TREMAYNE: Exciting, talented and underrated – my verdict on Jacques Villeneuve, 30 years on from his electric debut F1 season

F1 Hall of Fame journalist David Tremayne looks back at the career of the 1997 World Champion, three decades after he first raced in Formula 1.

Hall of Fame F1 JournalistDavid Tremayne
1996 German Grand Prix. Hockenheim, Germany. 26-28 July 1996. Jacques Villeneuve (Williams FW18

As a writer the manner in which you get to meet and form relationships with F1 drivers can be… interesting.

You’ve usually kept an eye on the really good upcomers, and in the case of, say Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli, I went out of my way to meet them before they actually graduated to F1.