Six victories, two pole positions, eight fastest laps and 13 podium places - statistics that are anything but striking. In Formula 1 today, there are drivers who have won a great deal more, but Gilles Villeneuve cannot be evaluated by numbers alone- simply because there is no way of measuring the level of excitement that he brought to racing. Even though he has been dead for over 30 years, the legend of the Canadian, who was killed on 8 May 1982, is still imbued with strong emotion - Gilles the "Aviator" as Enzo Ferrari nick-named him, the driver for whom the expression "Villeneuve Fever" was coined.

From his "crazy flight" at Fuji in 1977, his first GP win at home in Canada in 1978, the unforgettable 1979 season followed by a year of purgatory, his epic success at Monaco in 1981 and the in-house duel with Didier Pironi at Imola in 1982, to that last "crazy flight" at Zolder. GILLES VILLENEUVE: Immagini di una vita/A life in pictures relives the legend, with previously unpublished pictures and authoritative text by Mario Donnini.

Mario Donnini, a professional journalist, was born in 1965 at Gualdo Tadino, Perugia. He is the author of books on Tazio Nuvolari, Giacomo Agostini, Ayrton Senna, Formula 1, Momo Italy and the Tourist Trophy motorcycle classic, and has worked for years with Autosprint, Italy's motor sport weekly magazine.