44 years ago, Gilles Villeneuve's last F1 victory at the Spanish GP

On June 21, 1981, the Canadian achieved his sixth and final victory in Formula 1 after a resounding feat at Jarama.

Published 21/06/2025 à 09:00

Cyprien Juilhard

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44 years ago, Gilles Villeneuve's last F1 victory at the Spanish GP

Photo: DPPI

This text is from the collector's edition dedicated to Gilles Villeneuve, which can still be found in our online store by clicking here

Fresh from his brilliant success in the Principality, Villeneuve brought his 126 CK up to 7th place on the grid at Jarama, a circuit located in San Sebastián de los Reyes, in the northern suburbs of Madrid. True to his legendary passion, Villeneuve made a flying start that propelled him to 3rd place, despite slight contact with Alain Prost. At the start of the 2nd round, Villeneuve took the best of the Williams of Carlos Reutemann on the outside of Nuvolari corner, named after former driver Tazio Nuvolari whose Enzo Ferrari thought they had found a worthy heir in the Little Prince. On lap 14, reigning world champion Alan Jones, who was leading the race, made a mistake and relinquished control of the Spanish race to Villeneuve. For more than 65 laps, the Quebecer resisted tooth and nail against an armada of cars much faster than his powerful, but clumsy, 126 CK.

It was Reutemann who first harassed him before the Argentinian gave way to Jacques Laffite, who had started on pole but had fallen down the order following a failed takeoff. The Ligier driver was sometimes so close to the leading Ferrari that he could probably read Villeneuve's rev counter. With implacable composure, the Canadian fought like a devil in the twisty sections before regaining some air coming out of the bends and in the straights where his turbo engine could express itself. After 80 laps of a fierce battle, Villeneuve received the checkered flag as the winner and thus won the second closest Grand Prix in history. There were in fact no fewer than 2 drivers (Villeneuve, Laffite, Watson, Reutemann, and De Angelis) within 5''1 of each other at the finish.

“It was truly the best race of my life,” the winner told AUTOhebdo. “At no point did I have to let my attention or my attack go. Reutemann didn’t impress me, but Laffite scared me right to the finish. He was worth two seconds a lap better than me. To contain him, I had to take crazy risks, especially in Pegaso, because I was convinced he could pass me there. Then I realized that Jacques was looking to get past me under braking. I then slowed down my pace to focus on the tight sections.” Considered Villeneuve’s masterpiece, this epic victory was the 6th and final success of his all-too-short career. F1.

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3 Comment (s)

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Alain Féguenne (Luxembourg)

21/06/2025 at 02:37 a.m.

I forgot to mention the Spanish GP, fabulous, and especially the legendary F1 GP, the French GP (Dijon) between Gilles and René, an exceptional end to the race, while JP Jabouille won the first victory for Renault (Turbo) …… A day that all F1 fans will never forget. 😎🇫🇷🍾👀👍👀🍾🍾🍾

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Alain Féguenne (Luxembourg)

21/06/2025 at 01:52 a.m.

Gilles Villeneuve…… was an exceptional driver……, and still is …. A legendary driver……. !!!!! I remember…. Monaco, and especially…..Zandvoort, and many other …. races …… A driver that we will never see …… again….. unfortunately…!!!! 😎👀👍👀🇱🇺👍

Yves-Henri RANDIER

21/06/2025 at 12:33 a.m.

An extraordinary race, the likes of which we don't see anymore! And a track that could certainly have been modernized like what was done well at Zandvoort, rather than creating the MadRing, yet another urban karting track between hangars and warehouses in the airport suburbs of Madrid!

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