Many of you will think twice before reading on. Who was Gilles Villeneuve? Oh he must have been Jacques’s father... and what a father he was. Il Grande Gilles as he was affectionately known might have not have won a world championship, nor did he reach any records, yet he was the driver who brought back excitement to the world of Formula 1. He had a daring, never say die attitude and the ability of bring out the best of any machine he was driving. Villeneuve’s career started in snow sledge racing where he quickly started beating the competition. His skill soon took him to motor racing, emerging on June 17, 1973 in a Formula Ford at the Senair Circuit in Quebec where he raced to take his maiden win. In 1977 he emerged in Formula 1 driving a McLaren M23/8/2-Ford Cosworth DFV where he finished 11, lapped twice by race winner James Hunt. He returned to Canada to continue racing in the Canadian series and in 1978 after having raced a few races for the Scuderia he was signed by Ferrari for the complete season.Enzo Ferrari had a liking for the young Canadian even though he held the record for wrecking Ferraris. He was passionate in his driving and was sometimes called crazy by his fellow drivers. He never believed in having a normal racing line, his attitude to racing was not dissimilar to the time he raced his snow sledge. But he was a dedicated man, the first to take along his family in a caravan for each Grand Prix. He was also a charismatic person that everyone loved and admired. The mechanics at the Fiorano test track knew that Gilles was approaching from the sound of a screaming Ferrari in the streets of Maranello. He was the person who led me to start to seriously follow F1, but unfortunately I never met him, although I met his wife Joanne in Monza a few years ago. This Sunday the Canadian Grand Prix will pay tribute to Gilles to mark the 25th anniversary since the Zolder accident that took his life. It will also be a celebration of the first Canadian to win a Grand Prix on his home ground, in 1978. We lost Villeneuve at just 32 years, but he left us the passion that no driver since has managed to replicate.