Page "Gilles Villeneuve" Paragraph 9

Despite this, shortly after the British race McLaren's experienced team manager Teddy Mayer decided not to continue with Villeneuve for the following year.

His explanation was that Villeneuve " was looking as though he might be a bit expensive " and that Patrick Tambay, the team's eventual choice for 1978, was showing similar promise.

Villeneuve was left with no solid options for 1978, although Canadian Walter Wolf, for whom Villeneuve had driven in Can-Am racing, considered giving him a drive at Wolf Racing and also recommended him to the Ferrari team's founder, Enzo Ferrari.

Rumours circulated that Villeneuve was one of several drivers in whom the Italian team was interested, and in August 1977 he flew to Italy to meet Ferrari, who was immediately reminded of the pre-war European champion Tazio Nuvolari: " When they presented me with this ' piccolo canadese ', this minuscule bundle of nerves, I immediately recognised in him the physique of Nuvolari and said to myself, let's give him a try.

" Ferrari was satisfied with Villeneuve's promise after a session at Ferrari's Fiorano test track, despite the Canadian making many mistakes and setting relatively slow times, and Villeneuve signed to drive for Ferrari in the last two races of the 1977 season and the 1978 season.

Villeneuve later remarked that: " If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari ..."