The son of the legendary Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques arrived on the F1 scene in 1996 to drive for Williams alongside another famous son, Damon Hill.
Villeneuve had honed his driving skills with two seasons in CART in the USA, winning the Championship winning in 1995.
His impact in F1 was almost instant, taking pole in his first race (Melbourne) before an oil leak relegated him to second behind Damon Hill. He went on to finish second to Hill in that year's World Championship running the Englishman extremely close - his challenge disappearing along with his rear wheel in the final race at Suzuka.
His second season was more productive as he fought it out, almost literally, with Michael Schumacher in a tight season. At Jerez a controversial incident resulted in Jacques becoming Canada's first World Champion.
In '97 he remained at Williams, however an uncompetitive engine meant that the Canadian was fighting a losing battle. That said, many believe that in '98 (and again in '99), the Canadian gave some of the finest performances of his F1 career, despite the shortcomings of the equipment at his disposal.
For 1999, Jacques moved to the British American Racing team, run by his close friend (and former ski teacher) Craig Pollock. It was the kind of season that would have broken lesser men, but Jacques persisted. The entire package was uncompetitive, and it was mid-season before he got to finish a race. At Spa, Villeneuve showed the sort of grit that endeared his father to F1 fans world-wide twenty years earlier.
For 2000, Villeneuve remains with BAR, although now they have Honda power at their disposal. The initial signs indicate that it won't be that long before we see JV back on the podium.