News Summary
- Jacques Villeneuve said he unknowingly inherited Gilles Villeneuve’s resilience, a trait he considers essential for surviving the difficult early stages of a racing career.
- The 1997 F1 world champion also reflected on how he learned to calculate risk differently from his father while developing his own identity in motorsport.
- Villeneuve admitted that hearing other people speak openly about Gilles in recent years has changed the way he remembers and understands his father.
Jacques Villeneuve lost his father when he was only 11 years old and, as a result, has relatively few memories of Gilles Villeneuve. Still, the 1997 Formula 1 world champion believes he unknowingly inherited one of his father’s most important qualities: resilience.
Gilles became one of F1’s most charismatic figures in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but his career was cut short by his fatal qualifying crash at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. He was 32 years old.
Jacques therefore grew up carrying the Villeneuve name in motorsport without his father being there to guide him.
Before becoming the 1995 Indy 500 winner and 1997 F1 world champion, Jacques spent several years racing in Italian and Japanese Formula 3. Those early experiences taught him how important resilience was to surviving in motorsport, particularly after some harsh lessons at the beginning of his career.
“If you do this sport for the wrong reason, you will never progress. You have to love motorsport from the bottom of your heart. You have to be willing to take the hits, because you’re going to take a lot of them. You are put in your place very easily on the track. It’s very simple. How are you going to react to that?” Villeneuve told Motorsport.
“Especially in the formative years, when you start in Formula 3. That’s when you take the biggest beatings. So you have to build some kind of shield around yourself. That’s why it happened that way. But it gave me the freedom to simply be myself and not carry that weight,” he added.
Villeneuve says he inherited Gilles’ resilience
Villeneuve believes that quality came from Gilles, even though he did not consciously learn it from his father.
The Canadian recalled that Gilles was essentially the same person away from the racetrack as he was inside the car. He also remembered his father’s attitude toward his rivals, risk and the constant desire to push himself to the limit.
“I think that’s something I inherited a lot from my father without realizing it. Not because of who he was as a driver, but because of who Gilles was when he wasn’t in the car — he was exactly the same person. At home, he was exactly the same as he was on the track. Always very selfish when it came to what he wanted to do,” Villeneuve said.
“But then I noticed his attitude toward risk, toward going to the limit, but doing it the right way. With respect for his rivals. And always wanting to win the next challenge. And often doing that to show the others: ‘I can do it, you can’t.’ Because that was basically the story of his life. I learned a lot from Gilles in that respect. But with a different upbringing. So I think that allowed me to calculate risk a little better,” he explained.
That distinction was important for Jacques as he developed his own career. Rather than simply trying to replicate Gilles, he believes his experience allowed him to absorb some of his father’s characteristics while developing a different approach to risk and competition.
Jacques says his view of Gilles has changed
Despite having few memories of Gilles as a father, Jacques said his understanding of him has evolved as people who knew the Ferrari star have become more willing to share their experiences.
“I don’t have many memories of him as a father. I don’t know if it’s because they don’t exist or because I simply put them away when he died. And that was my way of surviving,” Villeneuve said.
“What is incredible is how, in recent years, people have opened up about the time they spent with Gilles.”
“Even [Alain] Prost, or other people who used to race with him, who never dared to before. And the picture I’m getting is so different from the one I received from my mother,” he concluded.
The comments offer a different perspective on one of the most famous father-son stories in Formula 1. Gilles remains an iconic figure in the sport, while Jacques eventually established his own legacy by becoming world champion with Williams in 1997.
Gilles Villeneuve film set for November release
Gilles’ story will also reach the big screen with Villeneuve: L’Ascension D’Une Légende, a film covering the early years of his racing career. GRANDE PRÊMIO previously reported on the film after its first official trailer was released in Canada.
The movie is scheduled for a worldwide release on November 11, although a Brazilian release date has not been announced.
Formula 1 returns this weekend, from September 11-13, for the Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid’s new MADRING street circuit. It will be the 14th round of the 2026 season.
GRANDE PRÊMIO will cover all the action from the first F1 weekend at the new Madrid venue.
FAQ
How did Gilles Villeneuve influence Jacques Villeneuve?
Jacques says he unknowingly inherited Gilles’ resilience and learned from his father’s attitude toward risk, competition and pushing to the limit. However, Jacques developed his own approach to calculating risk during his formative years in motorsport.
How old was Jacques Villeneuve when Gilles Villeneuve died?
Jacques was 11 years old when his father died in the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix qualifying crash. Gilles was 32.
When is the Gilles Villeneuve movie being released?
Villeneuve: L’Ascension D’Une Légende is scheduled for worldwide release on November 11, 2026. A Brazilian release date has not yet been announced.
