Zolder, 1982: Obituary
Autosport's obituary, written by Nigel Roebuck, as it appeared days after his fatal crash on May 8, 1982
Last Saturday afternoon Gilles Villeneuve died violently at the wheel of a Ferrari. It was the end of the final practice session, and he was going for it. He was on his last set of qualifying tyres, and came upon a slower car.
In those circumstances, Gilles so often said, you had to squeeze your fear, keep your foot down. It was absurd, but the system left you no alternative.
Share Or Save This Story
More from Nigel Roebuck
Archive: The flamboyant F1 ace who lost his best years at Ferrari
Archive: When F1's Italian GP no-overtaking proposal was rejected
From the archive: How Williams's last F1 title challenge unravelled
Autosport 70: How Mansell bested Senna in the greatest F1 Hungarian GP ever
Autosport70: Senna, tragedy and the battle for Coulthard
Autosport 70: The rise and fall of Ferrari's first great champion
Grand Prix Gold: Australian GP 1986
The pre-Christmas pressure on Bottas and Vettel
Latest news
Everything you need to know about the pitwall in F1 - who sits there and what does it do?
Alpine: "Shock" of having slowest F1 car triggered tech revamp
How Bruce McLaren's death shaped more than just his F1 team
Both DS Penske in the points in São Paulo
Autosport Plus
How motorsport is embracing the opportunities of AI
The unlikely series providing an open door to innovation
Autosport writers' most memorable moments of 2023
How a lost Lotus that could have revolutionised Can-Am finally came to life
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.