GILLES VILLENEUVE — GILLES’ DREAM

Original Formula One Photography by Richard Kelley

THE MOMENT

In 1977, Gilles Villeneuve arrived in Ferrari’s Mosport pit for his first Formula One session as a Scuderia driver. Photojournalists had been physically removed from the area, and there were to be no exceptions.

Richard Kelley noticed something others had overlooked: a narrow, three-inch split between the vertical concrete slabs forming the rear of Ferrari’s pit stall. Recognizing the opportunity, he positioned himself alone in front of the opening and carefully placed his Nikon’s telephoto lens through the gap.

When Gilles arrived, Richard captured a remarkable series of photographs at the precise moment the Ferrari team placed a hat on Gilles’ head and a Ferrari jacket on his shoulders.

Richard was the only photojournalist to recognize and use this small opening to photograph that moment. His position offered an extraordinary, unobstructed view of a young driver at the beginning of his Ferrari journey.

A DREAM REALIZED

Gilles once said that, given three wishes, he would be a racer, a Formula One driver, and drive for Ferrari.

Here, those dreams were coming together. To witness that moment firsthand, camera in hand, was pure bliss.

For me, this photograph is more than a portrait. It preserves a fleeting moment in Formula One history: the beginning of Gilles Villeneuve’s journey with Ferrari, seen from a position few photographers could have occupied.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Richard Kelley began photographing Formula One in 1972 and built an archive of more than 400 original photographs documenting the people, atmosphere, and defining moments of the sport’s Golden Era.

Every image in this archive was photographed by Richard himself, from within the world he documented.

A genuine moment from Formula One’s Golden Era, captured through Richard Kelley’s lens.