F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve’s racing return suffers abrupt end in lap one crash
Originally published by Crash.net
1997 Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve’s return to racing in the Porsche Supercup ended in a first-lap crash at Barcelona.
Villeneuve announced in May that he would be making a long-awaited return to competitive racing by contesting this year’s Porsche Supercup, which is on the F1 support bill.
The 55-year-old Canadian made his Porsche Supercup debut at Barcelona, with his car sporting the same iconic livery as he used for his helmet designs.
Villeneuve was caught up in a lap one crash
But Villeneuve’s racing return ended in abrupt fashion after he got caught up in opening lap chaos at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday.
Having qualified 23rd out of 28 cars on the grid in his No.911 Porsche, Villeneuve was involved in a collision at Turn 10 on the first lap.
Villeneuve was blindsided and had nowhere to go as he crashed into a car that had stopped sideways at Turn 10 after spinning on its own. The incident caused Villeneuve to lose his front-right wheel and forced him into retirement.
Villeneuve skipped the 2026 season-opening Monaco round and it is not clear whether he will return as a guest driver for the next race in Austria.
The Indy500 winner and CART champion has tried his hand at NASCAR, V8 Supercars, FIA World Rallycross, Stock Cars, Formula E and several GT championships over the years.
Villeneuve racing in Barcelona (image: Porsche)
When he is not racing, Villeneuve works as a guest analyst for Sky Sports F1. He is also an ambassador for the Williams F1 team, with whom he won the 1997 world championship.
Speaking on Sky Sports F1 in Barcelona, Villeneuve likened championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s “luck of champions” to that of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
“Kimi has the luck of champions. If you remember the [Michael] Schumacher days, he would go off at every race but somehow in the only area where it was OK to go off and it would be OK," he claimed.
"That's happened to Kimi a lot this year. In Miami, he cut the first chicane, but Verstappen spun and he kept his spot. He's got that momentum going and when you have that belief, you keep on winning."