34 replies to this topic

[William Hunt]

Since Gilles Villeneuve died 20 years ago today why don't we discuss his greatest race in the same manner as we did with Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart.

That would be a nice way to pay respect to him, wouldn't it ?

[William Hunt]

I've included a poll as well. We should have done this in the Clark thread and maybe also in the Stewart one. Like that we can truly see what is regarded as their best race, since anyone can vote.


It's more democratic !

[byrkus]

I'll go for Monaco '81. In THAT car, it was almost impossible to race, yet alone to win... Even H. Postlethwaite said he was stunned by his performance of the day. That car was more suitable for long straights (in terms of car control) then naroow switchbacks of Monaco. And yet, he won the first ever turbo win at Monaco. Excellent.

[fines]

I voted for the Glen drive. Difficult conditions, a very tough opponent for most of the race, and finally nursing a sick car home. That was a great performance!

[William Hunt]

He has had so many fantastic drives that I couldn't even include all of them. His debut in the McLaren at Silverstone '77 and Zandvoort '80 were also remarkable drives that would've made the poll if I had more than 12 choices.

I'm still thinking of what to vote. Too difficult really.

[rdrcr]

I had a very hard time deciding between the '79 Glen race or '79 Dijon...

I think that while certain elements of the Glen's weekend were spectacular, like his Friday drive in the rain and nursing his car home for the win... His battle with Arnoux really stands out...

This is probably one of the greatest moments in Formula 1. His Ferrari was hopelessly outclassed, Villeneuve's task made all the more difficult because of the condition of his tires. Yet corner after corner Gilles just refused to give up. His tires were shot, so what did it matter if he took a few more yards off their life by locking them wildly as he out braked the Renault? Time and again the T4's waywardness lost him a corner, and Arnoux appeared safe yet somehow that information was never transmitted to Gilles. Each time he pushed a little bit harder, longer, deeper, got the corner back at the last second, or so refused to concede that he won the next. They touched several times, yawed frantically as both drivers fought each other and their cars.

Afterwards they laughed and congratulated one another. There was no animosity, not from Arnoux, nor from the crowd, when the inevitable happened and Gilles finished runner-up to Jean-Pierre Jabouille. As the French veteran had just won his first GP and the first for Renault's turbocharged car, and in France.

Yet Gilles' sheer bravado had stolen the day. If any race encapsulated everything he stood for, that was it.

These quotes from the drivers help tell the tale...

Two Years later Gilles was quoted:

"That is my best memory of Grand Prix racing. Those few laps were just fantastic for me - out braking each other and trying to race for the line, touching each other but without wanting to put the other car out. It was just two guys battling for second place without trying to be dirty but having to touch because of wanting to be first. It was just fantastic ! I loved that moment."

Rene Arnoux's comments:

"The duel with Gilles is something I'll never forget, my greatest souvenir of racing. You can only race like that, you know, with someone you trust completely, and you don't meet many people like him. He beat me, yes, and in France, but it didn't worry me - I knew I'd been beaten by the best driver in the world."

[fines]

Originally posted by rdrcr
His Ferrari was hopelessly outclassed,

That's not entirely true, because the Renault was suffering from quite accute fuel starvation. Great though that fight was, it was one between two crippled cars, and the less crippled won.

[rdrcr]

Oh.... : I didn't know that little detail. It does add a bit more to the story. Thanks.

Man you guys are so freakin smart... and have so much information about so much stuff... I'm just absolutely impressed everytime I open up a thread in here...

[stavelot]

Difficult choice once more.

My vote is for the Spain 1981.

It's absolutely incredibile that 5 cars follows each another in short distance during the whole race on a course with so many slow corners!

It could be done only by Gilles!

[cheesy poofs]

Mmmm, that's a very interesting question...

The 1979 Belgian GP at Zolder stands out in my mind.

Gilles was running second in the race when for the second year in a row he had to pit for a flat tire.
Having gone down well the order, he furiously drove the scarlet red Ferrari back to second place behind his teammate Jody Scheckter.

It was a magnificient drive...but, to no avail.

The flat-12 Ferrari engine, having been pushed way beyond its limit, ran out of gas on the very last lap of the race. Thus depriving of Villeneuve 6 very valuable championship points. These lost points would eventually cost Gilles the 1979 title...

[fines]

Originally posted by cheesy poofs
Mmmm, that's a very interesting question...

The 1979 Belgian GP at Zolder stands out in my mind.

Gilles was running second in the race when for the second year in a row he had to pit for a flat tire.
Having gone down well the order, he furiously drove the scarlet red Ferrari back to second place behind his teammate Jody Scheckter.

It was a magnificient drive...but, to no avail.

The flat-12 Ferrari engine, having been pushed way beyond its limit, ran out of gas on the very last lap of the race. Thus depriving of Villeneuve 6 very valuable championship points. These lost points would eventually cost Gilles the 1979 title...

My memory was different, and I looked it up: He was running third, well behind Laffite on the track, so no championship lost there and then. Still, a very good performance, and a case for bad luck, indeed!

[DOHC]

Diffiuclt choice. Had a hard time to make up my mind between Dijon and Jarama, but eventually picked Dijon. Both fantastic races.

[William Hunt]

JARAMA 1981 :

The GP of Spain '81 was held on the dusty Jarama circuit, just outside Madrid. The king of Spain flew there and was give a royal treatment with Villeneuve's prestation !

That year the Ferrari's 126 ck's had enormous power with their turbo engines, but the chassis was a total failure ! Ferrari had hired Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite to try to build a decent chassis for 1982, but it was crystal clear that Gilles Villeneuve and his French Ferrari teammate Didier Pironi faced a massive challenge against the more agile and easier to handlle but less powerfull cars of Williams, Brabham, Lotus & McLaren. Ligier was also a not to underestimate rival with a car that combined excellent grip with a powerfull V12 Matra engine.

The British cars were dominant in the first races of '81 but in Monaco Villeneuve had shown his extraordinary talents with a 30 seconds win ! It was an almost impossible win but nobody believed that this remarkable prestation could be repeated in Spain, especially since Gilles only qualified his red car in 7th position.

Jacques Laffite was in pole position in his blue Ligier.

Starting Grid :

1. 26. Jacques LAFFITE (FRA) : TALBOT - LIGIER (-Matra) 1'13"754
2. 1. Alan JONES (AUS) : WILLIAMS (-Ford)
3. 2. Carlos REUTEMANN (ARG) : WILLIAMS (-Ford)
4. 7. John WATSON (N-IRL) : McLAREN (-Ford)
5. 15. Alain PROST (FRA) : RENAULT
6. 23. Bruno GIACOMELLI (ITA) : ALFA ROMEO
7. 27. Gilles VILLENEUVE (CAN) : FERRARI 1'14"987
8. 22. Mario ANDRETTI (USA) : ALFA ROMEO
9. 5. Nelson PIQUET (BRA) : BRABHAM (-Ford)
10. 11. Elio DE ANGELIS (ITA) : LOTUS (-Ford)
11. 12. Nigel MANSELL (ENG) : LOTUS (-Ford)
12. 29. Riccardo PATRESE (ITA) : ARROWS (-Ford)
13. 28. Didier PIRONI (FRA) : FERRARI 1'15"715
14. 8. Andrea DE CESARIS (ITA) : McLAREN (-Ford)
15. 20. Keijo ROSBERG (FIN) : FITTIPALDI (-Ford)
16. 33. Patrick TAMBAY (FRA) : THEODORE (-Ford)
17. 16. René ARNOUX (FRA) : RENAULT
18. 6. Hector REBAQUE (MEX) : BRABHAM (-Ford)
19. 25. Jean-Piere JABOUILLE (FRA) : LIGIER (-Matra)
20. 3. Eddie CHEEVER (USA) : TYRRELL (-Ford)
21. 21. Chico SERRA (BRA) : FITTIPALDI (-Ford)
22. 17. Derek DALY (IRL) : MARCH (-Ford)
23. 30. Siegfried STOHR (ITA) : ARROWS (-Ford)
24. 14. Eliseo SALAZAR (CHL) : ENSIGN (-Ford)

DNQ :

25. 4. Michele ALBORETO (ITA) : TYRRELL (-Ford)
26. 31. Beppe GABBIANI (ITA) : OSELLA (-Ford)
27. 10. Slim BORGUDD (SVE) : A.T.S. (-Ford)
28. 35. Bryan HENTON (ENG) : TOLEMANN (-Ford)
29. 36. Derek WARWICK (ENG) : TOLEMANN (-Ford)
30. 32. Giorgio FRANCIA (ITA) : OSELLA (-Ford)



But at the start Laffite made a mistake and when he entered the first corner he found himself only in 11th ! The two Williams drivers, Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann, were leading the pack and Villeneuve, thanks to a perfect start and a couple of exciting overtaking manoeuvres, was in 3rd position already !

During the 2nd lap Villeneuve past Reutemann on a straight and he was in 2nd ! It would be a tougher battle taking on Jones because his lead was growing. But inexplicably Jones made a mistake, he went off track in to the grass and when he joined the track again he was in 16th !

During the remainder of the afternoon Villeneuve had to sustain numerous attacks of cars that clearly were better suited to the Jarama circuit ! But he resisted the enormous pressure of his rivals with the qualities only true champions like Rosemeyer, Caracciola, Fangio or Clark had displayed in the past.

Now behind him a group of faster cars was trailing him. The first one behind him was Carlos Reutemann but soon he fell victim of the charging Ligier of Laffite and after that it was John Watson who passed the Williams of Carlos. Elio de Angelis followed closely behind in 5th position ! Villeneuve was now chased by a Ligier, McLaren, Williams and Lotus who kept on attacking the slower Ferrari.

Gilles Villeneuve had to cope with the valve delays of his turbo and the difficult to handle behaviour of his Ferrari, but he managed to hold on without making a sinle mistake ! Not once did he do something dirty but his rivals didn't even get the chance to pass him, Villeneuve was in true superform and no-one could match his talents and car controll that day.

The first five cars finished within a gap of merely 1,24 seconds ! This probably was the best GP of the '80s and possibly one of the best ever !

That day Gilles Villeneuve was the King of Formula 1 !

FINAL RESULT :

1. Gilles VILLENEUVE (CAN) FERRARI 1:46'35"019
2. Jacques LAFFITE (FRA) LIGIER + 0"211
3. John WATSON (ENG) McLAREN + 0"571
4. Carlos REUTEMANN (ARG) WILLIAMS + 1"001
5. Elio DE ANGELIS (ITA) LOTUS + 1"231
6. Nigel MANSELL (ENG) LOTUS + 28"571
7. Alan JONES (AUS) WILLIAMS + 56"571
8. Mario ANDRETTI (USA) ALFA ROMEO + 1'00"791
9. René ARNOUX (FRA) RENAULT + 1'07"071
10. Bruno GIACOMELLI (ITA) ALFA ROMEO + 1'13"641
11. Chico SERRA (ITA) FITTIPALDI + 1 lap
12. Keijo ROSBERG (FIN) FITTIPALDI + 2 laps
13. Patrick TAMBAY (FRA) THEODORE + 2 laps
14. Eliseo SALAZAR (CHL) ENSIGN + 3 laps
15. Didier PIRONI (FRA) FERRARI + 4 laps
16. Derek DALY (IRL) MARCH + 5 laps
17. Eddie CHEEVER (USA) TYRRELL + 19 laps (not classified)

FASTEST RACE LAP :

Alan JONES (AUS) WILLIAMS : 1'17"818

Written by William Hunt and dedicated to a great champion and human : Gilles Villeneuve !

[William Hunt]

Quotes by Bruno Giacomelli on his peer & friend Gilles Villeneuve :


''I Tell you, he was mooth in the way he used the car"


"He was a very sensitive driver... the greatest I ever saw !"


"Gilles would've won the championship in '79, but he handed it to Jody Scheckter on team orders in Monza. He would have won in '82, and he could have won many titles after that"


"The mind boggles, in facts, statistics that might have been set had he not perished at Zolder '82 and instead lived to accept Ron Dennis' repeated offer to join McLaren"


"He knew a lot of the technical side, he was a connaisseur. He knew exactly what the car was doing and could explain it precisely"

[bschenker]

I have nothing against Giles Villeneuve, a great champion.
But Jarama was for my more the result from the car on this particular track. I remember that’s Carlos Reutemann was in trouble with the gears, so hi was not able to accelerate normally and stay in front of Giles. Always the Ferrari on the straight-line pull away, slows down in the corner part, were impossible to over tack. Hi go so slowly that’s Jacques Laffite (Lafitte?) and John Watson was able to come back and overtake Carlos with his problem, unable to defend his rang. I think on this race Reutemann lost very important part of points for the championship.

[dbltop]

I voted for Monaco 81 because even the guy who designed the car said it had no business being near the front at a track like that. But, there was another race that should not be forgotten,Montreal 81 was an amazing drive in wet conditions to 3rd place,without a front wing. Actually he had the front wing for most of the race but is was bent sideways and up so Gilles couldn't see where he was going! My friends were complaining about how cold and wet it was sitting in the stands,now they are proud to have been there to see it

[William Hunt]

Originally posted by bschenker
"...But Jarama was for my more the result from the car on this particular track. ..."

Not true, U didn't read my Jarama '81 post carefully ! The Ferrari was a car suited to power tracks like Hockenheim or Monza with it's long straights. The car was not suited at all for the hilly, twisted Jarama or the tight streets of Monte Carlo. The Ferrari had power but it painfully lacked handling. And handling & grip was just what U needed at Jarama !

It was the driving talent of Gilles that made the difference that day. And there is nothng more difficult for a driver to be chased by a number of faster cars. The pressure was so enormous that only a world class driver could have managed to cope with this for the whole race without making a single glitch. It was truly one of the greatest achievements in the history of modern era racing.

Besides : if U look at the results of Gilles' Ferrari teammate Didier Pironi, who was far behind, this only underlines the fact that the Ferrari was not suited and too slow for Jarama. And Pironi was considered as one of the more talented drivers on the grid in those days !

[deangelis86]

Great idea William, I voted for Dijon 1979. I have never seen anything like it since, and I suspect I never will.

RIP Gilles, still much missed....

[fines]

Originally posted by William Hunt
Besides : if U look at the results of Gilles' Ferrari teammate Didier Pironi, who was far behind, this only underlines the fact that the Ferrari was not suited and too slow for Jarama. And Pironi was considered as one of the more talented drivers on the grid in those days !

Pironi was faster in both Friday practice sessions, and only lost out due to clutch and turbocharger failures in final qualifying. In the warm-up he was just a tenth behind Villeneuve. At the start of the race, he bent his front wing out of shape against Patrese's Arrows, but still managed to make up a few places (8th on lap 2 after starting 13th) before the ill-handling Ferrari forced him to miss a corner, after which he pitted to change the damaged wing and his already worn-out front tyres. After that, he was many laps down, but his fastest race lap was just 2 tenths slower than Villeneuve's.

[William Hunt]

okay, maybe I should have had a closer look at Pironi's performance that weekend. But let's not forget that Pironi also was a world class driver who could match Villeneuve's talent on his day !

But this doesn't have any influence on Gilles performance in Jarama, Pironi was having a bad luck weekend, it was Gilles' day !

[Witt]

Had to go with Dijon 79 because the last few laps summarised Gilles Villeneuve. Hugely determined, fair racer, raced for the sake of the race and able to send shivers down the spine and bring tears to the eye 20 years after his death at the sight or words of him.

[Keir]

Dijon '79 was indeed fun to watch, Jarama '81 was just as impressive for different reasons, but the "Glen" '79 was just magic and I got to see it all "Up close and in person!"

[bschenker]

The car was not suited at all for the hilly, twisted Jarama or the tight streets of Monte Carlo. The Ferrari had power but it painfully lacked handling. And handling & grip was just what U needed at Jarama !

In different to Monte Carlo at Jarama you need only a fast car . The track offers tree points for over tacking before Nuvolari, Portago and Bugatti. On the Nuvolari you need to stay direct behind the car to over tack, with enough power (Ferrari Turbo power), beginning from Monza you have a long road to distance the car behind. The same situation you find for the Ascari and Portago. On all other points you can defend the place with a large car.
Remember for my Giles Villeneuve is one off the big drivers, I found only you have to make the different were driver make the result (Monte Carlo) and were car make the result (Jarama).

[William Hunt]

DUTCH GP @ ZANDVOORT 1979 :

Another classic race : the Dutch GP '79. Alan Jones, who respected few of his rivals, had an enormous esteem for Gilles Villeneuve. The two drivers were sharp rivals in 1979. Jones was driving at the wheel of the streamlined and superaerodynamic Williams FW7 of Patrick Head, and Villeneuve was challenging him in a Ferrari T4 with a 12-cilinder boxer-engine, a bit more powerfull than the Williams' Ford engine.

In those days the FIA-title was awarded with an idiotic system where the points were divided over two halfs of the season. Because of that Jones couldn't win the World Title anymore since has car wasn't completely ready at the beginning of the season and had proven unreliable. But as the season unfolded more Jones became more competitive. It was looking like the Dutch GP would be an interesting fight bewteen Renault, Williams and Ferrari. It was René Arnoux who drove the turbo engined Renault to pole position and this is what the startgird looked like :

1. 16. René ARNOUX (FRA) : RENAULT : 1'15"461
2. 27. Alan JONES (AUS) : WILLIAMS (-Ford) : 1'15"646
3. 28. Clay REGAZZONI (CH) : WILLIAMS (-Ford) : 1'16"228
4. 15. Jean-Pierre JABOUILLE (FRA) : RENAULT : 1'16"304
5. 11. Jody SCHECKTER (Z-A) : FERRARI : 1'16"392
6. 12. Gilles VILLENEUVE (CAN) : FERRARI : 1'16"939
7. 26. Jacques LAFFITE (FRA) : LIGIER (-Ford) : 1'17"129
8. 20. Keijo ROSBERG (FIN) : WOLF (-Ford) : 1'17"280
9. 5. Niki LAUDA (AUT) : BRABHAM (-Alfa Romeo)
10. 3. Didier PIRONI (FRA) : TYRRELL (-Ford)
11. 6. Nelson PIQUET (BRA) : BRABHAM (-Alfa Romeo)
12. 7. John WATSON (N-IRL) : McLAREN (-Ford)
13. 2. Carlos REUTEMANN (ARG) : LOTUS (-Ford)
14. 8. Patrick TAMBAY (FRA) : McLAREN (-Ford)
15. 9. Hans-Joachim STUCK (D) : A.T.S. (-Ford)
16. 4. Jean-Pierre JARIER (FRA) : TYRRELL (-Ford)
17. 1. Mario ANDRETTI (USA) : LOTUS (-Ford)
18. 30. Jochen MASS (D) : ARROWS (-Ford)
19. 29. Riccardo PATRESE (ITA) : ARROWS (-Ford)
20. 25. Jacky ICKX (BEL) : LIGIER (-Ford)
21. 14. Emerson FITTIPALDI (BRA) : COPERSUCAR - FITTIPALDI (-Ford)
22. 18. Elio DE ANGELIS (ITA) : SHADOW (-Ford)
23. 17. Jan LAMMERS (NL) : SHADOW (-Ford)
24. 31. Hector REBAQUE (MEX) : LOTUS (-Ford)
DNQ :
25. 22. Patrick GAILLARD (FRA) : ENSIGN (-Ford)
26. 24. Arturo MERARIO (ITA) : MERZARIO (-Ford)

Jones got away with a perfect start and stormed into the lead passing Arnoux with Regazzoni trying to run up on the inside and both Jabouille & Villeneuve attempting a similar manoeuvre on the outside. Consequently they became four abreast which led to Regazzoni beiing squeezed into the guardrail and then losing his left wheel, torn of when tangling with Arnoux's Renault. Luckily the wheel bounces out of harm's way, injuring none. Regazzoni became an instant retirement with three wheels at the Tarzan cornor, Arnoux still limped to the pits and retired there with a damaged suspension. Meanwhile Reutemann retired his car after touching Jarier, his suspension was also broken. Scheckter had missed his start because he had overheated his cluth, he was back in 19th, just ahead of de Angelis and Fittipaldi !

Villeneuve who had move up to 2nd was now starting to put pressure on Alan Jones with Jabouille closely following him. Behind the 3 leaders a goup was formed by Pironi, Laffite, Lauda, Watson and Jarier. At the same time Scheckter was moving up the field.

When they were entering the eleventh lap, Jones was experiencing problems with selecting 3rd gear. Villeneuve sensed that something was not right with the Williams. Gilles had softer Michelin shod tires on his car than Jones, and he took fulladvantage of the softer tires to pull out of the slipstream and passed Jones in a breathtaking manoeuvre on the outside line of the Tarzan cornor.

Jones was now trying to keep Jabouille behind him. But the fight for victory wasn't over. Villeneuve, who often opted for very soft tyres (many times against the advice of Ferrari's tyre consultants but often proven them wrong) this time made the wrong choice. Because of the pressure the tyres had to sustain during his attacks on Jones he suddenly was losing grip and got into a nasty spin. He recovered his car and cotinued. But soon it became apparent that his left rear tyre had a puncture and was slowly losing air, causing the car to be more difficlut to control. Meanwhile Jones was getting closer to Gilles and started attacking.

Then a 2nd time the Ferrari got into a spin and got on the grass. Jones, despite running so close behind Villeneuve managed to avoid him and by the time Gilles had brilliantly recovered his car without staling or hitting anything, Jones had aleady pulled 10 seconds away. Undeterred and obviously none of the worse for his excursion pressed on as hard as ever until 2 laps later his left rear tyre suddenly exploded as he was traveling past the pits. Again he reacted brilliantly, keeping his Ferrari straight until deliberatlely allowing it to spin to a halt on the grass at the outside of Tarzan, but it seemed certain his race was over. Alas, no ! A moment later Villeneuve lifted his visor, restarted the engine and then, with a clear road, reversed across the track before setting off to the pits for a fresh tyre. He had to complete a whole lap but he made it too, but when he entered the pits there was hardly anything left of the Ferrari's left hand corner as half way round the lap the tyre had desintegrated completely and the whole lot had been scraping along the road in a mass of sparks. Nevertheless, the French-Canadian had certainly made a game effort even if it had proven futile - and controversial, some considering the entire exercise to have been crazy and other a fine display of spirit and determination. But one thing was sure : Gilles Villeneuve had won every heart of every Ferrari fan that day !

On lap 52 Pironi retired his Tyrrell with a broken rear upright after impressing and moving up to 3rd place ! Jones kept his car running till the finish and scored an impressive hattrick of victories. 21 seconds behind him Scheckter took a formidable 2nd and Laffite was one minute adrift of Jones in 3rd.

FINAL RESULT :

1. Alan JONES (AUS) : WILLIAMS
2. Jody SCHECKTER (Z-A) : FERRARI
3. Jacques LAFFITE (FRA) : LIGIER
4. Nelson PIQUET (BRA) : BRABHAM
5. Jacky ICKX (BEL) : LIGIER
6. Jochen MASS (D) : ARROWS
7. Hector REBAQUE (MEX) : LOTUS

The efficiency in how Williams developed aerodynamics research would earn them the World Title in 1980. A new era where scientists and windtunnels would play a dominant role in F1 had begun. But for Ferrari this was the end of a fruithfull period that was made possible by the power and resiliability of their flat 12-cilinder boxer-engine. It would last two years before someone with the necessary knowledge and expertise would finally convince Enzo Ferrari that downforce was now more important than engine power ! The conservative reasoning of 'Il Maestro' cost Gilels Villeneuve a lot of extra succes and possibly a world title...

William Hunt, dedicating this thread to a great driver : Gilles Villeneuve.

[fines]

Originally posted by William Hunt
DUTCH GP @ ZANDVOORT 1979

Hmm, somehow it seems this would be better placed in a thread titled "Jody Scheckter's greatest races"!

[William Hunt]

Alan Jones and Jody Scheckter drove very strong that race but it was Villeneuve who was in the center of attention with the way he fought that day.

[byrkus]

I believe that upper map of Jarama circuit is not correct. At Ascari we see a light gray patch, and there, I think, was the original circuit. This means that in that time there was no Portago corner, and there was only one passing point, and that was at the end of S/F straight. And, by the way, Monza corner is not the fast right kink, it's the 180° corner before Tunel.

At least I think I'm right about that one.;)

[bschenker]

I used the other design why it’s complete with corner name. This now is the original design from John Hugenholtz.



Monza is correct, the tunnel corner is a full speed corner, and so the straight line is from Monza to Nuvolari. For the Ascari/Portago (original corner 7 and 8) combination you braking trough Ascari and for the rest you need a large car.

[Henri Greuter]

My apologies for digging up this one!

But I am a Gilles fan, that's why....

In this poll I missed `my` favorite race: Canada '81.

Driving a first generation turbo F1 (and the most horrible of them all chassiswise I think) in pooring rain, partly with the view blocked because of the bent front wing (and still not slowing down!) and without the front wing eventually finishing third after all.

And after the race, when being told he should have been blackflagged because of that front wing blocking his view, thn answering "How must I have seen that?"

Unforgettable....



By the way, finishing in the points with the T5 in 1980 were near miracles too.....


Henri Greuter

[lukyluke]

Originally posted by cheesy poofs
Mmmm, that's a very interesting question...

The 1979 Belgian GP at Zolder stands out in my mind.

Gilles was running second in the race when for the second year in a row he had to pit for a flat tire.
Having gone down well the order, he furiously drove the scarlet red Ferrari back to second place behind his teammate Jody Scheckter.

It was a magnificient drive...but, to no avail.

The flat-12 Ferrari engine, having been pushed way beyond its limit, ran out of gas on the very last lap of the race. Thus depriving of Villeneuve 6 very valuable championship points. These lost points would eventually cost Gilles the 1979 title...

indeed zolder 79 was 'the race' for the wdc that year

[lukyluke]

i did´nt see glen 79
i voted zandvoort 79
i mean this guy seem to have 7 lives

[Mark Beckman]

Spain 1981 with the pressure of 5 cars behind him in an ill handling car.

Arnoux did every bit as good at Dijon.

lukyluke, Gilles thrashed his cars mercilessly, crashed over curbs, ran off the road constantly (thats why I loved him !) he most likely caused most of his punctures and created the circumstances that lost him the 79 Champs and other races.

[RSNS]

For me it has to be Dijon. It reconciled me with F1 and it is the moment I best recall from all F1 drives I have witnessed. Spain and Monaco were also very impressive.

[SeanValen]

Originally posted by byrkus
I'll go for Monaco '81. In THAT car, it was almost impossible to race, yet alone to win... Even H. Postlethwaite said he was stunned by his performance of the day. That car was more suitable for long straights (in terms of car control) then naroow switchbacks of Monaco. And yet, he won the first ever turbo win at Monaco. Excellent.

I heard about that race, alot of past races I get to watch from tapes somwhere, or future dvds, fighting bad cars and winning, gets the best recongition among fans, and deservely so.

[Vicuna]

I just registered my vote for Interlagos 1980.

I voted before I reviewed the way others had voted.

I'm not surprised by the results. Perhaps most of you have confused 'greatest' with 'most memorable'.

It was hard to do anything memorable in a 1980 Ferrari T5.

Doing what he did in it is in the same league as Stewarts performances in the H16, Clark in the Lotus 43, Fangio in the V16 etc. etc.

Nothing memorable, but bloody impressive.