Gilles Villeneuve is a racing driver from Canada who last raced in Formula 1 for Ferrari. Villeneuve has recorded 6 wins and 13 podiums from 68 starts.[1]
A Racer Rating of 5,049 ranks Villeneuve 310th of 15,348 indexed drivers, on an Elo scale where the strongest reach the low five figures. It is built from every indexed race in the driver's file, decayed for time since their last race.
| 1982-05-09 | Zolder | DNF | −166 |
| 1982-04-25 | Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari | P2 | +109 |
| 1982-04-04 | Long Beach | DNF | +20 |
| 1982-03-21 | Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet | DNF | −40 |
| 1982-01-23 | Kyalami | DNF | −128 |
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Podiums | DNFs | Poles | Points | Pos | Gain/Loss | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 6 | P15 | −203 | 5,298 |
| 1981 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 15 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 25 | P7 | −566 | 5,501 |
| 1980 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 14 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | P10 | −311 | 6,067 |
| 1979 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 15 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 53 | P2 | +1,019 | 6,378 |
| 1978 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 16 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 17 | P9 | +576 | 5,359 |
| 1977 | ▸Formula 1 | Ferrari | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | P22 | −17 | 4,783 |
| Rival | Rating | Raced | Ahead | Behind | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇫🇷 Jacques Laffite | 5,186 | 27 | 10 | 17 | 37% |
| 🇦🇷 Carlos Reutemann | 5,765 | 26 | 10 | 16 | 38% |
| 🇿🇦 Jody Scheckter | 5,599 | 24 | 15 | 9 | 63% |
| 🇫🇷 Didier Pironi | 5,270 | 24 | 12 | 12 | 50% |
| 🇦🇺 Alan Jones | 4,943 | 24 | 11 | 13 | 46% |
| 🇬🇧 John Watson | 5,367 | 22 | 9 | 13 | 41% |
| 🇺🇸 Mario Andretti | 4,978 | 22 | 12 | 10 | 55% |
| 🇩🇪 Jochen Mass | 5,075 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 67% |
| 🇮🇹 Riccardo Patrese | 5,627 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 65% |
| 🇮🇹 Elio de Angelis | 5,282 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 75% |
Gilles Villeneuve was a Canadian single-seater driver who competed in Formula 1 from 1977 to 1982, retiring after six seasons with 68 starts. He was Ferrari's lead driver for nearly his entire career, winning six grands prix and finishing on the podium 13 times across that span. His peak season came in 1979, when he was runner-up in the world championship; his racing through the final season proved uncompetitive, and he finished P15 in the points across his last five rounds before stepping away from the sport.[1]
Villeneuve's record against the established front-runners of his era shows a career as a solid mid-field to upper-midfield professional. His head-to-head record against Jody Scheckter, who was world champion in 1979, favours Villeneuve decisively at 15 wins to 9 losses in 24 shared races. He outpointed Alan Jones, another champion of the period, by a similar margin over 24 meetings. Against rivals of comparable standing such as Carlos Reutemann and Jacques Laffite, however, his records are notably negative; Reutemann beat him 16 times to Villeneuve's 10 across 26 races, and Laffite's advantage over 27 races widened to 17 wins versus 10. Against Alain Prost, who would emerge as a five-time world champion, Villeneuve finished ahead of him once, a mark of the generational shift in the grid as the 1980s arrived. Over all classified finishes, Villeneuve's average result was P5.9, placing him firmly within the competitive middle tier of a world championship field rather than among its dominant figures.[2]
The exhibition dedicated to Villeneuve's memory and the wider cultural recognition he has received in Canada underscore his lasting significance in motorsport history, well beyond the numeric record of his six victories on track.