When James Hunt introduced a legend to F1

As was often the case during Hunt’s era, F1 drivers would regularly compete in other series to earn a bit of prize money on their weekends off, and on one occasion during his Championship-winning campaign he made the trip to Canada to take part in the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières. It was a non-Championship round for Formula Atlantic, a series that had been dominated in 1976 by a local driver called Gilles Villeneuve.   

At that time, Villeneuve was well known throughout Canada as a talented racer, but his reputation had yet to spread overseas. He graduated from Formula Ford in 1974 after also finding success in snowmobile racing, before winning his first Formula Atlantic race in 1975.  

His progress continued as he won both the Canadian and IMSA Formula Atlantic Championships with ease in 1976, but he was preparing to face his biggest test to date at Trois-Rivières.  

There, a list of established F1 names were expected to walk away with the trophy. Future World Champions Hunt and Alan Jones, along with Vittorio Brambilla and Patrick Tambay, were about to introduce Villeneuve to the big time, but the local boy would not be overwhelmed.  

In the style that he would become famous for the world over, Villeneuve drove the race as though it was his last, and after starting from pole, took the chequered flag ahead of Jones and Hunt. It was an accomplished and hugely impressive display from a little-known driver who had the confidence and, more importantly, the speed, to take on the best in the world.  

So impressed was the F1 Championship contender that he returned to his McLaren team to wax lyrical about the young Canadian driver who had beaten him fair and square.  

We say young, at that point Hunt was not aware that Villeneuve was in fact only two years younger. The Canadian had made a habit of shaving two years off his actual age so as not to discourage scouts that he was already too old to make it in F1.  

Hunt insisted to his team boss Teddy Mayer that Villeneuve was a driver deserving of a chance, and McLaren agreed to offer the Canadian the opportunity to prove himself in 1977.  

So it was that Villeneuve made his F1 debut at that year’s British Grand Prix, running the previous year’s M23. He put in a spirited and respectable display that eventually saw him courted by Enzo Ferrari. The rest is history.  

He and the rest of us have James Hunt to thank for the memories that we all enjoy of Gilles Villeneuve behind the wheel of an F1 car.  

Goodwood will celebrate ‘The James Hunt Years’ at the 83^rd Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport. The event takes place on the 18^th & 19^th April 2026. Tickets are on sale now for GRRC Members and Fellows.

You can sign up for the Fellowship now. Click here to find out more.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.