MAKICHUK: The fastest man ... looking back at Gilles Villeneuve
Canadian F1 driver had a short career, but is still ranked among the greats
The following interview with Formula One racing great, Gilles Villeneuve, appeared in the Oct. 14, 1981 issue of Grand Prix magazine, featuring the Canadian Grand Prix.
Villeneuve had just come off of two spectacular wins at Monte Carlo and Jarama, despite having an inferior car with a turbo engine. The car was a “beast” to drive, and Villeneuve was losing patience. There was even talk, he might jump to another F1 team.
This would never happen, of course, Gilles would stay with Ferrari. But the interview remains a valuable window, into the F1 circus and the life of Gilles Villeneuve, circa October, 1981.
Gilles Villeneuve: Face to Face
Many consider him the fastest man in Grand Prix racing today. But why hasn't he won the championship? What problems prevent him from doing so, and how does he solve those problems? The same questions arise each year, yet the man himself seems just as determined and his talent remains as obvious as ever. But now there's a difference: as years go by Gilles is becoming more and more impatient.
By Eric Bhat, Oct. 14, 1981
Although you’ve won two races this the Ferrari team has had a lot of problems recently. Overall, do you consider this season to have been positive or negative?
It's been negative in that at the beginning of the year I thought we'd be a lot more competitive. I thought we'd be constantly among the top five or six. We were supposed to have an advantage with our much publicised new turbo engine, and we should have had better ground effect than we had with the T5. But it didn't turn out that way, except perhaps at Imola where we were fairly competitive. But at that time, the hydraulic suspension cheating wasn't in full swing, and our ground effect handicap wasn't too great big.
Once everyone had got their trick suspension working, we slipped further back. After we'd won at Monaco and Spain, the supposed experts made us favourites to win the next Grands Prix because they would be suited to turbo power. But the cars' handling hadn't been that good up to Spain, and I couldn't see why it should be that much better in the next few races. I was far from optimistic.
You didn't win those two races by chance. They were very promising, for at that time, the 126 C was fairly new.
Circumstances played their part on both occasions.
We were competitive during practice at Monaco. But we deserved to finish fourth or fifth in the race. Fortunately there were a number of retirements which meant that I won. By Spain, the suspension cheating was in full swing and we had begun to suffer. I was fourth or fifth fastest in practice, but that was thanks to the engine.
I made a superb start in the race, Jones went off and I won: the right chain of circumstances with a bit of luck. If I'd been seventh at the start, I would have remained seventh and I wouldn't have overtaken anyone. The car didn't deserve to win. I'm not saying it was because of me that the car won, but I think I had something to do with it.
Even though you weren't optimistic after Spain, didn't you think that the turbo engine would be an advantage on the next few quick circuits?
Yes, I did think it would be an advantage, but only up to a point. In fact we realised that a Ford Cosworth engine in the back of a car with little wing wasn't a lot slower than we were. We were only a couple of miles an hour faster than a Brabham for example. You don't win races like that, especially when you're eight miles an hour slower in the corners. At the same time, the Renault team had improved their turbo which was just as powerful as ours, but had less turbo lag.
Our big disadvantage was our roadholding. It's very mediocre, and sometimes been even worse than everyone else's. I didn't expect our handling to be the best at the start of the season, but I didn't think it would be quite so bad. I hoped that I'd be a front runner and that I might win one or two races. I've won those two races, OK, but the rest of the time l've been a regular mid-field runner.
We've practised well, but during the race, it's been just like it was with the T5.We've steadily dropped back to around 10th place in most races.
"Gilles was the fastest driver in the history of motor racing. But more important for me is that he was the most genuine person I have ever known." — Rene Arnoux
Were those two wins perhaps a disadvantage in that perhaps they hid certain problems? Did you win too early in the season?
No, I don't think so. On the contrary, I think our wins gave the team some hope which encouraged the personnel to work harder. No one in the team has rested on the laurels of those wins. The only excuse that I think we can claim is that it's difficult to built an engine and imagine the size of the radiators and intercoolers etc, while at the same time building a good aerodynamic car.
Perhaps we didn't really concentrate on a neat aerodynamic car. It's easy to say, but I think we could have done better. The right way to do it is to go into the wind tunnel and to build the car according to the results obtained there, even if it means slight engine alterations or changing the transmission.
There's one thing that all the better cars have in common: a narrow gearbox and well positioned side pods.
Some of them may not be competitive, but one thing's for certain: all the leading cars have narrow gearboxes and wide side pods... things that we don't have.
That was our mistake from the start. We're going to have to put that right for next year.
A lot of people say that nobody else could have won in a Ferrari at Jarama. Was that your best race of the season?
It certainly was, and perhaps even one of the best of my career. I would like to think that no one else could have won in a Ferrari that day, but I suppose other drivers would have been capable of winning. Everyone has their “on” days. It was a good race for me. It's easy to say that I had a power advantage and that allowed me to stay in front. But the car was virtually undriveable, it just didn't handle.
It's not easy to stay in front for 80 laps without making too many mistakes — and I made a few.
How do you feel about next season? Do you think that Ferrari could win the championship in 1982?
Yes, but I thought the same thing this time last year. Let's say that I feel that I have the proof that I could win the championship next year. We have a good engine. What we have to do is develop an efficient aerodynamic chassis. think that we should be able to do that.
From time to time you’ve had some pretty harsh words for Ferrari's technical men. Was this frustration or anger?
It certainly wasn't anger. Impatient I might be, but that's only to be expected, and perhaps I've shown it from time to time. But contrary to what some people think, there hasn't been a lot of shouting in the team this year. Yes, the car could have been better. When you consider all the facilities that we have at Ferrari, to have the worst chassis in the field for a number of races is pushing things a bit far. If it was Ensign or ATS, it might be excusable, but at Ferrari, it's hard to take.
"His car control was extraordinary, even compared with the many talented drivers I have had the opportunity to drive against over the years.… (He drove a) Grand Prix car to the absolute limit of its ability." — Jackie Stewart
You were driving with Ferrari when the team won a number of races. Now, apart from your two wins earlier in the season, it's been a lean year. Is the atmosphere getting rather tense?
We're more tense, but we still have our feet on the ground. We know what we're dealing with in terms of car and problems and we know how to make things better. So we're not beating our heads against a brick wall. If we spent too much time modifying the current cars, we’d jeopardize next season’s plans.
We’ve made some temporary modifications, but we don’t have time to change the whole car. Let’s wait until next year.
What's the story behind the telex conversation between yourself and the Commendatore after the Austrian Grand Prix? Have you had some sort of disagreement?
As you say, it's a story. After each Grand Prix, I send a telex to Ferrari giving him my impressions of what has happened during the previous weekend: it went well, it was dreadful, the car did this or that. I try to give my own, honest impressions as a driver.
After the Austrian Grand Prix, I sent him the usual telex in which I explained that I'd crashed and that it was my fault, something which perhaps I didn't explain well to the Italian press. Ferrari replied, saying that it was good that I had admitted my mistake, but that he didn't hold it against me because he knew that I drove hard all the time.
The press pushed him to say what he thought of the accident, so he published his reply to my telex, and some journalists saw it as a rebuke when in fact it was absolving me of all blame. But to prove that there had been a telex conversation between us, Ferrari has shown a few journalists the telex that I originally sent.
Anyway, there's never been any bad feeling between Ferrari and me.
Do you converse regularly by telex with Enzo Ferrari?
Yes, regularly, but not only by telex.
When I go to Fiorano, we talk a lot together, much more this year than previously. It's built up gradually. When I first drove for him, I scarcely knew him at all, but now we get on very well.
I can talk with him very openly and honestly. I've even had to tell him that on certain circuits, the car is the worst in the field. Anyway, I don't need to tell him: he knows it already, he can see it on television. At certain times, you only have to watch TV to see that our car's roadhol-ding is very bad.
You have already signed to drive for Ferrari in 1982. You signed in May, don't you think this was too early? Are there not times when you regret this?
Taking into account the current situation in Formula 1, you could say that l'd signed too early because I'm bound by contract to Ferrari, should I want to join Williams or McLaren for instance. But on the other hand, if I really wanted to leave the team, it wouldn't be impossible. A contract is only a piece of paper, and there is always room to negotiate.
When you no longer want to drive a car, you don't want to drive it, and that's that. If I hadn't signed with Ferrari so early, I'd be on the market at the moment, and I might have been able to get more money from Ferrari, but that's not important. Certainly, during the season, when the car was no longer competitive, I had second thoughts when I saw how well Renault, Williams or Brabham were doing. But these were only temporary regrets.
What's done is done, and it's not the end of the world.
"Villeneuve did not race to finish, he did not race for points. He raced to win. Although small in stature he was a giant."
— Juan Manuel Fangio
There has been some talk about the possibility of Williams taking over your Ferrari contract. Is it a real possibility?
You may think that there is some truth in the rumours. But if people think that I'm a good driver, it's only natural that they should talk to me. I'm not deaf. They can talk and l'll listen. All the same, though, there's a lot of difference between them talking to me, and me talking to them…
You've now driven for Ferrari for four years. It would be quite understandable that you wanted a change of team.
Four seasons, and two of them have been bad. But I work well with Ferrari, I like the team. The only way I would leave Ferrari would be if I could be certain of driving a better car. But how can you be sure? At the risk of having nothing better, I'd much prefer to drive for Ferrari for as long as possible. Contrary to what some people have said of him, he's the most humane of all Formula 1 team patrons.
But driving doesn't just mean racing, but also testing. You've done an enormous amount of testing at Fiorano in the last four years, and you go back time after time. Don't you think there's a risk of you reaching a saturation point?
We don't test for fun at Fiorano. It's always constructive. If we try things in testing that are likely to improve the car — new skirts or tyres for example — and make us quicker, than I appreciate the fact. But endurance driving is not so great. Driving round and round to work out fuel consumption or brake wear isn't any fun. I've done a lot of laps now at Fiorano, and I suppose the challenge has faded.
Do you still feel that you, personally, are making progress, that you're still learning?
Yes. Firstly I find that I can work out whether the car is progressing or not much quicker when we're working on it. Secondly, and it's here that I find I'm making the greatest progress, it's that I can get myself out of a fix much more easily than previously.
For the last two seasons, you've been driving a car that isn't totally competitive, and yet you're just as aggressive as before. Other drivers might have eased up. Why not you?
No, I haven't eased up, I'm driving as hard as ever. That's because if you do ease up, I don't see how you can put the pressure on again once you have a good car. Either you drive hard or you don't. I can't see that there's anything between. But I hope that a good car will come along before people start saying that I've lost my touch.
Ronnie Peterson was always the quickest driver of his time, but when he was in an uncompetitive car, people said that his sliding technique was losing him time and that he wasn't as quick as before. They were wrong, of course, because he amply proved that with a competitive car, he was still the quickest driver around. I hope people don't think the same of me.
Is it any different in the team now that Didier Pironi has replaced Jodi Scheckter as your teammate at Ferrari?
Nothing's changed, really. Jody and I used to ask for the same set-up, and it's virtually the same with Didier. I get on as well with Didier as I did with Jody, and I think that Didier's joining the team has been as good for the team as it has been for me. When we weren't very quick last year in the T4s and T5s, some people might have suspected that it was the drives who were to blame. Didier joined the team as a well-respected and quick driver and proved that it wasn't the drivers' fault that we were uncompetitive.
"I know no human being can do a miracle, no one commands magical properties or anything but Gilles made you wonder... he was THAT quick." — Jacques Laffite
Is your brother Jacques a driver in the same mould as yourself? What do you think of him? Are you giving him some advice?
I think I helped him more at the start of his career. All I've said recently is that he deserves a drive in Formula 1. I haven't any advice for him now, except that he should do what he wants to do. Once he's in the car, he mustn't take any notice of someone who tells him to go slower or quicker. But honestly, I don't think he's going to be as good as I am. But that's quite natural. If you asked him the same question, he would probably say that he’s better than I am.
You've now lived in France for four years. At the start, you missed hamburgers, for example. Are you enjoying the French way of life more now?
Don't dwell on hamburgers!! To be honest, I don't think anything can rival the American way of life. But I'm used to France now, even if it is still impossible to ring up for some milk and pizza and have it delivered fifteen minutes later. Life in America is easier.
Finally, can we talk about safety? You seem to be a very active member of the GPDA, but you haven't taken over where Jody left off. Why?
I don't think I have the knowledge, nor the political ability to take over from Jody. I'm more a man of action than of politics. I would hate having to write 52 letters to get things done, or to get down on my knees to plead for something. If there's a positive move to be made, then I'll give it my full support, as I did in Belgium. I'm not a striker at heart, and I hate demonstrations, but when I feel that there is a way of making oneself heard, then I’ll go for it.
— copyright Grand Prix International