Jacques Villeneuve Laps Fiorano in His Father's Ferrari with Video

Jacques Villeneuve got the chance of a lifetime on May 8 driving the same 1979 Ferrari 312 T4Ferrari 312 T4Italy, 1979 > 19792 photos
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in which Gilles Villeneuve, his father, took second place in the world championship. It was the the thirty year anniversary of Gilles' death during qualifying in the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Also part of the event was a discussion of Villeneuve's life with Jacques, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Luca di Montezemolo and Ferrari personnel during Villeneuve's stint as a driver. 

Villeneuve took to Ferrari'sFerrariItaly, 1947 > present233 models
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Fiorano test track at around 10:30am local time on May 8. The car that Villeneuve   drove was the same chassis that his father drove to three wins and second place in points in 1979. Gilles' wife and Jacques' mother, Joann, and Gilles' daughter and Jacques' sister, Melanie, were also at the track to watch the laps. 

“Gilles gave the public what they wanted. And he did not care about the championship, he drove each race as it came," said di Montezemolo. 

Part of the celebration of Villeneuve involved sports journalist Pino Allievi hosting a round table discussion reminiscing about Villeneuve and his time at Ferrari. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari Vice President Piero Ferrari, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Ferrari Managing Director Amadeo Felisa and engineer Mauro Forghieri took part in the discussion. 

“The whole family always went to the races and we lived in the motorhome…it was much better than going to school! Most of the memories I have are from the race track, sitting down watching the races. So ninety percent of what I remember of my father is him as a driver, not home very often, always on the go and if he wasn’t in a car, then it was a helicopter or a plane. But that seemed normal, he was my father," said Jacques Villeneuve 

Gilles Villeneuve drove for Ferrari from 1977 to 1982. He scored no points in three races in 1977, was ninth in points in 1978, second in 1979, 12th in 1980 after eight retirements and a disqualification at the 1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix. Villeneuve retired from the first two rounds of the 1982 season and disqualified from the third round at the United States Grand Prix West despite finishing third. He was second in the San Marino Grand Prix and died during qualifying at the fifth round in Belgium. 

“He wasn’t taking part in the World Championship, he was simply racing in each race and that was it for him. He would race with a hastily put together chassis because, at the time, there were only one hundred and sixty two of us, including Commendatore Ferrari and we did not have time to build new cars. These cars were very demanding to drive physically and today, you just could not race with them," said Mauro Forghieri who was technical director at the Ferrari during Villeneuve's time. 

Ferrari had announced the event allow Jacques to drive the 312 T4 on April 9. 

Jacques Villeneuve Will Drive Father's F1 Ferrari around Fiorano

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