Stu Cowan: Gilles Villeneuve's memory lives on at Canadian Grand Prix

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Sports Auto Racing

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will wear helmet honouring Canadian driving legend for Sunday’s race on track named after him.

Author of the article:

Stu Cowan • Montreal Gazette

Published Jun 17, 2023 • 4 minute read

Montreal-born Lance Stroll drives his Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant car in the rain at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve during a practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday, June 17, 2023. Photo by John Kenney /MONTREAL GAZETTE

It has been 41 years since Gilles Villeneuve was killed, but his memory is always alive on the track named after him for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Villeneuve was 32 when he died after a qualifying crash in his Ferrari at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. He remains the only Canadian to win the Canadian Grand Prix when it was held for the first time in Montreal on Île Sainte-Hélène in 1978 in front of 72,632 cheering fans.

Shortly after Villeneuve’s death, the track on Île Saint-Hélène was named after him and the words “Salut Gilles” were painted at the finish line.

Current Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc certainly hasn’t forgotten Villeneuve. He will be wearing a special helmet honouring the late F1 legend for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix (1:55 p.m., CTV, TSN4, TSN5, ABC, RDS).

Leclerc unveiled the helmet Friday in a Ferrari video on social media.

“Gilles Villeneuve, he was such an incredible driver,” Leclerc said in the video. “So much passion he had for Ferrari, you could see straight away when he was going out on track. This is my special helmet for the weekend, it’s inspired by the design Gilles used to have.”

There was one problem with the helmet. Leclerc hadn’t let the Villeneuve family know in advance he was planning to wear it. Villeneuve’s son, Jacques, let Leclerc and Ferrari know Friday his father’s image rights are controlled on behalf of the family by his sister, Mélanie. Jacques pointed out there were also sponsors linked to the helmet, which could be a problem.

“It was just a big surprise to see the helmet yesterday because nobody had called the family,” Jacques told motorsport.com on Saturday. “It’s mainly my mother and my sister involved in that. So that was just a big shock.”

Jacques, who followed in his father’s footsteps and won the F1 drivers’ championship in 1997, is doing TV work this weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix.

To make things right with the Villeneuve family, Leclerc called Mélanie on Friday night and Ferrari invited her and her mother, Joann, to be their guests for Saturday’s qualifying sessions and the driver was given the OK to wear the helmet.

“It’s a very warm feeling to see that after so many years someone is still remembering him with such a passion and such an emotion,” Mélanie said when I spoke with her in the paddock area shortly after her mother and Mélanie posed for photos with Leclerc and the helmet before the qualifying session began.

It was a miserable, rainy day at the track, which made the qualifying session difficult for drivers. Not surprisingly, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen — winner of five of the first seven races this season — took the pole position, followed by Nico Hulkenberg of Haas, Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. Leclerc will start from the No. 11 position.

“In the wet you have to just stay on top of all the conditions,” Verstappen said after the qualifying session.

“I like driving in the wet,” he added. “I come from Holland, so we are used to driving in the wet.”

Montreal native Lance Stroll qualified 13th in his Aston Martin. Stroll will also be wearing a special helmet for Sunday’s race, with a much better weather forecast calling for clouds and sunny breaks with a high of 21C.

Stroll’s helmet is painted red-and-white as a tribute to the Canadian flag and it’s interactive with QR codes linking to seven of his favourite spots in his home town: Mont Tremblant (where he learned to ski and snowboard), Lester’s Deli (for its smoked meat), SH Karting (where he first started driving competitively), the Bell Centre (he’s a big Canadiens fan), Lower Canada College (where he went to school), Park (his favourite Asian restaurant) and Gibeau Orange Julep (his guilty pleasure).

Stroll will also be wearing special boots, which will be auctioned off after Sunday’s race along with his helmet to raise money and awareness for the Canadian Red Cross in aid of the recent wildfires across the country.

Joann enjoyed being back at the track named after her late husband on Saturday.

“It’s changed a lot,” she said. “It’s not the same as it used to be. It’s sort of like new. It’s new, but it’s also still home. It’s where Gilles left a lot of memories for a lot of people.”

What would her late husband think about the huge event the Canadian Grand Prix has become?

“For Gilles, racing was racing no matter what you race,” she said. “Whether it be a go-kart, whether it be a snowmobile. Whatever it was, all he wanted to do was go fast, race, and be the best he could be. He was also someone who enjoyed the mechanical side of it, the engineering side of it. I think he would be interested in the cars today because of all the technology that has come into it.”

Joann will definitely be watching Sunday’s race.

“I watch all the races,” she said. “(Gilles) sort of transmitted his passion for racing to me.”

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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