40 years ago, French driver René Arnoux won the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Montreal at the wheel of a Ferrari.
“Of course I remember. “It was my first win with Ferrari, and I also got it at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve,” he recalled in a telephone interview with the Journal from his home in Switzerland.
“It was magical on the podium, all these people on the track were cheering us on,” he continues. You have passionate fans. We always looked forward to the race in Montreal. The city vibrates to the rhythm of Formula 1 like nowhere else. And it goes on every year.
“It was an unforgettable weekend because, in addition to the win, I also had the best time in qualifying.”
His best friend
Arnoux had led 66 of the 70 laps of the event, beating American Eddie Cheever (Renault) and his Ferrari teammate Patrick Tambay. He crossed the finish line 42 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer.
Arnoux, now 74, was obviously thinking of Gilles Villeneuve as he stood on the top step of the podium.
“He was your hero and my best friend. We often ate lunch together on the circuits. We had lots of fun. Victory at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve was an unforgettable adventure.”
The Quebec driver, who tragically died in Belgium the year before, had clinched his first Formula 1 victory driving a Ferrari in Montreal in 1978.
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There was a deep friendship between René Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve, photographed in January 1982 at the Kyalami circuit in South Africa.
The famous duel
How not to approach Arnoux in his famous duel, one of the most intense in the history of Formula 1, in which he faced Villeneuve on July 1, 1979 at the Dijon circuit in France?
“Every time I leave the house, people can’t stop talking to me about it. Even after more than 40 years.
“Gilles was an acrobat,” he added. But such a fight on the track could only be between him and me. We respected each other very much.”
As a reminder, in the final laps, his Renault and Villeneuve’s Ferrari kept touching, swapping places two and three. In the end, the Quebec driver managed to outperform his rival, while at the front Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Arnoux’s team-mate, secured the first-ever victory of a turbocharged Formula 1 car.
Flowers in Alonso
Arnoux still pays attention to Formula 1, even if he rarely travels to the circuits.
“What I like less now, he admits, is all this American-style artifice. F1 doesn’t need these pre-launch driver briefings, as we saw in Miami last month. F1 isn’t a spectacle, it’s motorsport.
When asked to comment on Fernando Alonso’s behavior since the start of the season, he doesn’t hide his surprise.
“The Aston Martin team did a good job on recruitment,” he said. To be honest, at 41 I didn’t think he could be that competitive, quite the opposite. He is a very motivated driver whose talent is undeniable.
Villeneuve misses his qualification
At the 1983 Canadian Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve, Gilles’ brother, failed in his first attempt in Formula 1.
At the wheel of an uncompetitive RAM March, he had clocked the 27th fastest time, although only the top 26 were allowed to race.
It was his third and final appearance in Formula 1, having also missed qualifying in Montreal and Las Vegas two years earlier.
René Arnoux in Formula 1
- Teams: Martini and Surtees (1978), Renault (from 1979 to 1982), Ferrari (1983 to 1985) and Ligier (1986 to 1989)
- 149 launches
- 7 wins
- 18 head positions
- 22 appearances on the podium
- First Grand Prix: Belgium 1978
- Last Grand Prix: Australia 1989
- Best World Championship result: 3rd place
in 1983 - Canadian GP: 10 races (one win in 1983).