Joann Villeneuve: ‘Gilles was ruthless but very conscious of the dangers’

I f the death of Gilles Villeneuve at the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder in 1982 left Formula One traumatised, it was infinitely harder on his wife Joann. More than 40 years on and the emotion still runs high as she recalls the controversial events of that season. So raw have been the wounds, it is only now she has felt able to address them and time has not assuaged the strength of her feelings.

Villeneuve, his wife and family and his former Ferrari teammate Didier Pironi are the subjects of Villeneuve Pironi: Racing’s Untold Tragedy, the newly released film on Sky Documentaries and Now TV. It is a superb feature, telling the gripping but tragic story of the two drivers whose relationship fell apart over the course of one race in 1982 at Imola shortly after which Villeneuve died and Pironi’s career ended in an horrific accident at Hockenheim. The documentary is even-handed and does its best to put both drivers’ sides of the story, but making it brought back the emotions of the time for Joann.

“It was just too difficult to tell the story before,” she says. “But when I decided this was the time, you realise that the emotions you had at the time are still the same. That the facts are the facts and you can’t change them. Emotions go with those and the biggest one was the betrayal. Sometimes you think: ‘Maybe I overreacted at the time’ but then you realise no, it’s still how I see it today.”

The film contains a wealth of footage, much never before seen from a different era of racing. In 1982 the turbo engines had become both reliable and fearsomely quick and before the season began Ferrari appeared to have mastered it with the 126-C2 expected to lead the field, pitting Villeneuve and Pironi in a fight for the title.

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