The 1979 season, a year by which time most teams had caught up with the advances in aerodynamics made by the Lotus 79, provided one of the most fascinating and enthralling battles of wits between two drivers with a French connection. Gilles Villeneuve, born in a French-speaking province of Quebec in Canada, and Frenchman René Arnoux made sure the crowds of Dijon got their money’s worth by battling out the closing laps of the French Grand Prix.

Villeneuve led for more than half the race though began suffering from tyre degradation and was coming under pressure from the ever-strengthening Renaults. The second-placed car, driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille, made his pass on the Ferrari with little fuss and marched on towards a clear victory.

It was the battle for second which proved to be the enthralling contest; Villeneuve was pushing his car to the limits and could often be seen locking up his front tyres, all the while being caught by the third-place Renault of Arnoux.

With three laps remaining Arnoux made the attempted pass on Villeneuve, who retaliated with an audacious late-braking manoeuvre into turn one, this time locking up all four wheels. On the final lap Arnoux attempted another move around turn one and both drivers ran side by side for the next few corners, banging side pods and wheels on several eye-watering occasions. Arnoux was then passed around the outside of the next corner and the culminating collision almost took the pair out of the grand prix, with Villeneuve sliding wide but holding on to make the decisive pass for second place.

Villeneuve’s described the clash as “fun”, despite being well aware of the high-octane danger...

“I tell you, that was really fun! I thought for sure we were going to get on our heads you know, because when you start interlocking wheels it’s very easy for one car to climb over another”.

Painted in 2002.