How F1's most nomadic champion ended up in Sweden

Three hours' drive from a city few outside Scandinavia have heard of, Jacques Villeneuve is surrounded by royalty. Literally and figuratively. He is sharing a small awning with Prince Carl Philip, the man fourth in line to the Swedish throne. Skiing legend Ingemar Stenmark, a guest of Porsche, stops by and chats with the prince and Eje Elgh - European Formula 2 race winner and Le Mans 24 Hours runner-up. World Rally champion Stig Blomqvist can also be seen wandering the paddock.

It did not used to be alien for a Formula 1 driver such as Villeneuve to be seen at Karlskoga. Sweden's oldest permanent circuit, a converted dirt track, used to welcome the likes of Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Jack Brabham and Jackie Stewart back in the day. Those glory years of non-championship F1 races are part of history now. But major work in the 1990s and 2000s has restored some shine, and efforts from Porsche Sweden have even brought an F1 driver back to the circuit too.

Who else but Villeneuve?

There are two sides to Villeneuve in public, or at least to those who do not know him. The first is the racing nomad, working his way through various series, picking up money in a way that scratches a childhood itch.

"If I wasn't in car racing, I'd go and do a winter of ski racing," the 1997 Formula 1 world champion tells Autosport in Porsche's hospitality centre at Karlskoga. "This adrenalin rush, this competitive nature, is still alive.

"It's a drug. I need it to function and to be happy."

The second public side is the hyper-critical, controversial F1 pundit. Villeneuve managed to get in the news twice over the Italian Grand Prix weekend... despite not even speaking. He was rebuked after comments made in Belgium the week before, in the wake of Anthoine Hubert's fatal crash, accusing young drivers who use simulators of not appreciating the danger of motor racing. Then he was drawn into a Max Verstappen-Nico Rosberg mini-feud, as Verstappen accused Rosberg of being 'the new Villeneuve'.

Becoming a synonym for an outspoken ex-driver... Who else but Villeneuve?

The version of the mid-1990s superstar on display at Karlskoga is far closer to the first persona than the second. If he could bank a mega contract in a top-line international series, he would pay his bills that way. He believes, rightly, that there is no shame in picking up a cheque for going racing.

"You get a call, 'You wanna do this?'," he says. "Check the weekend is free. 'OK'.

"You could be on the couch at home, or racing. It's a good car and good championship."

Now 48, Villeneuve's list of racing activities since his F1 career ended is... long. It tests the database of Autosport's statistical partner Forix to its limits. This year has thrown up some particularly curious moves, even for F1's most nomadic world champion.

The Carrera Cup Scandinavia sticks out in Villeneuve's 2019 because it is a guest outing. For someone who has gained a reputation for racing anything, this is something he has tried to move away from

Turning up at Karlskoga for the Gellerasen Arena's Kannonloppet event - which has Ginetta G40s and Legends, among many other categories, on the support card - underlines that perfectly. This is such a long way from the F1 paddock that has been Villeneuve's bread-and-butter for more than two decades. But, somehow, through his personal and professional endeavours, there is still some familiarity.

Seeing Villeneuve's fluorescent orange 911 in the same awning as Prince Carl Philip's fluorescent yellow equivalent marks a unique team-mate pairing, right? In theory, yeah. But not for Villeneuve. He's actually raced with Scandinavian royalty before, in the same Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix as Prince Joachim of Denmark.

Villeneuve's also already notched up a Carrera Cup outing in Sweden, back at the Knutstorp opener in May. And just in case the middle-of-nowhere vibe left him feeling a little lost, Karlskoga is only three hours from Gothenburg - site of a two-day party hosted by Ace of Base founding member Ulf Ekberg, which Villeneuve attended 19 years ago to celebrate the new millennium.

Fond memories. Varied memories. Who else but Villeneuve?

"When you're single, nobody wants you," he says, explaining how he ends up in such situations. "When you've got a girlfriend or you're married, everybody wants you. It's the same thing with racing. The more you race the more you get opportunities.

"For a while it was just hard to get an opportunity. Once you've won F1, people want you for the image you'll bring to the project. Not your capacity as a driver. So you don't get in the right situation.

"It's difficult to get the ball rolling again, and get teams to believe, 'He loves racing, he's really putting his heart into it'. That's what most ex-F1 drivers do: a few races because it's fun and a big cheque and that's it, not bother with the racing aspect.

"I'm a racer at heart: that's what I do, that's what I love, that's why I'm alive."

The Carrera Cup Scandinavia sticks out in his 2019 because it is a guest appearance. For someone who has gained a reputation for racing anything, this is something Villeneuve has tried to move away from.

"What I've wanted to do is more championships and less guest races," he says. "Over here has been fun, but as a guest you're never prepared.

"You arrive and if it works, great. If it doesn't work then you do the weekend and you go home - sometimes it's not the most enjoyable situation.

"If you work with a team the whole season, you get to the point where you know what every little change will do. That's exciting."

That's also exactly what Villeneuve was hoping for from what was meant to be two main programmes in 2019: oddly, Italian GT and, even more oddly, Euro NASCAR.

Villeneuve started the Italian GT season sharing a Ferrari with ex-F1 colleague Giancarlo Fisichella and Stefano Gai, but the full-year programme was curtailed because of a mechanical problem in the first race at Monza.

The car was absent from the Vallelunga double-header, freeing up Villeneuve to head to Sweden for the Knutstorp opener. That said, it was back on the grid for the Misano round, where the reunited trio finished fourth.

It's a vaguely similar story with his Porsche outings. Villeneuve's quite quick, slotting straight into the top 10, but was "in a bad mood after qualifying" at Karlskoga because he misjudged how much grip there was on a damp-but-drying track and in the first race "got turned around in a way I shouldn't have been turned around". He had also been punted off at Knutstorp.

But Villeneuve is generally complimentary of the Carrera Cup, praising its professionalism but noting that those in charge are "passionate about racing, first and foremost - the business side comes second".

"The first thing [in Sweden] is to get used to the car," he says. "With the weight on the rear and big tyres, you just have to drive it differently. You have to learn the tracks and 30 minutes [free practice] is not enough.

"I'll end up going quick but if I want those last few tenths I need to know the tracks and know the tricks because that's how you set the car up as well. In that half hour, you learn the car and the track but you don't set the car up. When you're in the race, fighting with others, you learn where to brake and where you can carry the speed.

"I got turned around on the second lap and I wasn't racing with the people I should have been so it's still hard to judge."

Speaking to Villeneuve, one slight oddity becomes clear: he's not a huge fan of data.

Maybe that formed part of his decline in elite categories such as F1 and his top-level sportscar experience. Data is everything and, used correctly, is an immensely powerful tool. A modern driver would struggle to establish a career without embracing it.

He doesn't shun data so much as use it in a reversed way to the norm (who else but Villeneuve?). Seat-of-the-pants is his primary method of feedback. The data corroborates what he feels. At first, that jars, but the way he talks - the way he was raised - lends a very clear explanation for his methods, even if they feel a little dated in 2019.

"I could play with the car, I could handle it - oversteer, understeer, braking harder, you can work around the issues a little bit," he says of his fight back through the field after being spun round early in the Karlskoga opener.

"Having come from skiing, it has helped a lot. You lean on the ski, you change the shape and it'll turn more, or less. It's the same thing in a NASCAR. You can adjust the way it drives by braking more or less, turning more or less, faster on the steering - just to have the car moving on the suspension.

"You can feel the reaction. I really enjoy that part."

But all of this - the Porsche outings, the Italian GT affair, the ongoing and controversial F1 role - has been a bolt-on to Villeneuve's real programme in 2019: Euro NASCAR. That's what he cares about.

Villeneuve's entry into the European series was a surprise, but maybe it shouldn't have been. After all, he's a North American boy. He's raced in NASCAR's Cup series. He's raced in NASCAR's second-tier series. He's raced in NASCAR's Truck series. He's raced in NASCAR's Canadian series. Why not Europe too?

It's not been without success either. Villeneuve is ninth in the championship in a massive field, with podiums to his name in a very specialised form of racing. And he's revelling in it.

"NASCAR is something I would like to carry on building," he says. "Maybe do my own team, I don't know.

"I really enjoy that. I really enjoy the cars, the level of racing, the tracks we go to. We have one real oval in the Netherlands. That, I really love."

"When I was a kid, it was about going racing at any cost. Why should that go away? That was the reason to do everything. To get into racing" Jacques Villeneuve

That love is still a big part of what drives Villeneuve to race. Contrary to popular belief, he will not drive anything. He'll drive what he considers right for him, and that's a multitude of factors: type of car, type of championship, the circumstances around his entry and, yes, the financial element.

"I've not driven this kind of car; I don't want to look like an idiot," he says of being talked into racing a Porsche. "I wanted it to be well done and professional, and I'm happy I did it.

"Also, when you have kids, it's part of their education: they need to see you're active, not that you just have your ass on the couch all day. You're out there, working, you're bringing money in.

"And, my kids didn't grow up seeing me race. You're not a cool dad if you used to race. Now I'm a cool dad, because I race!"

Villeneuve offers his comments about the familial aspect of what he does voluntarily. That is unexpected, mainly because of the public personas discussed earlier. 'Villeneuve the family man' is not the one on display.

But his paternal instincts are clear to see. Aside from talking about the lesson he wants to teach his children, he takes immense pride and joy in talking about the FEED Racing initiative he helped launch this year. Funded by its founders, it is a driving school in France that, at a cost of €11,000, gives five days of on-track lessons and will reward the fastest person over the year with a Carlin-run British Formula 4 campaign in 2020.

Cynics will still say Villeneuve is only racing for money. If so, he'll have his reasons for needing it. And if a cynic thinks he is just an opinionated oik with little good to say, and you discredit the substance and depth with which he talks about why he loves racing and still wants to take it seriously, are they any better than what they view Villeneuve to be?

"When I was a kid, it was about going racing at any cost," he says. "Why should that go away? That was the reason to go to school. That was the reason to do everything. To get into racing.

"Just because you don't race in F1 anymore, just because you don't get the million-dollar contracts, you should stop? No. It should still be the one thing that makes you wake up in the morning and brings you happiness. If there's a big cheque, it's better, that's all."

At its heart, Villeneuve's motivation is simple. He has a desire to fulfil, and a family to take care of. He knows he can get offers to race, and make money doing it. Much like his F1 punditry, he is shamelessly honest about that.

Who else but Villeneuve?