Gilles Villeneuve

The Canadian who preferred oversteer to neutrality and raced with a smile that defied the car's limitations.

Gilles Villeneuve joined Scuderia Ferrari late in the 1977 season, replacing Niki Lauda after the Austrian champion walked out following his third consecutive Constructors' Championship win. The Canadian driver arrived to pilot a car that was already proving difficult to handle; the 312T2B's neutral balance simply did not suit Villeneuve's aggressive, oversteering driving style. Despite this mismatch, his tenure began with high drama and immediate intensity, setting the stage for a legendary, albeit brief, chapter in Ferrari history.

Quick Facts

Role: Formula One Driver
Affiliation: Scuderia Ferrari

Lore & Background

Villeneuve's debut was marked by an unforgettable collision course at the Mount Fuji circuit in Japan during the final race of 1977. While piloting the 312T2B, he suffered an enormous accident where his car was launched over Ronnie Peterson's six-wheel Tyrrell at the end of the straight. The Ferrari cleared the Armco barrier and landed in a spectator-restricted area, yet Villeneuve emerged from the wreckage to continue racing. This incident highlighted his fearless nature immediately upon joining the team, even as he struggled to adapt to the car's handling characteristics which Lauda had mastered earlier that year.

Reader's Guide

The Villeneuve chapter within the 312T series began in earnest during the latter half of 1977. The car he drove, the 312T2B, was an uprated version of the 1976 model, featuring new rear wings and revised bodywork developed after extensive testing by Lauda earlier that year. However, a significant mechanical challenge plagued the season: Goodyear tires were increasingly unsuited to the car as they were developed for the high downforce Lotus 78. This made it difficult for the Ferrari to build sufficient tire temperatures, rendering the neutral-handling T2B particularly tricky for a driver like Villeneuve who preferred oversteer. Despite these technical hurdles and the fact that Lauda had won the Drivers' Championship in this car through reliability rather than outright speed, Villeneuve stepped into the cockpit with the same determination.

Did You Know?

The 'T' in the 312T name stands for 'trasversale,' referring to the transverse gearbox mounted ahead of the rear wheels to lower the polar moment of inertia.
In 1979, Ferrari tested a semi-automatic gearbox controlled by steering wheel buttons with Villeneuve at Fiorano, but he preferred the original manual transmission and it was never used in competition.
Villeneuve's first race for Ferrari was not his debut; the team used the old 312B3 for the first two races of 1975 before the 312T made its debut at the South African Grand Prix.
At the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix, Villeneuve's car was launched over Ronnie Peterson's six-wheel Tyrrell, cleared the Armco barrier, and landed in a spectator-restricted area.