Jaques Villeneuve's Top 5 Drives
Jaques Villeneuve exploded into the Formula One scene like a meteor 22 years ago, debuting in 1996. The Canadian secured the pole position and came extremely close to winning his maiden F1 race.
He battled his colleague Damon Hill for the championship until the final race in 1996 but fell short. The following season, he climbed even higher in the standings, winning the title in only his second season in the sport.
Unfortunately, 1997 was the final year Villeneuve had a race-winning vehicle at his disposal. For the remainder of his career, he raced with teams that only offered him mid-pack cars, although Villeneuve was still capable of demonstrating his brilliance even with them during his best years.
GP de Espana 1999
After a dismal 1998 season, Villeneuve quit the Williams team. British American Racing was formed by him and his manager, Craig Pollock.
In retrospect, Villeneuve's irritation with Williams hurt him, as Williams were a race-winning pack again by 2001 owing to their BMW engines, while BAR never became major title candidates.
In terms of results, th 1999 season was a catastrophe for Villeneuve and his new squad. The team finished the season with no points, as Villeneuve failed to complete the first eleven races.
Nonetheless, when the unstable vehicle flashed glimpses of speed, Villeneuve demonstrated that he still had it. The Spanish Grand Prix was one such occurrence. After a solid qualifying performance that saw Villeneuve finish inside the top six, the Canadian got off to a quick start and was up to third by the conclusion of the first lap.
He had little hope of staying up with the stronger McLarens, but he did manage to keep both Ferraris behind him for nearly 20 laps, and despite being passed by the red cars during the pit stop phase, he was still running a solid fifth, the best of the rest by a long shot. Unfortunately for him and the team, a strong drive was not rewarded when he was forced to retire from the race due to gearbox failure.
Austrian Grand Prix 1997
Williams dominated the 1996 season, comfortably winning both the driver's and constructor's championships. Many anticipated them to keep this form throughout 1997, but it was not to be. Bridgestone's entry into the sport sparked a tire war, making life considerably more difficult for the teams in 1997 than in 1996. Williams also lost Adrian Newey, and the club appeared to be losing its competitive edge as the season continued.
Michael Schumacher was also driving his Ferrari to victory in the championships, while both Williams and Villeneuve committed mistakes and were frequently plain unfortunate. As the two competitors came to Austria, Schumacher had a 10-point advantage over Villeneuve in the standings.
Villeneuve needed a victory to cut the distance on his opponent. He took a magnificent pole position in qualifying while his competitor battled and finished ninth.
Villeneuve got off to a bad start and immediately lost to fourth place. Hakkinen gained the lead. However, McLaren broke down on the second lap, ending his advantage. Trulli took up the lead from Hakkinen, and Barrichello and Villeneuve quickly followed him. Villeneuve was quicker than Barrichello but could not pass him for a long time. Trulli took advantage of this and grabbed up a 10-second lead. Villeneuve overtook Barrichello and came in on Trulli to grab the lead. Once he grabbed the lead, the Canadian did not look back, claiming a spectacular come-from-behind victory to revive his title challenge. After a stop and go for passing under yellow flags, his adversary Schumacher finished only sixth.
1996 French Grand Prix
Amid the 1996 season, Villeneuve was lagging behind his colleague Hill. The Canadian showed glimpses of speed, but he was too uneven and prone to errors to stay up with Hill. He demonstrated this once more during qualifying when he finished sixth due to an accident.
On the other hand, the race was a whole different story, and Villeneuve was lightning fast in racing trim. After the start, he gained a few spots and was already in fourth place, up from sixth. He was stranded behind Mika Hakkinen during the first stint, but he passed the Finn following the first pit stops. During the middle stint, he reduced the gap on second-placed Jean Alesi. After a brief interval of trailing him, he passed his French competitor with a clinical move.
German Grand Prix in 1998
Compared to the team's form between 1991 and 1997, the Williams squad had a relatively disappointing 1998. During these years, Williams had the fastest vehicle on the track, and its drivers either won or were in contention for championships.1998 was a very different story.
Williams was well behind McLaren and Ferrari and was only the best of the rest on good days and not even that on bad. Villeneuve did not even finish on the podium in the first ten races of the season.
The McLarens appeared to dominate again in the German GP, with Mika Hakkinen taking pole from teammate Coulthard. Still, for the first time, it wasn't Michael Schumacher on third but Jaques Villeneuve's Williams.
He made a poor start and slipped behind but recovered to finish in third place during the race. The McLarens appeared to slow down in the race's final stages, and Villeneuve was closing in on them. Unfortunately, he did not have the time and pace to close up and take victory from the McLarens, but he still earned a well-deserved and hard-fought third place.
GP de Portugal de 1996
Damon Hill led his competitor and teammate Jaques Villeneuve by 13 points, with two races remaining in the 1996 season. This meant that Hill just needed to finish ahead of Villeneuve to win the title.
Hill took pole position in qualifying by edging his teammate by a hair's breadth. Hill also got off to a faster start than his partner. Hill's advantage over Alesi, Schumacher, and Villeneuve was just fourth at the end of the first lap.
The Williams was the fastest vehicle on the field, allowing Hill to draw away from the bunch behind him easily. Villeneuve attempted but was unable to overtake his competitors for the time being. When they came up behind backmarker Giovanni Lavaggi, he had his opportunity. When Lavaggi was caught on the final turn of the circuit, he slowed Schumacher, allowing Villeneuve to pass the German on the outside.
Villeneuve stayed out a little longer than Hill, and when he came out of the pits, he was just ahead of his teammate. After taking the lead, he exploited his superior pace to break away from Hill and win the Portuguese GP with a spectacular recovery drive that was, in my opinion, the finest of his career.