"Villeneuve and the Circle of Life" by Leo Turrini

Villeneuve and the Circle of Life

By Leo Turrini

April 9, 2012


The circle of life.

The film Lion King.

I thought about the Disney movie when reading that on May 8th, at the 30th anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve's tragedy, Ferrari will open the doors to his son Jacques in Fiorano. They let him drive the 312 T4 Forghieri, the car with which the small Canadian brushed the title, finishing the season beside his friend and teammate Jody Scheckter.

I think it's a wonderful initiative. It has awakened a river of memories in me.

I was in high school when they announced on TV that Niki Lauda, ​​the Great Niki, was going to be replaced with a stranger Enzo Ferrari had placed a bet on. His name was Villeneuve. He had just months before come to F1 with McLaren, in July 1977.

Like many, if not like everyone else, I was astonished.

I said that Enzo Ferrari had fucked up.

I didn't understand a damn.

Not long after that, after having hallucinatory experiences (the lethal carambola in Japan, so to speak), Gilles became the idol of a whole generation.

Mine also.

I'm sorry, but if you don't have twenty years behind you, then you can't understand the 80's.

You will never understand.

Then there was the tragedy, destined to leave us with a sense of emptiness that I consider invincible.

And more.

Time goes by, he is no longer a boy, and I said that we should help the son of Gilles. Meaning Jacques. He raced in the lower formulas in Italy and he needed a sponsor.

I wrote an article.

Months, even years went by.

Finally, around mid 90's, Villeneuve Jr. raced and often won in Indy, in short in U.S. competitions.

He had a dream.

To take the position that had been his father's. At Maranello.

I remember (I remember too much, sorry) that I talked to LCDM, aka Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

He said, you know, I'd like it but it's an imaginary vision because we just got Schumi and can't do it. Todt could offer the boy a test driver job, maybe Jacques would be ready for the big jump after a couple of seasons.

Todt made this proposal to Villeneuve junior.

Villeneuve junior raged like a beast.

He felt offended.

So he signed with Williams in 1996, with the help of Bernie Ecclestone. He is always fascinated by the names, sorry, the surnames, that are hired.

You know the rest.

Jerez 1997 and the blah blah.

Villeneuve a World Champion!

That evening in Jerez, I remembered a scene I witnessed in 1983.

First anniversary of the tragedy at Zolder.

At Fiorano.

There was the Old.

There was Jacques, a boy, with his family.

Enzo Ferrari approached the boy and said something in his ear.

A picture that shows the contact between distant generations.

I figured, 14 years later, that Drake said to Jacques: You can achieve what your father, because of fate, could not achieve.

And it really happened.

After a long, long time passed by.

Villeneuve junior is not anti-Ferrari any longer. He has also reconciled with the image of his father. That has vanished for very private reasons and after a long time of stubborness. Once I went to Pavullo, to the headquarters of a ceramic that sponsored Jacques. The workers had found a giant poster with his father in a Ferrari and him in a Williams. Villeneuve Jr. walked away and refused to even sign it.

Life changes. Sometimes for the better.

On May 8th 2012, Jacques will be at Fiorano.

It's good news.

It's a good story.

And the circle of life.

Closes.

Fonte: Leo Turrini / Tradução para o Inglês: Nicole

O sobrenome Villeneuve e a Ferrari. Tudo o que eu aprendi a gostar nesta equipe (antes da chegada de Räikkönen), a fascinação que eu tinha por este time (e sim, ainda tenho em determinados momentos) se deu porque Gilles Villeneuve simplesmente causou isto em mim.

Sempre tive esta ligação meio estranha com a equipe de Maranello, embora meu time de coração, aquele que eu realmente gosto, seja a McLaren, por causa de Senna e Kimi.

Mas queriam ou não, a Ferrari é um fascínio, é mítica, é tradição, glória, pressão, e Gilles superou, viveu e se sobrepôs a tudo isto como piloto e mito sem nem ter sido campeão por eles. Imaginem se tivesse?

A homenagem que vai ligar as histórias de Gilles, Jacques e Ferrari será uma forma de homenagear o pai, através do filho, e lendo este texto do jornalista italiano Leo Turrini, não tem como eu não me emocionar e reviver a sensação de orgulho que eu sempre sinto quando vejo Jacques reviver o nome de seu pai assim. Orgulho demais de poder ser tão encantada por esta família famosa que eu tanto adoro.

Beijinhos, Ludy

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