Your classic grand prix - race 17

It is a first for classic Formula 1 this week - a father and son victory double bill featuring Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve.

In a break from the normal tradition, we have decided to broadcast extended highlights of two of last week's five choices - the 1996 Portuguese Grand Prix and the 1979 South African Grand Prix.

The Portuguese race - the last one at the Estoril circuit, one of the more enjoyable stops on the F1 calendar in the 1990s - was won by Jacques Villeneuve as he sought to beat Williams team-mate Damon Hill to the world championship.

Villeneuve failed in that quest as Hill was crowned champion at the subsequent race in Japan, but Villeneuve's superb win in Portugal kept the title race alive to that final grand prix of the season.

This race was the most popular choice among respondents on this blog last week - and with good reason. Villeneuve drove probably the greatest race of his F1 career to make up the ground lost by a poor start and a delay behind Ferrari's Michael Schumacher in the early laps and overhaul Hill.

The win was made possible by a brilliant overtaking move - one of the best of the 1990s, and possibly ever - on Schumacher around the outside of Estoril's banked, 150mph final corner.

Inspired by this, Villeneuve then made up 15 seconds on Hill, partly with the help of traffic, partly by simply being faster on the day, and passed him at the third and final pit stops for a brilliant victory.

The 'Grand Prix' programme broadcast on BBC Two on the evening of this race is embedded below, with the shorter highlights edits of all the races linked underneath.

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WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1979 SOUTH AFRICAN GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1982 SAN MARINO GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1985 DUTCH GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1991 FRENCH GRAND PRIX
WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1996 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX

The classic races will be shown on the red button on interactive television in the UK from 1800 Wednesday 20 October to 1300 on Friday 22, although they will not be broadcast between 1600 and 1900 on Thursday. They will not be broadcast on Freeview.

There is no question that Portugal 1996 was an exciting race, and a stirring drive by Villeneuve but, in my opinion, it was eclipsed by his father Gilles's victory in South Africa 17 years previously.

This was the second most popular race among respondents on this blog and we feel the strongest contender, so we have decided to broadcast the full 'Grand Prix' programme from that race, too. It is embedded below.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.

I went into the details of this race last week; suffice it to say here that a stop to change tyres dropped Villeneuve Sr 30 seconds behind his Ferrari team-mate Jody Scheckter. The Canadian made up the deficit in just 33 laps, then forced the South African into a mistake and went on to take a brilliant win.

It was the first of many stunning drives by Villeneuve in 1979, a season which he started as the junior partner to Scheckter at Ferrari.

Thanks to consistency, the judicious application of team orders in the decisive race, and some critical errors by the still-inexperienced Villeneuve, Scheckter ended the year as world champion, as had been his and Ferrari's aim when they signed him.

By then, though, Villeneuve ended it established as not only the fastest driver at Ferrari, but in the world - a position he maintained until his death three years later.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/10/your_classic_grand_prix_-_race_4.html

Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni Jimmy Bryan