Jacques Villeneuve - son of a famous Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, started his career in Formula 1 as one of the best drivers in the sport, and ended it as a driver of small teams. Falavio Briatore once said that Jacques Villeneuve could become a big star of Formula 1 like Ayrton Senna was.

He was born on April 9th, 1971, in Canada's French-speaking province of Quebec. His father, Gilles Villeneuve was one of the favorite drivers of Enzo Ferrari, founder of the famous racing team. Because his father was a racing driver, a young Jacques's childhood was full of moving from one place to another. He practically grew up on the pit wall of Formula One. In 1982 his father was killed during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix on the Zolder track.

More than ten years later, Jacques continued his father's footsteps. After driving a few minor championships in Europe and Asia, in 1995 Jacques came to the U.S. Indycar championship. That year he became the youngest Indycar champion and the youngest winner of the famous Indy 500 race. Next year he finally came into Formula One.

In his debut race he has won pole position and second place in the race. That year he fought for the championship title with his team mate Damon Hill, and he lost the chances to win the title in the final race. Yet he became a champion the following year, 1997, and his main rival in that year was Michael Schumacher from Ferrari. At that time, he was the biggest hero in Formula One. Son of a driver known for his great courage became the champion after he showed that he has his father's spirit. Not to mention that he managed to win the title in his second season in Formula One.

After winning the title, Jacques Villeneuve became the driver of a small team called BAR for which he drove until 2003. He said that the reason of his transfer was not money. After leaving that team in 2003, he drove a few races for Renault, and in 2005 he signed a two years contract for the team named Sauber. In 2006 he was replaced by a young driver named Robert Kubica. And that was the end of his career in Formula One.

Jacques Villeneuve was a great champion, but could he done more? We will never know whether Flavio Briatore was right, could Jacques Villeneuve become a big star of Formula 1 like Ayrton Senna was.