oneoftheboyslivinateenagedream:

Today’s 31 years since the death of Gilles Villeneuve. My all time favorite Formula 1 driver. People say Ayrton Senna is the best ever, but so was Gilles. He was one of a kind as well. He may not have won any Championships but no one has ever pushed a car to the limit as he did, every single time.
Gilles death can be related to an episode happened during the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix. Gilles was leading the race, Didier Pironi with the other Ferrari was in second place, just behind him. So, Ferrari told them to slow down and preserve fuel, Gilles got that like a team order to freeze the positions, Pironi didn’t. Infact he passed Gilles.
Gilles believed Pironi did that just to entertain the italian crowd, so he passed him and slowed down again. But on the last lap, Pironi passed Gilles one more time going to win the race. Gilles was furious, claiming Pironi didn’t follow the team order, on the other hand Pironi claimed he didn’t do anything wrong.
The next race was at Zolder in Belgium. During the qualifying, on May 8th 1982, Didier Pironi set the time for the 6th place. Villeneuve, wanted to prove he was faster that him, and tried to beat Pironi’s time, on his final qualifying lap. Driving through the Butte curve he came accross Joches Mass, whom was going way slower than him. Mass saw Villeneuve and moved to the right to let him on the race line through the Terlamenbocht curve, but Gilles also moved to the right, trying to pass the slow car.
Gilles hit Mass in the back of his March, at 225 Km/h his Ferrari was lanuched in the air. The crash threw Gilles out of the car, along with the driver seat still strapped on him due the safety belts. He was airborne for about 50 metres before hitting the fences. The impact made him lose his helmet which was found about 100 metres away from his body.

May you rest in peace “Ventisette Rosso”.

(via iceageiscoming)