FORMULA ONE: Canadian roots run deep for Villeneuve
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
June 7, 2001
MONTREAL - He may have spent much of his life living in Monaco, but Jacques Villeneuve still considers Canada as home.
Born in St. Jean sur Richelieu, Quebec, Villeneuve moved to Monaco at a young age when his father, Formula One ace Gilles Villeneuve, moved the family there from Canada some 20 years ago. These days Jacques says he still gets a special feeling every time he touches down on Canadian soil.
Villeneuve, who won the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship, arrived in Montreal last week to open his new restaurant and to prepare for his home Grand Prix on the track named after his late father.
"I really feel at home in Canada," he said. "The roots are very strong and always have been. I think every Canadian is like that. It is very important.
"When we moved to Monaco, I was always a Canadian island: the atmosphere, the mentality we had at home just with the family, even the accent we always kept it with us at home. We always felt very strongly about being Canadian."
After growing up in Europe he also enjoys living in Monaco.
"I've lived in Monaco for 20 years, and it's fantastic," he said. "Monaco is great because it's quiet, and people give you a break." In addition to English and Italian, Villeneuve speaks Canadian French and French. The latter two languages, he says, are different enough so that he can easily switch from one to the other.
"It is like two languages," he said. "It is like changing languages, so it is not like speaking the same language. I think in the one I am speaking in at the time. It's the same when I am speaking in English."
Villeneuve's new restaurant in Montreal is called Newtown, which is the English version of his name. Drivers David Coulthard and Jean Alesi, as well as Lucky Strike BAR-Honda director Craig Pollock, showed up for the gala opening of the restaurant. Despite Villeneuve's background, the restaurant does not have a motor racing theme.
"It's a good restaurant with good food," he said. "It's not stuck up, but it will be of a high standard. It's definitely not a sports bar with racing stuff. I spend a lot of time racing and don't want it in my restaurant."
Asked why he chose to locate the restaurant in Montreal rather than Europe, Villeneuve said: "I wanted some kind of roots back home. I get back home a few times but never for very long. Normally it is a day or two on the way to somewhere. Now I have an excuse to go back."
The Canadian Grand Prix moved from the Mosport circuit near Toronto to a new track set on an island in the St. Lawrence River in Montreal in 1978. Gilles Villeneuve won the inaugural Grand Prix on the track that would eventually be named after him.
Jacques Villeneuve's first race on the Montreal circuit came in 1993 when he won the Formula Atlantic event after a hard-fought duel with David Empringham. Villeneuve ended up third in the Formula Atlantic Championship that year. The following season, he finished second in the Indianapolis 500 and was named Bank One Rookie of the Year at Indy.
This year marks Villeneuve's sixth start in his home Grand Prix. His best finish was second in 1996 behind his Williams-Renault teammate Damon Hill. Although he is a superstar in Canada, Villeneuve says the fans treat him with respect and don't mob him.
And that is another reason he likes going home.
Text provided by Paul Kelly
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