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Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve (born April 9, 1971) is a Canadian automobile racing driver, and winner of both Formula One and IndyCar championships. He was born in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.
His father was Gilles Villeneuve, also a Formula One race car driver, who was killed during qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix when Jacques was only 11 years old. His uncle, Jacques Villeneuve, was a moderately successful driver in American and Canadian road racing, winning one IndyCar race.
Jacques moved to IndyCar racing in 1994, and was the series' rookie of the year after a string of strong results including his first victory at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. In 1995 he won the Indianapolis 500 on the way to winning the IndyCar championship.
In 1996 he moved to Formula One racing with the Williams team and was runner up in the championship. In 1997 he won 7 races and the drivers' championship, beating rival Michael Schumacher.
Jacques' career went into a decline following his 1997 World Championship. Remaining with Williams in 1998, the team struggled with the underpowered Supertec engine and failed to win a race. Jacques left the team at the end of the season to join British American Racing (BAR), co-founded by and partly owned by his personal manager Craig Pollock. Villeneuve remained at BAR for the next 5 years, but only managed a handful of 3rd place results. Jacques was replaced for the final race in 2003 by Takuma Sato. From 1996 to 2003, he competed in 131 Grands Prix, with a total of 11 wins.
Inactive for most of the 2004 season, Jacques' absence nevertheless had a strong impact on the Formula One season, especially in light of Michael Schumacher's dominance. In September of the year, Jacques finally returned to Formula One driving duties, testing for Renault and driving the final three Grands Prix of the season, while in the same month he signed a two-year deal to drive for Sauber, starting in 2005.
When not racing, Jacques Villeneuve lives in Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. He has, however, remained a Canadian citizen.
He has been inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
| Constructors and drivers currently competing in the Formula One championship: | ||||||||||
| Ferrari | Williams | McLaren | Renault | BAR | Sauber | Jaguar | Toyota | Jordan | Minardi | |
| 1 M Schumacher 2 Barrichello | 3 Montoya 4 R Schumacher | 5 Coulthard 6 Räikkönen | 7 Villeneuve 8 Alonso | 9 Button 10 Sato | 11 Fisichella 12 Massa | 14 Webber 15 Klien | 16 Zonta 17 Panis | 18 Heidfeld 19 Glock | 20 Bruni 21 Baumgartner | |
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