As an adjunct to our Gilles Villeneuve Festival video trilogy, join Rene Arnoux as he drives Gilles’ 1979 Ferrari 312T4 from Castel d’Ario to Erbe (May 5, 2012). Finally he gets to feel the car against which he raced so closely at Dijon all those years ago…
Videos courtesy of the car’s owner, Jonathan Giacobazzi, and Donelli Vini
In the midst of the Gilles Villeneuve Exhibition in Modena last Tuesday, Melanie Villeneuve found a piano and sang the song she wrote (with brother Jacques) about her Dad
Lyrics
Your life wasn’t long just like a bird’s life
But you had your only sky
And like an eagle you one day flew too high
Beyond the limits set by the unknown
And up where they belong and where the sun is black
That’s when we understood you never never ever were to come back
Just like the water flowing down a stream
You were as endless as a dream
Unlike some old forgotten poetry
Your tale will always be chanted inside of me
Father I miss you so
Father why d’you have to go
So far where I can’t go
Somewhere, some place, but where, I don’t know
Your life was a song of love and strife
Too many times you rolled the dice
And all the people as a court they prayed and they cried
When you climbed beyond the summit of the unknown
And up where the wind is strong and there’s no turning back
We got lost and found in the woods where the seeds of love grow back
By the millions you were held in high esteem
Bringing happiness to every dream
To every dream
Father, I miss you so
Father, why d’you have to go
So far away where I can’t go
Somewhere, some place, but where, I don’t know
Sir Frank Williams had just begun his post-race pep talk. Many of the WilliamsF1 team members were crouched around him, craning to hear his words. He spoke of the effort they had been making over the past months, of the improvements brought by the technical team….
…and then violently, seemingly from nowhere, came a ball of flame…
We don’t yet know the detailed cause of the explosion. It was fuel-related; that seems to be clear. Many suspect that there was also a KERS element. Hopefully we will know soon.
What is clear is that F1 again showed its grit under pressure. Dr Mark Gillan, Williams’ Chief Operations Engineer, grabbed Frank and moved him swiftly towards safety. Mike Coughlin, Technical Director, was soon on his hands and knees, scouring the garage for anyone possibly in danger, seemingly oblivious to the toxic smoke and flames. And F1’s mechanics – from all teams, including Williams – were exemplary. Local fire-fighting crews had begun to pack up; the race was over. As Diego Merino’s picture shows, mechanics grabbed fire extinguishers and ran to the scene from all directions. These two – James Prosser (tyre man) and Lee Hart (Lewis Hamilton’s car) are from McLaren.
Exposed personnel were cared-for in F1 motorhomes – at Red Bull and Force India; thankfully, as of this writing, there appear to be no critical injuries.
For WilliamsF1, though, the damage has been immense. Bruno Senna’s car – in the garage following its shunt with Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes – has been severely damaged. All of the major computer and garage equipment has been destroyed. Many Williams team people are still in Barcelona, surveying the damage and drawing up contingency plans for Monaco. There are even a few whispers that the team may not be able to race at the Principality.
I doubt that. If necessary, I believe that the other F1 teams will come to Williams’ aid. It is a part of what they do.
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