Over the past five decades, only one driver has become a Formula 1 race winner within the first five grands prix of his career. This was Jacques Villeneuve, on 28 April 1996.
Soon to be 25 at the time, Villeneuve joined F1 as the reining IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner, with his late father Gilles’ aura weighing on his shoulders.
The Canadian was snapped up by 1995 constructors’ runner-up Williams alongside Damon Hill, with David Coulthard finding shelter at McLaren.
The Adrian Newey-designed FW18 proved to be dominant, and Villeneuve took pole on debut in Melbourne, with victory eluding him because of an oil leak – though he later claimed that he was asked to slow down for ‘team harmony’ reasons.
It was just a matter of time until Villeneuve broke his duck, and he took his maiden win at round four, the European Grand Prix.
Williams locked out the front row at the Nurburgring, for just the second time that year, with Villeneuve 0.78s slower than Hill. But the latter’s sluggish getaway allowed his team-mate to easily move into the lead at the start, as the Briton tumbled down to fifth behind Coulthard, Jordan’s Rubens Barrichello and reining champion Michael Schumacher, now at Ferrari.
Jacques Villeneuve, Williams
Photo by: Paul Henri-Cahier
As Hill laboriously attempted to find a way out of traffic – he passed Schumacher into Turn 1 but encountered stern resistance from Barrichello – Villeneuve quickly pulled away, with his advantage over Coulthard reaching 13 seconds ahead of the first round of pitstops.
But the Quebecois wasn’t out of reach. Schumacher undercut his rivals and brought his nine-second deficit to Villeneuve down to one second in just nine laps. The Williams driver withstood the Ferrari’s pressure – including another undercut attempt – over the remaining 30 tours.
“I was thinking the whole time about last year, because I thought ‘there should be a situation coming now where I can pass him and make the same’,” Schumacher commented, referring to the 1995 Nurburgring race, when he overtook race leader Jean Alesi with two laps remaining.
Jacques Villeneuve, Williams
Photo by: Rainer Schlegelmilch / Getty Images
“But honestly, Jacques has done a fantastic race, without mistakes, and there was just no way for me to pass him. We had a great race together, very close fighting, and I’m very pleased to come second.”
Villeneuve added: “Michael was pushing very hard. He was quick the whole race, but he got close to me midway through the second run. He was a bit quicker than me, so it was tough, mostly when we got behind a backmarker, but it was fun. That’s how racing should be.”
Interestingly, this was the first of six times Villeneuve and Schumacher ended up on the podium together – none of which occurred in the 1997 season, during which they battled for the title.
Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher on the podium alongside David Coulthard
Photo by: LAT Images via Getty Images
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