Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve (; born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian former racing driver who competed in IndyCar from 1994 to 1995, and Formula One from to . He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won 11 Grands Prix across 11 seasons. In American open-wheel racing, Villeneuve won the IndyCar World Series and the Indianapolis 500 in 1995 with Team Green.
Born in Quebec and raised in Monaco, Villeneuve is the son of Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve and the nephew of racing driver Jacques-Joseph. Aged 17, he began racing under an Andorran license in Italy, progressing to Italian Formula Three a year later. He then moved to the higher-tier Toyota Atlantic Championship, participating in one race during the 1992 season and finishing third overall in the 1993 championship. He began competing in Championship Auto Racing Teams with the Forsythe/Green Racing team in the 1994 season, finishing sixth in the Drivers' Championship with one victory and earning Rookie of the Year and Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honours. In the following year with the renamed Team Green, Villeneuve won four races (including the Indianapolis 500) and the Drivers' Championship.
Villeneuve moved to Williams in Formula One for the 1996 season, claiming four Grand Prix victories, and becoming the first rookie runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship (WDC) after a season-long duel with teammate Damon Hill. His main title challenge for the following season came from Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, and Villeneuve beat the latter following a controversial collision at the season-ending , becoming the first Canadian World Drivers' Champion, achieving seven Grand Prix victories. He finished fifth in the 1998 season achieving two podiums and helped Williams finish third in the World Constructors' Championship behind Ferrari and McLaren. After an unsuccessful with British American Racing (BAR), Villeneuve finished seventh in the WDC in both and with BAR, achieving two podiums in 2001, outscoring his teammates Ricardo Zonta and Olivier Panis. Villeneuve raced in Formula One from to 2006, driving for BAR, Renault, Sauber, and BMW Sauber, but he did not achieve any further success.
Villeneuve left Formula One mid-way through the 2006 season and began competing in various forms of motor racing such as sports car racing, NASCAR, and touring car racing. Though not as successful in these forms of racing, he won the 2008 1000 km of Spa driving for Peugeot. Villeneuve was appointed Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 1998. He was voted the winner of both the Lou Marsh Trophy and the Lionel Conacher Award in each of 1995 and 1997. Villeneuve is an inductee of the Canadian Motor Sports Hall of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and the FIA Hall of Fame.
Early life
On 9 April 1971, Villeneuve was born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a small town outside of Montreal in the Canadian province of Quebec. He is the son of snowmobile and future Ferrari racer Gilles Villeneuve and his wife Joann Barthe. Villeneuve has a sister, Melanie, and a half sister Jessica. His uncle, Jacques Sr., whom he was named after also competed in motor racing. Villeneuve spent most of his formative years travelling with the racing fraternity with his parents. to the small principality of Monaco on the French Riviera in France's south-east coast close to the border with Italy to be nearer to Ferrari's headquarters. and he went go-karting with his uncle several times in Canada. In May 1982, his father died in an accident with Jochen Mass during qualifying for the at Circuit Zolder. Jacques became less interested in motor racing after that, fearing the sport's dangers. where he passed a three-day course driving a Formula Ford 1600 car from Van Diemen.
In mid-1987, Villeneuve left his family to attend the Spenard-David Racing School in Shannonville, Ontario to hone his abilities under Richard Spenard. He finished third in the No. 49 Swift DB4-Toyota car lent by the ComPred team. In addition, he also tested a Group C Toyota that year and was mentored by driver Roland Ratzenberger. He debuted at the season-opening Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix at Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, starting eighth and finishing 17th after colliding with Stefan Johansson. In the season's next round, the Slick 50 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, he was involved in a five-car accident which saw him sustain a side collision with Hiro Matsushita before being struck by Dominic Dobson. Qualifying fourth for his first Indianapolis 500, Villeneuve finished second, earning Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors as the highest-finishing rookie. Villeneuve finished ninth or higher in six of the next nine rounds, before beating Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi in the close finish to the Texaco/Havoline 200 at Road America road course in his first CART victory. He placed seventh and third in the final two rounds ending the year with Rookie of the Year honors and was sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 94 points. Technical director Patrick Head and team principal Frank Williams gave Villeneuve a test in a FW17 car at Britain's Silverstone Circuit in August 1995. He lapped two seconds slower than driver Damon Hill.