Jacques Villeneuve
Jacques Villeneuve
Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve, OQ, is a Canadian auto racing driver and amateur musician. He is the son of Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, and is the namesake of his uncle, who was also a racer. Villeneuve won the 1995 CART Championship, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One World Championship, making him only the third driver after Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to achieve such a feat. To date, no other Canadian has won the Indianapolis 500...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionRace Car Driver
Date of Birth9 April 1971
CountryCanada
That was a pretty bad lap, ... The car was just sliding around all over the place.
Both Indy Car and Formula 1 work in the same way, although there is a greater emphasis on development and technology in Formula 1.
My goal is not to be a race-car driver. The reason I'm racing is because I enjoy being in the car and being on the edge.
The problem is if you spend too many years in a car that can't win, the day you're in one that can, you're not used to it, so it will have an effect.
Ask me about the challenge of becoming as good at music as I am at motorsport, and I have to say: my career has been racing, and I don't plan on music becoming my next career.
The fans come. They don't care about the third drivers.
Starting from 19th place with a full tank and finishing sixth is obviously a lot better than I expected, so it was a very good race for me. The only problem I had was warming up the tires after the numerous safety car phases. We have to have a look at this to improve the situation but otherwise our pace was good.
I'm a racer at heart more than anything else, and that will always be my priority: competing. But ultimately, if you can't drive, you can still have the competitive spirit outside of a car.
I think it was wrong to take the decision to slow F1 down. It was much better in my day, when it was already a lot safer than it had been in the '70s and '80s, but you could still drive crazy fast.
Winning the Indy 500 in 1995 and the Formula 1 championship in 1997 are very special moments for me, and the people in NASCAR show me respect for what I've achieved so far in my career.
I was happy to ski and play a lot of ice hockey. But I've come back because I was - and am - a racing driver. This is what I do.
Winning is still the reason that I drive in formula one. And the title, as well. I'm not here just to be part of it. I haven't forgotten how to win.
Unlike motor sport, I didn't get into music for the live performances. I like writing and studio work and seeing how a song can come to life.
With my father and uncle so involved in racing, it was the only thing I ever knew, so I'm sure that had a huge influence on me. However, my father had more influence on me just by the way he lived, because the way he was at the racetrack was the way he was in everyday life.