World Champion Jody Scheckter was Gilles' teammate at Ferrari in 1979/80. In this interview he gave me recently he recalls their times together 35 years ago...
- Before you signed for Ferrari you already had a season together in 1978 - you with Wolf, Gilles at Ferrari. How did you see him in his rookie season?
- I had no real thoughts about it.
- Did you already know you would be teammates next season when Gilles won in Montreal beating you in the 2nd place?
- At that stage I don't think I knew if it was going Gill or Reutemann.
- How was your relationship during the first races in 1979? Were you an appointed No.1.?
- Yes, I had it written into my contract and I was number one...
- Was it worrying for you Gilles won in Kyalami and Long Beach? Did you expect him to be so strong?
- I'm not sure what I expected but it certainly made me move to a different level.
- During the 1979 season you were already a matured driver with lot of experience - how much did it help to beat Gilles? I mean your approach to the races, the engineers, to Forghieri?
- The big difference was Gill wanted to win each lap love the image of a dear devil driver which was his weakness and gave me strength.
- You did not have a single mechanical failure in 1979 - was it also mainly due your experiences?
- Probably. I believe I looked after the car better.
- There are many pics from the paddock where you talk to each other. How were these conversations?
- Even though it was very hard both of us always remained very honest to each other and we got on very well and had some great laughs.
MORE IN THE BOOK GILLES VILLENEUVE REMEMBERED - SOON IN 2014
