It’s arguably the most tragic tale in Formula 1. What began as an amicable relationship between two highly motivated drivers gradually descended into a bitter rivalry, ending in a heart-breaking turn of events. After one race they would be enemies. Two weeks later and one would be dead.
By the time Didier Pironi joined Enzo Ferrari’s team in 1981, Canadian favourite Gilles Villeneuve had already gained four years of experience with the legendary marque. In fact, he was becoming what some may consider being a veteran of the sport at 30 (he had lied to Ferrari about his age to allow himself a longer career; the world thought he was 28 at the time). Meanwhile, Pironi was two years Villeneuve’s junior and rapidly developing as a world champion in the making, following successful spells with Tyrrell and Ligier.
Villeneuve was welcoming to Pironi upon the Frenchman’s arrival to Italy. Looking back on his Ferrari induction, Pironi commented that ‘He [Villeneuve] treated me as an equal in every way.’
Their first season together came and went without any noticeable rifts in the Ferrari garage, and was characterised by several instances of magnificent driving by Villeneuve, in the underdeveloped 126C. One such occasion was his Spanish Grand Prix victory, in which he held off five faster cars for most of the race – taking the flag just 0.22 seconds ahead of Jacques Lafitte. Meanwhile, Pironi had a disappointing year, acting as Villeneuve’s understudy and failing to finish in 47% of the races. He was adamant on catching up to his team-mate: a fixation which likely amplified the strains on the pair’s friendship during the early part of 1982.
The FISA-FOCA War was the big talking point of the first few rounds of ‘82, and the uncertain vibe was carried through into that year’s San Marino Grand Prix, where a boycott by British teams including Williams and Brabham left only 14 cars on the grid. But that wasn’t the only drama of the weekend. One of the sport’s most famous rivalries was about to be introduced on-track. For those that were there, it was Formula 1 in its most exciting form. For Villeneuve and Pironi, it was the pivotal moment that changed both of their lives.
After Alain Prost retired on lap 7 with mechanical trouble, the flamboyant René Arnoux was left to battle in the remaining Turbocharged Renault with the Ferrari duo. The superior straight line speed assisted the Renault, but just after 2/3rds race distance Arnoux’s turbo exploded, leaving the two Ferraris to challenge each other for the lead. Bumping wheels several times, the pair exchanged positions relentlessly. With a Ferrari one-two seemingly irrevocable, the garage sent out a ‘Slower’ message to their drivers. Villeneuve interpreted this as a team order to maintain positions, but Pironi’s prognosis was that he was allowed to continue racing for the lead.
With two laps left, Villeneuve held the lead in what he believed was a formation. But, Pironi slipped up on the inside going into Tosa, diving across Villeneuve’s front wing. Pironi held on to win. Murray Walker timely predicted ‘There’s going to be quite a tense interview between the Ferrari management and Mr. Pironi at the end of this race’. The actual consequences were far more extreme than that, though.
Villeneuve vowed never to converse with Pironi again. It was a brave decision. Villeneuve could have shrugged off the incident and agreed that it was enjoyable, competitive racing. But he was a relatively sensitive man, despite his rugged persona in the car. He didn’t like a team-mate dictating his race, and he felt betrayed as a professional that his friend had let him down in such a dramatic and sudden way. Some argue that Villeneuve was possibly jealous at Pironi for taking the win and trying to assume the number one driver position by force. Either way, the relationship had turned devastatingly sour. Although drivers would normally overcome such an event fairly quickly, Villeneuve hung onto the experience of Pironi’s erratic driving and disobeying of team orders. It left him in the wrong frame of mind: the thoughts of duplicity severely hampered his driving as a result. The next Grand Prix would take place at Zolder two weeks after Imola, where Villeneuve plotted his revenge against someone he now considered to be a personal enemy.
However, during qualifying, the likeable Canadian collided with the back of Jochen Mass’s March, becoming airborne and throwing Villeneuve out of the car into a wire fence. Villeneuve was pronounced dead later that day, with the accident possibly being attributed to his uneasy state of mind following the events at Imola. It was later suggested that he was trying to better Pironi’s lap time, out of personal grudge more than anything else. Indeed, it was a heart-breaking end to a rivalry that could so easily have been avoided. The conflict only lasted two weeks, but it gripped Villeneuve to the point that his life would end in pursuit of overcoming his team-mate. Pironi himself passed away five years later in a powerboat race off the Isle of Wight. It provided a numbing conclusion to a tale that consumed two very different personalities.
Of all the team-mate rivalries that Formula 1 has spawned, Villeneuve vs. Pironi is the only one that truly hammers home the tragic nature of competition and the desire to overcome the closest of rivals. It is one of the sport’s darkest tales.
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