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The Renault Regrets of Jacques Villeneuve

The Mobile Chicane

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When 1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve joined Renault for a selection of substitute appearances at the end of 2004, it could've been a lot of different things.

It could've been a Renault Redemption, after several barren years for a driver whose explosive entrance to the sport was akin to a latter-day Lewis Hamilton. It could've been a Renault Revenge against British American Racing; the team who were partly responsible for such a long stretch of disappointing results, and who had tossed their former first driver to the gutter just one year ago.

Instead, it was nothing but a pile of regrets. Too often, it's an event in F1 history that is remembered in the briefest of footnotes concerning the career of Formula One's most maligned champion. Today, we give the tale the coverage it finally deserves.

Along the way, I raise my eyebrows, Flavio Briatore delivers a soap opera worthy quote about Jarno Trulli, and a clip from Stuart Little 2 is used for maybe the worst joke ever written.

Timestamps
Introduction 0:00
(1996-2003) Williams Wonders, BAR Blues 4:23
The Comebacks of Jacques 11:40
A Return with Renault 16:50
(2004) Racing with Renault 26:11
(2005-Present) Sauber, Stefan, Durango 36:02
Conclusion 39:30

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20 Comments

@baxatakbaxatak2014 8 months ago

Jacques Villeneuve: A Career in Reverse

@aoife1122 8 months ago (edited)

The son of Gilles went on to become Canada's most successful racing driver but never stepped out of the shadow of the iconic legend that is his late father. One of F1's strange ironies.

@AndyS-kv2jh 8 months ago

A great piece about a very forgotten part of Jacques Villeneuve’s F1 career.

@davidsaintcyr3384 8 months ago

JV - A career in reverse

@joribremer5260 8 months ago

“The problem” with Jacques was he demanded very unorthodox setups (like weird pedal setups ), his engineer at Williams and Bar Jock Clear understood that, and the introduction of tractioncontrol didnt help Villeneuve either , Jock clear said late in 2009, this cars which we have now would have fit Jacques perfectly

@Craigmt12 7 months ago

As a massive JV fan I was hyped to see him return to F1 with Renault in a car that had won a race. I was hopeful he'd be able to prove a point by exceeding expectations. It was so disappointing to see him struggle and then for his career to fizzle out at Sauber.

Just to add, having read Nick Fry's book about Brawn GP, Jacques also enquired about Jenson Button's vacant race seat in 2010. You can't blame a man for trying.

@WagnerianoItaliano 8 months ago

You're all wrong, JV was actually awesome in his Renault stint. I mean, he gave briatore exactly what he deserved for treating Jarno like shit.

@kitko33 8 months ago

JV is one of the only two drivers who won the F1 title AFTER winning the Indy title. He's still the driver with the most successful debut season ever. He's the only driver in modern history to come close to win the Tripple Crown (F1, Indy, LeMans) when he finished 2nd with Peugeot at Le Mans in 2008. The same year, he won 1000 km of Spa in the Le Mans series. He was fast 11 years after his title.

@TheIncredibleSulk86 5 months ago

This was a great and fair documentary. I was a huge JV fan growing up. That stretch he had from '94 to '97 was legendary and I was always a fan through the highs and lows.

@mariz9084 6 months ago

Villeneuve wasn’t a driver who climbed to the top through gradual evolution - he arrived in Formula 1 almost fully formed, thrived in a perfectly matched environment, and then struggled to reshape himself when that environment disappeared.

That's basically the gist of it, I think. At the end of the day, he only ever has himself to blame - well, and Craig Pollock - for the middle and latter part of his career.

@jasonfarrell1907 8 months ago

I was working at Laguna Seca, CA & saw Villeneuve on his first test day of Formula Atlantic - long hair, dressed like a skater, I thought he was one of Claude Bourbonnais' entourage. His rise from Atlantic to F1 was astounding. He had every opportunity to fail & all he did was deliver. Yes, he fell off following his championship, but even the casual observer of F1 knows that it's fickle. One has to respect his early career.

@gregforte 3 months ago

These documentaries are absolutely amazing!! keep up the great work, amazing info, All of your videos. Thank you very much. Highly entertaining content with great facts.

@tomw7367 8 months ago

Amazing video as always! Would love to see a vid on John surtees, but almost more about his two wheel exploits and just how insane it is to be a 2 and 4 wheel world champion, arguably one of the best of all time!

@williammataathletics2664 7 months ago

Great video, enjoyed the Simpsons references - would have loved another Jacques season at the top. Also glad you didn't diminish his 1997 championship. He was well worth it

@BussinJeiber-wy1nc 7 months ago

I always liked JV, he was just as fearless behind the wheel as his father.

@simonkevnorris 8 months ago

I saw JV win a race in Montreal. Sadly, it was the Formula Atlantic race in 1993 which was one of the support races at the F1 GP. It was a veryi popular win.

@keesd512 8 months ago

5:05 not to mention the horrible post-Newey chassis

@VeryNiceAshe 3 months ago

Small thing to add (although this video is 4 months old haha), JV has been since 2013 the main co-commentator on the french broadcast of french TV ! He does not do every race, I would say around 5 to 7 per year he's replaced someone else (either Loïc Duval, or for the american races we often get Romain Grosjean), but he has an excellent chemistry with our main commentator Julien Fébreau (who you might know from his iconic casting of Gasly's win) and is quite a funny person on air I must say !

@stevenmacdonald9619 8 months ago

I totally understand why a Michael Schumacher video is so difficult. There's still no way to finish one.

@TL98 7 months ago

the real question is: WHY did john newhouse stay even after his prime and without his craig pollock-shaped savior instead of exploring new motorsport roads?