Clip shown during CBC coverage of the 1992 F1 Canadian GP, remembering canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, 10 years after his death at the 1982 Belgian GP.
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00:00The year was 1978, perfect timing for some Villeneuve magic.
00:06The Formula 1s had come here to Montreal for the first time, the final stop of the 78 Tour,
00:11and Villeneuve was emerging as a star driver for Ferrari, the consummate racer.
00:18Villeneuve yearned not for the glory, but for the satisfaction of being the fastest.
00:22His inner drive amazed even his peers.
00:26I mean, Gilles always impressed me the way he drove. He took chances everywhere.
00:31I mean, going out of the pits in the first lap, in the first practice, he sometimes spun off,
00:35so you can see how much he was determined to give everything he's got.
00:40And now we're into the start of the 79th and last lap but one with Freddy Arnoux,
00:45second and Villeneuve, go! Incredible! Villeneuve stood on everything, locked up his tyres,
00:52got the line, and he's back into second position on the last lap but one,
00:56and the French crowd aren't very happy about that.
00:59In one of the greatest skirmishes in racing history, Villeneuve and René Arnoux of Renault
01:02matched each other move for move all around the Dijon France track.
01:06Competitively, Villeneuve was insuperable.
01:09Into the Cours de Poix they come. There is Riccardo Patrese, and Villeneuve is second. Arnoux is third.
01:17I was a good person. He was a fantastic driver, a show driver, I should say.
01:24In fact, every time he was racing, he was inventing something special in the track.
01:31And as a person, we were very good friends and a really charming person, I should say.
01:39Always obliging for his legion of fans, Villeneuve lived the racer's life 24 hours a day,
01:45a Grand Prix nomad traveling with his motor home and family from race to race.
01:50He still found time, though, to give something back to his loyal followers,
01:53who even today clamor for Villeneuve memorabilia.
01:57Gilles Villeneuve was not a perfect racer. He was human, he made mistakes,
02:01but he was always exciting to watch, always living and driving on the edge.
02:07And he never gave up.
02:09He was positively determined to get the absolute most out of any vehicle he would drive.
02:16I was very special quick, yeah, and totally fearless. Those were the special marks on him.
02:23And I always believed that if his career would have taken another turn,
02:28and he would have been in an English team, all this raw talent,
02:34which probably there was more in Gilles than in anybody we have ever seen,
02:38could have been refined, could have been fine-tuned.
02:43Of course, unfortunately, we never saw that,
02:46but there was so much more that could have come out of that bag of talent, basically.
02:51During six seasons on the Formula One circuit,
02:53Gilles Villeneuve brought his own style to racing and wore the persona of hero and legend.
02:58His quest was for speed, for testing himself and his machinery to the utmost,
03:02for leaving no challenge unanswered.
03:06Villeneuve entered 67 Grands Prix and came first to the finish line on six occasions,
03:10but it's not his track record that will be remembered.
03:13It was his special championship qualities.
03:16Gilles had charm, and he had an awful lot of fun in him.
03:20As a racing driver, he was enormously exciting.
03:24Sometimes he did things in racing cars that I would never believe.
03:27He tried to drive them with three wheels, he tried to drive them with two wheels.
03:30His head was in racing, and that was Gilles Villeneuve.
04:06© BF-WATCH TV 2021