drivers' standings with 78 points in his maiden season.

Jacques Villeneuve was the first rookie to achieve four Grand Prix victories in his debut year and the first to finish runner-up overall.

Jacques Villeneuve trained extensively and drove an aerodynamically efficient and powerful FW19 car designed around him.

Jacques Villeneuve won seven Grands Prix and qualified on pole position eight times in the first 14 races.

Jacques Villeneuve was allowed to race under appeal but was disqualified from fifth when the appeal was rejected.

Jacques Villeneuve was the second driver to win the F1 World Championship, the CART title and the Indianapolis 500.

Jacques Villeneuve threatened to leave F1 and return to CART if F1 introduced grooved tyres and narrower cars for the 1998 season.

Jacques Villeneuve scored points at nine Grands Prix with a season-high third at each of the German Grand Prix and at the following Hungarian Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve instead signed a contract to drive with the new British American Racing team founded by Pollock and British American Tobacco following their late 1997 purchase of the financially struggling Tyrrell team.

Jacques Villeneuve joined the team because he sought to emulate Schumacher's style of basing a team around him and employing highly skilled people to get from the bottom of the running order to the top.

Jacques Villeneuve was joined at BAR by former McLaren test driver Ricardo Zonta for most of the season and then by Mika Salo for three Grands Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve failed to finish each of the first eleven races due to either mechanical trouble or crashing.

Jacques Villeneuve was only able to finish four Grands Prix with a best finish of eighth at the Italian Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve finished fourth at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and scored two more points by placing fifth at the San Marino Grand Prix two races later.

Jacques Villeneuve finished fourth at the French Grand Prix, the Austrian Grand Prix and the United States Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve scored points in the final two races by finishing sixth at the Japanese Grand Prix and fifth at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve finished the season seventh in the Drivers' Championship with 17 points.

Jacques Villeneuve talked to Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren about racing with them in the 2001 championship.

Jacques Villeneuve later admitted McLaren was not an option since his management team got accused of conducting early season publicity and he disliked McLaren's corporate methodology.

Jacques Villeneuve considered taking a sabbatical, but he ultimately signed a three-year contract extension with BAR in July 2000.

Jacques Villeneuve obtained a get-out clause enabling him to leave BAR should they under-perform.

Jacques Villeneuve was cordial with his teammate since they could talk to each other in French, and set himself the goal of winning a race and finishing third in the Drivers' Championship.

Jacques Villeneuve's car was fairly reliable but lacked rear grip and straight-line speed due to an underpowered Honda engine.

At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve struck the rear of Ralf Schumacher's car, launching him into the air.

Jacques Villeneuve achieved BAR's first two podium results, finishing third at both the Spanish Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve finished the season seventh in the Drivers' Championship with 12 points.

Jacques Villeneuve talked to team principal Flavio Briatore, who offered him a seat at Renault in lieu of Jenson Button but Villeneuve rejected it.

Jacques Villeneuve ultimately opted to remain at BAR due to pressure from Honda, and he again partnered with Panis.

Jacques Villeneuve became uncomfortable when new BAR team principal David Richards publicly mentioned that money spent on Villeneuve's high salary could be better used for research and development.

Jacques Villeneuve scored four points for 12th in the Drivers' Championship with a fourth place at the British Grand Prix being his season's best result.

Jacques Villeneuve regretted remaining at BAR due to the lack of results, and he was offered a contract to join Team Player's in CART for the 2003 championship before returning to BAR for the 2004 and 2005 F1 seasons.

Jacques Villeneuve decided to remain at BAR for the 2003 season, and was partnered with Button.

Jacques Villeneuve initially had a poor relationship with Button, not speaking to him and saying that Button "should be in a boy band".

Jacques Villeneuve was outperformed by his teammate and retired eight times due to mechanical faults.

Jacques Villeneuve finished sixth at both the Brazilian Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve was 16th in the Drivers' Championship with 6 points.

Jacques Villeneuve thought of taking up NASCAR as a new challenge, but no teams approached him.

Sauber was comfortable in letting Jacques Villeneuve drive for Renault because both teams used Michelin tyres.

Jacques Villeneuve scored no points and was unclassified in the Drivers' Championship.

Jacques Villeneuve did not have a good relationship with the team because he was not allowed to give feedback on car setup due to Willy Rampf's influence.

Jacques Villeneuve finished a season-high fourth at the San Marino Grand Prix and scored more points in eighth at the French Grand Prix and sixth at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve was 14th in the Drivers' Championship with 9 points.

Jacques Villeneuve found the less electronically dependent and less refined aerodynamically F1.06 car more driveable.

At the German Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve sustained muscle pains in an accident exiting a corner.

Jacques Villeneuve explored NASCAR after exiting F1, talking to Roush Racing owner Jack Roush who agreed to help Villeneuve obtain Truck Series experience before progressing to the Busch Series in 2007 on the condition of a sponsorship agreement.

Jacques Villeneuve entered into a partnership with Bill Davis Racing to enter the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' last seven events in its No 27 Toyota Tundra in anticipation of racing full-time in 2008.

Jacques Villeneuve finished outside the top ten in all seven events for 42nd overall with 615 points.

Jacques Villeneuve then won the 2008 1000 km of Spa for Peugeot with Gene and Minassian in his first race victory for 11 years.

Jacques Villeneuve came 16th at the Autodromo Oscar y Juan Galvez round of Top Race V6 Argentina aboard Oro Racing Team's No 27 Volkswagen Passat TRV6.

In mid-2009, Jacques Villeneuve partook in the Tide 250 at Autodrome Saint-Eustache and the GP3R 100 at Circuit Trois-Rivieres of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series for the Jacombs Racing Team in its No 7 Ford Fusion, finishing fourth at Trois-Rivieres.

Jacques Villeneuve shared Gravity Racing International's G2 category No 118 Mosler MT900R GT3 with Vincent Radermecker, Loris de Sordi and Ho-Pin Tung.

Jacques Villeneuve drove the No 27 Mercedes TRV6 at the Interlagos Circuit and Autodromo Oscar y Juan Galvez rounds of Top Race V6 Argentina, achieving a best finish of 13th in Buenos Aires.

Jacques Villeneuve made one appearance in the 2009 Nationwide Series, finishing fourth at the NAPA Auto Parts 200 in Braun Racing's No 32 car.

In 2010, Jacques Villeneuve ran the Nationwide Series road courses at Road America, Watkins Glen and Montreal in Braun Racing's No 32 vehicle.

Jacques Villeneuve finished eighth at Watkins Glen before claiming third at Montreal, where he started second.

In mid-season, Jacques Villeneuve entered the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway finishing 29th in Braun Racing's No 32 car.

Jacques Villeneuve joined Rod Nash Racing as Paul Dumbrell's international co-driver in its No 55 Ford FG Falcon for the Gold Coast 600 double header in October 2010 and sought advice from driver Marcos Ambrose on touring car racing.

Jacques Villeneuve finished 22nd in the first race and fifth in the second.

Jacques Villeneuve drove the Road America and Montreal road course races of the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series for Penske Racing in its No 22 Dodge Challenger in lieu of Brad Keselowski.

Jacques Villeneuve finished the Road America race third and qualified on pole position for the Montreal event but finished 27th despite leading 29 laps.

Jacques Villeneuve was employed by Penske to drive its No 22 car at the Road America and Montreal road course races in the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Jacques Villeneuve finished sixth at Road America and third at Montreal.

When Jacques Villeneuve expressed interest in the International V8 Supercars Championship, he was considered for a full-time seat at Kelly Racing in the 2013, but no agreement was reached.

Jacques Villeneuve chose to do rallycross because he felt it was exciting for both drivers and spectators.

In seven races, Jacques Villeneuve scored eight points for 37th in the Drivers' Championship.

Jacques Villeneuve was released before the season ended due to non-supportive statements he made concerning his team and rallycross.

Jacques Villeneuve entered the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in 19 years, driving Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports' No 5 Dallara DW12-Honda third car entry.

Jacques Villeneuve accepted an invitation to enter 2015 Stock Car Brasil's season-opening Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna round alongside Zonta in Shell Racing's No 10 Chevrolet Sonic, placing 21st.

Jacques Villeneuve had observed Formula E intently throughout 2014, admiring its bumpy city tracks.

Jacques Villeneuve finished outside the top ten in the first two races and failed to start the Punta del Este ePrix due to an accident during qualifying.

Jacques Villeneuve signed a one-race agreement to return to rallycross in the 2018 season.

Jacques Villeneuve drove a Subaru Rally Team USA-entered WRX STi Supercar at the World RX of Canada.

Jacques Villeneuve failed to qualify for the final following two accidents sustained during the second semi-final.

Jacques Villeneuve raced as a guest driver at the Ring Knutstorp and Karlskoga Motorstadion rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia in a MTech Competition-entered Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, placing in the top ten in the second race of both rounds.

Jacques Villeneuve drove the No 32 Go Fas Racing Chevrolet, finishing the season eighth in points with 431 scored, two pole positions and seven top-tens.

Jacques Villeneuve drove Academy Motorsport's No 5 car in the 2021 Whelen Euro Series, achieving his first two series victories in both races of the season's final round at Vallelunga, and scoring 331 points for ninth in the points standings with two wins and four top-ten finishes.

Jacques Villeneuve left the series after the season was over to focus on his F1 commentary commitments.

For 2022, Jacques Villeneuve returned to the NASCAR Cup Series as a part-time driver of the non-chartered No 27 Team Hezeberg Ford.

Jacques Villeneuve aimed to assist Team Hezeberg in the launch of its Cup Series programme and he consented to assist with their effort in the Daytona 500.

For 2023, Jacques Villeneuve has been announced as a driver for Floyd Vanwall Racing Team in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship.

Jacques Villeneuve began writing lyrics while he was driving in Japan, and purchased a guitar in 1996.

Jacques Villeneuve was a guest on the 6 June 1995 and 2 June 1998 episodes of the Late Show with David Letterman.

Jacques Villeneuve made a cameo appearance as a racing driver in the 2001 film Driven.

Jacques Villeneuve carried the Olympic torch in Old Montreal during the 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay in December 2009.

Jacques Villeneuve was employed by Disney France in late 2010, spending two days recording the French-language voice of a racing announcer for the 2011 Pixar animated film Cars 2.

Jacques Villeneuve analysed the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix for the British television channel Sky Sports F1.

Since 2013, Jacques Villeneuve has commentated for the pay-TV services Sky Sport in Italy and Canal+ in France.

Jacques Villeneuve co-designed the Area 27 racing track in Okanagan, British Columbia.

Jacques Villeneuve was engaged firstly to the Montreal college student Sandrine Gros D'Aillon, then to Australian pop singer Dannii Minogue and later American ballerina Ellen Green.

Jacques Villeneuve has a son with his current girlfriend Giulia Marra.

Jacques Villeneuve publicly bemoaned F1's commercialised and commodified image, the sport's structure, focus on cheaper, younger, corporate groomed drivers, and the manufacturing of driver personalities by corporations so as not to impugn their reputation by drivers voicing their thoughts and opinions through the media.

Jacques Villeneuve frequently dyed his hair in various colours and sported grunge street wear.

Jacques Villeneuve's behaviour earned him multiple cautions from F1's governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, for bringing the series into disrepute.

Jacques Villeneuve refused to conduct substantial public relations duties for teams even after BAT attempted to purchase more public relations appearances for him, and he limited his commitments communicating to the press.

Journalist Matt Bishop observed that Jacques Villeneuve was frequently criticised for refusing to do sponsorship functions and for his self-imposed limiting interactions with the press at Grands Prix, but Bishop noted others appreciated Jacques Villeneuve's focus on racing and instead of "extraneous commitments".

Jacques Villeneuve resisted to join the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, which he believed would serve only the interests of drivers and not F1's.

Jacques Villeneuve decided to resign from the GPDA in mid-2006 because he was unhappy that its president, Schumacher, had been deemed to have purposely stopped during qualifying for the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve was voted the winner of the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy in 1996, and both the Lou Marsh Trophy and the Lionel Conacher Award in 1995 and 1997.

Jacques Villeneuve received the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy for 1997 as the most successful British or Commonwealth driver over the course of a season.

Jacques Villeneuve was added to Canada's Walk of Fame two months later.

In December 2010, Jacques Villeneuve was inducted into the athlete category of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

Jacques Villeneuve was added to both the FIA Hall of Fame and the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame seven and eight years later respectively.

Journalist Mark Hughes describes Jacques Villeneuve's driving as "spectacular" and "hard-charging".

Jacques Villeneuve frequently went past the edge of the available track to increase his momentum as much as possible.

Jacques Villeneuve found driver aids difficult and thus ran with less traction control than his teammates since he could not deal with either the anti-lock system on the rear brakes or heavy traction control.

Jacques Villeneuve switched from wearing spectacles in his helmet to contact lenses in 1994 after his spectacles vibrated slightly on minor bumps in Indianapolis.

Jacques Villeneuve based the design of his racing helmet on his father's, reportedly drawing it on a doodling pad.

Jacques Villeneuve looked at a photograph of his mother wearing a pink, yellow, green and blue V-shaped striped polo shirt at a motor race her husband was competing at, and he used her pencils to produce the design.

Jacques Villeneuve incorporated an inverted V-style swoosh with varying thickness of colours around the shape on the helmet's two sides.

Jacques Villeneuve retained a single black line from his first design in the centre to divide the colours without difficulty.