Joann and Mélanie Villeneuve provided vivid testimonies in the fascinating documentary Villeneuve Pironi, about the rivalry between Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi in 1982, which you can watch on Crave from Monday.
The wife of the Quebec driver who tragically died at the Zolder circuit in Belgium and his daughter were kind enough to answer our questions after watching this 90 minute documentary produced by Noah Media Group was produced in cooperation with Sky Studios.
“We worked hard to make it as authentic as possible and I think we succeeded,” Joann said in an interview with the Journal.
From friends to rivals
Many observers claim that the French driver’s behavior is directly related to the death of Villeneuve, which occurred on May 8, 1982. As a reminder, two weeks earlier at the Saint-Marin Grand Prix, Pironi had disobeyed Ferrari’s orders to imola by overtaking his Ferrari team-mate at the end of the track. Which obviously infuriated Villeneuve.
From then on, there was no question for Villeneuve to speak to Pironi, whom he considered a close friend. This rivalry was to shape the minds and then take a tragic turn.
“I’m not going to go so far as to say that Didier was responsible for Gilles’ death,” says Joann, although many people believe that. If there hadn’t been a disagreement between Gilles and Jochen Mass on the track, there wouldn’t have been an accident. But that’s not Mass’s fault. He ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. One thing is for sure though: Gilles never thought Didier would behave like this. He felt cheated.
Photo by Hoch Zwei/Corbis via Getty Images
While Gilles Villeneuve’s face shows frustration, Didier Pironi celebrates his controversial victory on the podium at the San Marino Grand Prix on April 25, 1982.
When Pironi suffered a serious accident three months later in Hockenheim. Joann initially had a first reaction.
“There’s something about you that says he’s miserable. Then ask yourself if it really is what you think it is. As long as you don’t have feelings, you don’t wish unhappiness on anyone,” she added.
emotional Melanie
“For me, the documentary is impressive. It makes me very responsive and touches me deeply,” Mélanie said at the beginning of our phone call.
We experienced her particularly emotionally during one of her testimonies.
“I can’t watch the documentary without shedding tears,” she says. And it’s not the tears that I control. I was angry and in great pain. To this day I see pictures of Gilles and it catches me up.
“The way he has touched the public is extraordinary. In 1981 he managed to win two races [Monaco et Espagne] with panache, even though he had a bad car. It’s magical just looking at it.
Like her mother, Mélanie is unwilling to blame Pironi for Gilles’ death.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she continues. Anyhow, I think Gilles was influenced by some emotions. He was deeply hurt. Gilles was not himself at Zolder.
His brother Jacques, who also appears in the documentary, said his father was “very selfish”.
“He didn’t like it in 1980 and 1981. His car gave him no satisfaction. Between two races he was often at Ferrari [à Maranello] experiment and find solutions. We saw him very seldom and suffered from his absence. That’s probably what made him selfish in Jacques’ eyes,” Mélanie claims.
The absence of Forghieri
At Imola, the director of the Ferrari team and great supporter of Gilles Villeneuve, Mauro Forghieri, was absent for family reasons. Marco Piccinini, who was close to Pironi, replaced him.
“What if I had been there?” asked Forghieri, implying that Pironi would probably have respected Ferrari’s instructions. The Italian engineer died on November 2 before filming on the documentary was completed.
“If Mauro had been there at Imola, things would certainly have been different,” concluded Joann Villeneuve.