RACING DRIVER

Gilles Villeneuve

1950 - 1982

Photo of Gilles Villeneuve

Icon of person Gilles Villeneuve

Joseph Gilles Henri Villeneuve (French pronunciation: ​[ʒil vilnœv]) (January 18, 1950 – May 8, 1982) was a Canadian racing driver, who spent six years in Grand Prix motor racing with Ferrari, winning six races and widespread acclaim for his performances. An enthusiast of cars and fast driving from an early age, Villeneuve started his professional career in snowmobile racing in his native province of Quebec. He moved into single seaters, winning the US and Canadian Formula Atlantic championships in 1976, before being offered a drive in Formula One with the McLaren team at the 1977 British Grand Prix. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Gilles Villeneuve has received more than 1,971,031 page views. His biography is available in 37 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 36 in 2019). Gilles Villeneuve is the 20th most popular racing driver, the 24th most popular biography from Canada (down from 23rd in 2019) and the most popular Racing Driver.

Gilles Villeneuve is most famous for being a French-Canadian Formula One driver who won the World Drivers' Championship in 1977.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.0M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 65.59

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 37

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.10

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.49

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Gilles Villeneuves by language


Among RACING DRIVERS

Among racing drivers, Gilles Villeneuve ranks 20 out of 888. Before him are Jackie Stewart, Keke Rosberg, Jochen Rindt, Ronnie Peterson, Jim Clark, and Graham Hill. After him are Bruce McLaren, Clay Regazzoni, Helmut Marko, Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti, and Nigel Mansell.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1950, Gilles Villeneuve ranks 17. Before him are Vicente del Bosque, Anne, Princess Royal, Goran Bregović, Richard Branson, Robbie Coltrane, and Zhang Yimou. After him are Ed Harris, Jim Mattis, Ron Perlman, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Joe Hisaishi, and Richard Dean Anderson. Among people deceased in 1982, Gilles Villeneuve ranks 25. Before him are Khalid of Saudi Arabia, Barack Obama Sr., Louis Aragon, Gala Dalí, Karl von Frisch, and Hans Selye. After him are Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Mikhail Suslov, Hugh Everett III, Ivan Bagramyan, Hugo Theorell, and Helen of Greece and Denmark.

Others Born in 1950

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Others Deceased in 1982

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In Canada

Among people born in Canada, Gilles Villeneuve ranks 24 out of 1,350. Before him are Glenn Gould (1932), Michael J. Fox (1961), David Cronenberg (1943), Eric Berne (1910), Saul Bellow (1915), and William Shatner (1931). After him are Dan Aykroyd (1952), Willard Boyle (1924), Neil Young (1945), Robert Mundell (1932), Oswald Avery (1877), and John Kenneth Galbraith (1908).

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Among RACING DRIVERS In Canada

Among racing drivers born in Canada, Gilles Villeneuve ranks 1. After him are Jacques Villeneuve (1971), Jacques Villeneuve (1953), Nicholas Latifi (1995), Lance Stroll (1998), Bill Brack (1935), Allen Berg (1961), George Eaton (1945), Robert Wickens (1989), and James Hinchcliffe (1986).

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