Why unloved Lotus 76 may be Colin Chapman's most significant car
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
Gilles Villeneuve is quite rightly back on the nominee list for the 2017 Hall of Fame Formula 1 category. He’s joined by 11 other racing luminaries who you can find out about on the Formula 1 podcast with Karun Chandhok, Mark Hughes and Ed Foster here.
Nationality: Canadian
Teams: McLaren, Ferrari
Grands Prix starts: 67
Wins: 6
Podiums: 13
The fast, flamboyant and charismatic Gilles Villeneuve captured the hearts and minds of all that saw him race.
Mark Hughes quite rightly points out that you can’t have a motor racing Hall of Fame without G Villeneuve as an inductee and it seems strange that we have got this far without that happening.
With only six Grands Prix wins to his name there are many statistically more worthy candidates out there. The Hall of Fame is not about statistics, though, and Villeneuve’s aggressive driving style and refusal to give up merits a place with his name on it.
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