Statue of Gilles Villeneuve stolen | Jacques Villeneuve calls thieves “idiots”

Jacques Villeneuve, the son of legendary Formula 1 driver Gilles Villeneuve, did not mince his words about the thieves of the bronze statue of his father, which proudly sat in front of a museum in his honor, calling them of “idiots”.

Villeneuve, who also had a successful career in F1, posted a video on his social media over the weekend in which he said he had difficulty sleeping after learning of the incident, and he called the thieves in his message of “people who have no heart or brains, and it’s frankly shameful”.

The five-foot, three-inch bronze statue was stolen last Wednesday night from a plinth erected in front of the Gilles-Villeneuve museum in Berthierville, about 70 km northeast of Montreal.

“I learned something so shameful, so disturbing, that I had trouble sleeping. The statue of Gilles, my dad, which was outside the museum in Berthierville and which was stolen… I can’t understand what people can have in their heads or in their hearts – if they have any one –, to go and steal a monument like that, which is still important,” the F1 world champion first mentioned in 1997 in a video broadcast on Instagram and Facebook.

“Gilles represented Canada, and Quebec, at the international level, and there are not many (like him). It is a national pride, a pride for Berthierville, for all the people who love it. So, for idiots to be capable of such an action, I believe that these are people who have no heart or brains, and it is frankly shameful,” he added.

The museum presents trophies, pieces of equipment and other objects that belonged to Villeneuve.

Gilles Villeneuve took part in 67 F1 races between 1977 and 1982, scoring six victories. He died following a tragic accident on track during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, at the age of 32.

A reward was offered in exchange for the return of the statue, and the Sûreté du Québec indicated that it is continuing its investigation to identify the thieves.

With the contribution of Sidhartha Banerjee, from The Canadian Press