F1’s 70 greatest influencers: the 1980s
Our seven-part tribute to F1's most influential characters moves on to an era symbolised by power. RICHARD WILLIAMS recalls the 1980s, when horsepower ruled on track and brutal powerplays rocked the established off-track order
The 1970s had ended with Gilles Villeneuve winning the US Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen. A month earlier he had shadowed Jody Scheckter, his Ferrari team-mate, around a sunlit Monza on the day the South African became the Scuderia's seventh world champion. Gilles was just doing the right thing, protecting the interests of the team's designated number one. Among the fans around the world who had already taken him to their hearts, the assumption was that he would be the next Ferrari driver to take the title.
It was not to be, but in his brief career the little French-Canadian reminded the world that Formula 1 should be about courage, risk, daring and, above all, panache. A punchy debut at Silverstone with McLaren in 1977 had given glimpses of his potential.
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