The Spanish GP of Formula 1, the most suffered victory of Gilles Villeneuve

In the 1981 Grand Prix the Canadian took his last victory on the circuit before dying in an accident.

This weekend the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prixwhich will take place at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, but more than 40 years ago took place one of the most emotional races ever run on Spanish soil, which Canadian Gilles Villeneuve would win.

Villeneuve is not one of the main candidates to win, and started in seventh position on the starting gridbut a good move at the start immediately brought him to third place, thus putting himself in the discussion for victory.

To make matters worse, before the end of the first flight of the Spanish GP he passed Argentine Carlos Reutemann to take second, just behind Australian Alan Jones, who started second but had already passed Jacques Laffite, one of the will star. an exciting finale with the Canadian.

On lap 14 of the 80 that the Jarama Circuit had, Villeneuve took the lead and he did not give up the first position but for the rest of the race he had to fight the approaches of his pursuers who kept trying to overtake him.

The Ferrari driver crossed the checkered flag before the others and ended up staying in the Spanish GP, not knowing at the time that it would be his last victory in Formula 1. Behind him was Jacques Laffite from Ligier-Matra (+ 0′ 211) and John Watson of McLaren-Ford (+0’571) to complete the podium, while Argentine Reutemann finished fourth (+1,011).

Gilles Villeneuve died a year later as a result of an accident at a speed of 230 km/h caused by a collision with the car of Jochen Mass in March during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, which left a huge legacy on the circuit that saw him fired at just 32 years of age. In fact, his son Jacques was crowned Formula 1 champion in 1997, and is the only Canadian driver to win the championship in history.