Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1
Titolo: Villeneuve

Nigel Roebuck's wonderful Grand Prix Greats 
(1986), Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, 
UK. pp208-209
1981 French Grand Prix 
Qualifying at Dijon:
During practice at Dijon in 1981, Gilles crashed 
at the Courbe de Pouas, an undulating, flat-in-
fourth right hander, with no run-off worth 
mentioning.  During the lunch break I found him 
dabbing a cut on his jaw: "Bloody catch pole 
cracked my helmet and broke the visor ..."  
"You overdid it ?" I asked. "Just ran out of 
road?" "No, no," he grinned. "I ran out of lock! 
"The car is really bad through there - an 
adventure every time. Go and have a look this 
afternoon and you'll 
see what I mean." I did. I watched the Cosworth-
engined Williams and Brabhams droning through on 
their rails, and waited. 
At its clipping point, at the top of a rise, the 
Ferrari was already sideways, its driver winding 
on opposite lock. As it came past me, plunging 
downhill now, the tail stayed out of line, further 
and further, and still Gilles had his foot hard 
down.  As he reached the bottom of the dip, I knew 
the position was hopeless, for now it was 
virtually broadside, full lock on, 
Villeneuve's head pointing up the road, out of the 
side of the cockpit. 
Somehow, though, the Ferrari did not spin, finally 
snapping back into line as it grazed the catch 
fencing, then rocketing away up the hill.  For more 
than a hundred yards, I swear it, the car was 
sideways at 130 mph.  "That's genius," said David 
Hobbs, watching with me.  "Are you seriously 
telling me he's won two Grand Prix in that?"
Jacques Laffite quote:
 
"I know that no human being can do a miracle. 
Nobody commands magical properties, but Gilles 
made you wonder.  He was that quick." 
Frank Williams quote:
 
"I was very proud of Alan that day. We had the 
best car at the time, without a doubt, and the 
only driver on the track we feared was that 
little French Canadian ..." 
Niki Lauda quote:
 
"Gilles was the perfect racing driver who knew 
where to take which advantage where ..."  
"Villeneuve had the best talent of all of us. 
Whatever car that you put him in he would have 
been quick." 
Didier Pironi quote:
 
"When I joined Ferrari the whole team was so 
devoted to Gilles.  I mean he was not just 
the top driver, he was much more than that.  
He had a small family there. ... he made me 
fit right in and I felt at home right away 
overnight and Gilles made no distinctions 
either ...I was expecting to be put in my 
place, I was not number one.  I was number 
two.  He treated me like an equal all the 
way." 
Jackie Stewart quote:
 
"Oh, I think he's superb, and I believe 
he'll get better and better.  At the moment 
he still makes mistakes, misses the odd 
apex, gets up on a curb, uses a little too 
much road on the way out sometimes, but i'm 
being hypercritical here.  His level of 
natural talent is phenomenal - there's real 
genius in his car control." 
Gilles quote:
 
"I love motor racing.  To me it's a sport, 
not a technical exercise. My ideal Formula 
One car would be something like a McLaren M23 
with a big normally aspirated engine, 800 hp, 
21 inch rear tyres.  A lot of people say we 
should have narrower tires, but I don't agree 
because you need big tyres to slow you down 
when you spin.  And you need a lot of 
horsepower to unstick big tyres, to make the 
cars slide.  That would be a bloody fantastic 
spectacle, I can tell you.  We would take 
corners one gear lower than we do now, and get 
the cars sideways.  You know, people still 
rave about Ronnie Peterson in a Lotus 72, and 
I understand that.  I agree with them.  
That's the kind of entertainment I want to 
give the crowds.  Smoke the tyres ! Yeah ! 
I [care about the fans], because I used to 
be one of them !  I believe the crowd is 
really losing out at the moment, and that's 
bad." 
Nigel Roebuck's wonderful Grand Prix Greats 
(1986), Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, 
UK. pp208
Qualifying in the rain 
at the 1979 US Grand Prix
at Watkins Glen, New York
 
A friend of mine in America sent me a 
cassette a while ago.  On it is the sound of 
a lone racing car, unmistakably a Ferrari 
flat-12, and its clearly audible all the way 
round the lap.  There is a lot of wheelspin 
- you can hear the revs abruptly scream 
out of every turn - and then the volume builds 
until the car swishes by in a welter of spray.  
He taped it during the first afternoon of 
practice at Watkins Glen in 1979, when 
conditions were as bad as I have ever seen at 
a race circuit.  In places the track was 
flooded, and only eight drivers ventured out.  
One of those was Scheckter, who was fastest
behind team mate Villeneuve.  Eleven seconds 
behind ...The tape is of course Gilles, and 
it revived memories of a day when we forgot 
the wintry rain until he came in, the Ferrari
breathless and steaming.  In the pits the 
other drivers, aghast, had giggled nervously 
every time he skittered by at 160 mph.  "Why 
do we bother?  He's different from the rest 
of us," Jacques Laffite said.  "On another 
level ..." 
"I scared myself rigid that day", Jody 
remembered.  "I thought I had to be quickest.  
Then I saw Gilles's time and - I still don't 
really understand how it was possible.  
Eleven seconds !" 
"Motor racing was a romantic thing for him, 
you see."  Scheckter went on.  "We were close 
friends, doing the same job for the same team, 
but we had completely opposite attitudes to 
it.  My preoccupation was keeping myself 
alive, but Gilles had to be the fastest on 
every lap - even in testing.  He was the 
fastest racing driver the world has ever seen.  
If he could come back and live his life again, 
I think he would do exactly the same - and 
with the same love." 
Enzo Ferrari Quote:
 
" ...and when they presented me with this
tiny Canadian, this miniscule bundle of 
nerves, I instantly recognized in him the 
physique of the great Nuvolari and I said 
to myself, `let's give him a try." 
Rene Arnoux Quote:
 
"It was terrible when Gilles died.  I cried 
that day and the next one, too, even though 
I had to race ...and I remember the feeling 
that we were all starting equal, from now on.  
Villeneuve was gone. We all knew he had a 
talent beyond our reach." 
Alain Prost Quote:
 
" ...with me and my competitors it's battle 
for pole position as that's important but 
with Gilles you will see a battle for 
everything ...[including] 10th place ..." 
"He made the fastest start of anybody here. 
I thought he must know a trick ...all season 
he had quicker starts, no one could compare" 
Juan Manuel Fangio Quote:
 
"He will remain as a member of the family of 
the truly great drivers in auto racing 
history.  Mr Enzo Ferrari, who is an 
authority on these matters, has compared 
Villeneuve to Tazio Nuvolari.  Nuvolari in my 
younger days was the great idol.  All drivers 
wanted to equal the great Nuvolari.  They 
struggled to match but could only imitate him.  
To be compared to Nuvolari is to receive the 
highest praise.  Villeneuve did not race to 
finish, he did not race for points.  He raced 
to win.  Although small in stature he was a 
giant." 
Keke Rosberg Quote:
 
"To Gilles, racing truly was a sport, which 
is why he would never chop you.  Something 
like that he'd look on with contempt.  You 
didn't have to be a good driver to do that, 
let alone a great one.  Anyone could do that.  
Gilles was the hardest bastard I ever raced 
against, but completely fair.  If you'd 
beaten him to a corner, he accepted it and 
gave you room.  Then he'd be right back at 
you at the next one!  Sure, he took 
unbelievable risks - but only with himself - 
and that's why I get pissed off now when 
people compare Senna with him.  Gilles was 
a giant of a driver, yes, but he was also a 
great man." 
Nigel Roebuck quote:
History will relate only that he drove in 67 Grands Prix, and won six.
It will not remember him as a World Champion, but that is of no
consequence.  Any such list which omits a Moss is already an absurdity,
and Gilles himself often said that the World Championship was a
secondary consideration, a bonus.  Driving 'for points' was complete
anathema to him, a concept he found impossible to comprehend.  What
mattered was winning races, an instant, intuitive thing, a passion to
beat everyone now, today.  Planning a Grand Prix season like a military
campaign, calculating gains here, losses there, was not Villeneuve's
style.
-- 
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Non sarebbe meglio sintetizzare?
Chi se li legge dei mattoni del genere, per di più in inglese?
Boh, vai a capire certa gente  ;-)