I attended my 1st F1 race in 1979 at Watkins Glen. There were 30 drivers competing for 24 starting positions. On Friday afternoon in the rain, Gilles was on provisional pole -
11 seconds clear of his teamate, Jody Schecter, who was well clear of the rest of the field himself!!! Jacque Laffite stood in awe as he watched Villeneuve and only remarked,
"Look at him. He's different from the rest of us - on a seperate level."
Gilles climbed from the car and said,
"That was fun, but it should have been quite a bit faster. I was flat in 5th on the straight at 160MPH (in the heavy rain). I had a misfire and was down 600RPM's, otherwise I would have been much quicker. But then maybe I would have crashed. "
Gilles won the race over - guess who? - Rene Arnoux.
