» F1 Rewind: Gilles Villeneuve’s last race

Today marks thirty years since Gilles Villeneuve’s last-ever Grand Prix start in a race, the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix.

It was an event that would go down in infamy, not least of which for the politics that dogged the event, but also for the feud sparked between Villeneuve and Ferrari team-mate Didier Pironi that the enigmatic Canadian would take to his grave just two weeks later.

In the three weeks that had passed since the season’s third round at Long Beach, the FIA had ruled that Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg – who finished first and second at the Brazilian Grand Prix – would have their results scrapped after their respective Brabham and Williams teams were found to have fitted illegal water tanks to allow them to run under the weight limit.

In a time when the sport’s running was split between the FIA-supported FISA teams and the Bernie Ecclestone-support FOCA teams (of which Brabham and Williams were a part), there was an understandable outcry from the FOCA group, which elected to boycott the next race at Imola.

The end result was was that the three FISA teams – Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo – showed up for the San Marino Grand Prix, while Tyrrell, Osella (it being their home race), ATS and Toleman broke the FOCA ranks to race.

With such a thin 14-car field, this presented a great opportunity for the smaller teams to get a decent result if their cars could hold together for the 60-lap race.

But first, there was the matter of qualifying, and it was to the tifosi’s great disappointment that the Renaults of Arnoux and Prost locked out the front row for Sunday’s race. The Ferraris of Villeneuve and Pironi would start from the second row.

But while the Renaults were quick, they were also fragile. Predictably, both Prost and Arnoux retired with mechanical gremlins, leaving the Ferraris to stage a battle for the lead in front of their adoring fans.

With third-placed Michele Alboreto running well behind, Ferrari wanted to ensure a 1-2 on home soil, ordering their drivers to slow down and bring the cars home.

Villeneuve, in the lead, interpreted this as an order to maintain position. But Pironi thought otherwise and started to reel the Canadian in.

In the closing laps, the pair ran nose-to-tail, with Villeneuve leading himself to believe that Pironi would play the role of dutiful number-two in the end and that the Frenchman was simply trying to put on a show for the fans. Pironi passed Villeneuve for the lead, and Villeneuve retook him.

On the final lap, Villeneuve left a car’s width gap going into Tosa, and that was all the invitation that Pironi needed to slip through for the lead and the win.

While the Frenchman claimed the win, Villeneuve was furious at the apparent betrayal and sulked on the podium, vowing never to speak to Pironi again.

Two weeks later at the Belgian Grand Prix, Villeneuve would be killed attempting an impossible last-gasp flying lap trying to beat Pironi’s provisional pole time in qualifying. He collided with Jochen Mass’ March and was thrown from the car, killing him instantly.

1982 San Marino Formula 1 Grand Prix – Final Classification (60 laps):

	Driver	Team	Laps	Result	Grid
1.	Didier Pironi	Scuderia Ferrari 126C2 V6 Turbo	60	1:36:38.887	4
2.	Gilles Villeneuve	Scuderia Ferrari 126C2 V6 Turbo	60	+ 0.366	3
3.	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell Ford 011 V8	60	+ 1:07.684	5
4.	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella Ford FA1C V8	59	1 lap behind	9
5.	Eliseo Salazar	ATS Ford D5 V8	57	3 laps behind	14
	NOT CLASSIFIED
DQ.	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS Ford D5 V8	54	Underweight	12
NC.	Teo Fabi	Toleman Hart TG181C 4cyl Turbo	52	8 laps behind	10
DNF.	Rene Arnoux	Equipe Renault RE30B V6 Turbo	44	Engine	1
DNF.	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo 182 V12	24	Engine	6
DNF.	Riccardo Paletti	Osella Ford FA1C V8	7	Suspension	13
DNF.	Alain Prost	Equipe Renault RE30B V6 Turbo	6	Engine	2
DNF.	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo 182 V12	4	Fuel Pump	7
DNF.	Brian Henton	Tyrrell Ford 011 V8	0	Clutch	11
DNS.	Derek Warwick	Toleman Hart TG181C 4cyl Turbo		Electrical	8
	FASTEST LAP
	Didier Pironi	Scuderia Ferrari 126C2 V6 Turbo	44	1:35.036