Six to four: for now Gilles Villeneuve is still ahead of Charles Leclerc in terms of Formula 1 victories, both exclusively at the wheel of Ferrari cars. The Monegasque driver, after breaking the ice in the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, and scoring an amazing win in front of the Ferrari fans seven days later in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, started the 2022 Formula One season by winning in Bahrain and repeated the performance in Australia. However, at the Imola circuit in the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc made a mistake in the final part of the race, losing a podium finish as he attempted to recover the gap to Sergio Perez, who was running in second place.
A determination that cost Charles Leclerc seven points, but which in any case gave hope to the Imola audience. The driver who grew up in the Ferrari Driver Academy is firmly leader of the world championship, is destined to overtake Gilles Villeneuve in terms of stage wins and presumably also destined to enter the roll of honor of world champions in Formula 1, perhaps already in this 2022 season that has started with interesting prospects for Ferrari thanks to a single-seater, the F1-75, which definitely performs at a world championship level.
With the occasion of a preview for the documentary ‘L’Aviatore’ – a Sonne Film and K + co-production in collaboration with Rai Documentari directed by Giangiacomo De Stefano to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Gilles Villeneuve – Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto was asked about a comparison between Gilles Villeneuve and Charles Leclerc, defining a similarity as impossible:
“Gilles was a brave driver, always taking risks and driving on the limit. Talking about tactics and strategy with him had no meaning and Enzo Ferrari fell in love with this. In comparison with today, luckily for me I don’t have to manage someone like Gilles. Today with the drivers it’s easier, they understand what strategy is, how to manage the tires, these are all words that they use and understand. Gilles is often compared to Charles, but there is a big difference in comparison with modern Formula 1, namely the risks these guys took. They sat in the middle of the car nose and an accident could take away legs and feet. Today safety has fortunately grown to an extreme in Formula 1 and Ferrari has been very active along this path. If Gilles had raced with today’s cars, he would have still been with us. This is also a tribute to Formula 1 for how it has grown and to Ferrari which has always collaborated. It is good that Formula 1 grows and that today’s drivers are of different generations, it would be like comparing football players from different eras, and we must not forget this” – Mattia Binotto said, interviewed by Carlo Platella ahead of the presentation of ‘The Aviator’.
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The Ferrari boss underlined that Gilles Villeneuve obviously contributed to increasing the myth that the Red team embodies every day in the motto #EssereFerrari (‘Being Ferrari’):
“#EssereFerrari is our vision. We launched it for the first time with the presentation of the 2019 car and today we have it everywhere, on the walls, on the drivers’ uniforms, on the car. #EssereFerrari is our way of being and it is what we want to represent, communicate and nurture. We are a unique team, the one that has won the most. When we launched it, we also thought of Gilles, because he represents #EssereFerrari out of passion, courage and desire. Because in #EssereFerrari we talk about being and when one remembers Gilles, one thinks of how he behaved and how he drove. He had only won six races, which is not that much, but few other drivers like him have fueled a legend like him.” – Mattia Binotto concluded.
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