The day we lost Gilles
Adam Cooper was only a young fan when he travelled to Zolder to the 1982 Belgian GP. Thirty years on and the F1 journalist made the trip once more to remember the day Gilles Villeneuve died
On Tuesday Jacques Villeneuve marked the 30th anniversary of the death of his legendary father Gilles by driving a 1979 Ferrari 312T4 at Fiorano. I would have loved to have been there to see it, but instead I did the next best thing and dropped into Zolder, where Gilles lost his life on May 8 1982.
I had no idea if anything had been planned to mark the anniversary, and it was pretty quiet when I arrived in the afternoon. The Villeneuve memorial sculpture behind the pits was getting a quick coat of paint, which unfortunately meant it was under a tent, albeit still visible. Apparently, a local Ferrari club planned to do something at 5pm, which explained why it was being spruced up.
Share Or Save This Story
Krack: Aston Martin F1 team no longer in “no-man’s land”
Gasly rues costly floor damage from Ocon contact in F1 Japanese GP
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Russell: Dirty air is causing F1 helmet turbulence problems
Vasseur: No guarantee that Ferrari F1 tyre issues are resolved
How an F1 underachiever became a Japanese political player
Red Bull in no rush to finalise 2025 F1 line-up
Oliveira reckons MotoGP “looks too easy” on TV now
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
WEC Imola: Ye fastest to lead Ferrari 1-2 in practice
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
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.
