1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has opened up about the influence of his late father, Gilles Villeneuve, ahead of the upcoming biopic Villeneuve: Rise of a Legend.
Despite being the son of one of F1’s most iconic drivers, Jacques insists his career was never about continuing his father’s legacy. Instead, he wanted to forge his own path.
“I loved my dad. I’m proud of him… But I’m doing my own thing. I’m not racing because I want to be the continuation of Gilles Villeneuve,” Jacques said.
Gilles died aged just 32 following a crash during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, but his fearless driving style and uncompromising approach to competition made him a motorsport legend.
Jacques, who spent much of his childhood apart from his father because of Gilles’ racing commitments, said he learned to approach the sport on his own terms.
“If you’re doing this sport for the wrong reason, you’ll never achieve it,” he explained. “You have to really, personally, yourself, deep down, love it. Willing to take the punches because you get a lot of punches.”
However, Jacques now recognizes that Gilles passed on a deeper competitive mentality that shaped his own approach to racing.
“He was at home exactly the same way as he was at the racetrack… Always wanting to beat the next challenge,” Jacques said. “And often doing it just to show the other guys, ‘I can do it, you can’t.’ That was his life story.”
The new biopic has also given Jacques an opportunity to see his father from a different perspective. As people who knew Gilles share previously untold stories, Jacques says his understanding of his father is changing.
“People have opened up about their time with my dad… And the picture I’m getting is so different than the one I got from my mother,” he revealed.
Villeneuve: Rise of a Legend will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 19, before receiving a global release next year — 50 years after Gilles made his F1 debut.
