Estoril 1996 - Jacques Villeneuve's best drive

[Yoong Montoya]

He's had many great drives, but I would say this one was the best of all. He drove like a man possessed that day, having dropped to 4th at the start. He passed Schumacher around the outside at the final turn on the lap, passed Alesi at his first pit stop, and then put in loads of qualifying style laps to catch the race leader, team mate Damon Hill. He never gave up, and just managed to get into the lead at the final stops and went on to win.

How I wish we could see drives like this today!

[PoweredByHonda]

Originally posted by Yoong Montoya
How I wish we could see drives like this today!

Witness Spa, and Austria of this year, also one race that I really remember well with JV was in 2000 at Montreal. I was there, my first and so far only grandprix visit, sitting in the grandstands by the hairpin, the crowd went crazy after his blistering start from 6th to 3rd and following DC's stop and go penalty JV was second, keeping both Hakkinen and Barichello (who in cars that were 1-2 secs a lap faster) behind him.

Oh it was magic, how he kept that lemon of a car running on extremely low downforce on the road and fending off Barichello and Hakkinen for awhile. Then as usual, his Bull**** team screw up his pit stop and his race is over after tryin to make up the ground he lost with an over ambitious overtaking move on Ralf ending both their races.

Ahhh, how he must feel these days, stuck in a sh1te car with no chance of winning or the chance to drive a decent car to prove him self. I know some members would say that it's his own fault and he's too greedy but I say, Craig Pollock ruined his career with the lies of BAR and the broken promises of Ferrari like domination. Jacques oh Jacques... if only you went to Mclaren, we wouldn't have all this Schumacher domination right now... Alas... What could have been:

Imagine if Jacques had switched to Mclaren in 99:
99WDC
00WDC
01(would have made it close)

He would have been 3 times world champion, at least. There are those who wouldn't agree, perhaps Hakkinen would have beaten him? We'll never know, what we do know is that he was lured away to a ****e team and his career after that... well everyone knows

[Valve Bounce]

Maybe the Toyota runours will come true for Jacques then.

Valve

[Sato san]

that was a great drive to see someone drive round the outside of TGF that day . Jacques was a breath of fresh air that day , well , all year really . Its good to see a driver that really wants to race .

[Valve Bounce]

Seriously for a change, I thought Jacques was sensational in his first F1 race at Albert Park

Valve

[Raven]

Estoril 96, Hockenheim 98, Barcelona 99, Austria 2000 were all great drives from JV.

He is still a great driver no doubt, but those great performances don't seem to be coming anymore, not really anyway. Motivation must be a big problem for the former WDC, CART and Indy500 champion.

[Sato san]

i think he's to hung up about money...i still think he's got the speed though , i think he should just be looking for fast cars to race , then we will see more of the Jacques we see back in 96

[Jordi]

I think that even though Jacques' Estoril'96 race was maybe his greatest, I believe he's a better driver now.
Just give him a better car, even though it's his decision to be at BAR. BAR can also improve, right?

[The Moon Monkey]

Estoril 96 was a great day for Jacques.

As much as I want to be proved wrong, I cannot see Jacques ever winning a GP for BAR-Honda - unless we have a Nurburgring '99 situation (i.e. a complete lottery!)...

[Miss Hardt]

I liked Albert Park and Estoril 1996, Jerez 1997, Hocki 1998, 2000 and 2001 & Monza 1999 because it was impressive to finish eighth in that car.

And I love that guy....

[Mania]

Estoril was good..Jerez was a smart drive...Montreal 2000 was a great effort (dampered a bit by a kamakaze move on Ralf)..and even Austria was a good one.

But Jacques has just flushed his career down the drain...its too bad because he could`ve been one of the great ones.

I hope he still sticks around in f1 for a good many years still..one because we dont have any other Canadians good enough to make the grade into f1 just yet..and two cos theres always a chance he may lose his lust for money and sign with a decent enough team so he can end his career with a few more wins to his name.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Mania
two cos theres always a chance he may lose his lust for money and sign with a decent enough team so he can end his career with a few more wins to his name.

In an interview today on Sky, Jacques said that he'll be trying his hardest next year so he can impress other teams (for 2004), i wonder if this means that he hasn't been trying as hard as he could as he knows that he's guarenteed his money from BAR no matter what?