Jacques Villeneuve gives decisive verdict on Monaco GP vs Indy 500 comparisons

Racing legend Jacques Villeneuve has given a thorough comparison between what it takes to win the Monaco GP versus the Indy 500. The Canadian driver is one of the few racers to have conquered both F1 and IndyCar, winning one championship in each series.

He debuted in IndyCar (then CART) with Forysthe/Green Racing in 1994. In his Indy 500 debut that year, Villeneuve impressed with a P4 qualifying position and built on it to finish P2 on the podium behind race winner Al Unser Jr. The all-round performance landed him Rookie of the Year honors for the 78th running of the Indy 500 that year.

In 1995, only his second year in CART, he won both the Indy 500 and the championship. In a recent appearance on the Red Flags podcast, Jacques Villeneuve was asked to compare Monaco GP and the Indy 500, the crown jewel events of their respective series.

"Indy is tough because it's super risky," he said [1:16:23 onwards]. "It is one of the races that is still dangerous. You're on the edge for a long time. The cars are very similar as well. It's not like Monaco where you're either in one of the top two or three teams, and you put it on pole and you probably won the race."

"There (Indy 500), that's a long race. A lot can happen. Mistakes in pit stops, the car change, you adapt your setup slightly... with tire pressures falling during the whole race to make sure you have a car you can fight with at the end of the race," the 54-year-old added.

The two races historically took place on the same day in the second half of May. However, from 2026 onwards, the Monaco GP has been moved to June, with the Canadian GP moved up to the same day as the Indy 500. This sets up a direct clash between the two races because they would take place on the same continent and in a similar time zone.

Jacques Villeneuve, who moved to F1 in 1996, never managed to win in Monaco. His best result in the principality was a P4 with BAR Honda in 2001.

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The astonishing story of Jacques Villeneuve's 1995 Indy 500 victory ft. unexpected mind games with his rival

Jacques Villeneuve celebrates after winning the 1995 Indy 500 - Source: Getty

Jacques Villeneuve's victory at the 1995 Indy 500 was straight out of a fairytale. The then-Team Green (now Andretti Global) driver qualified fifth for the race. During an early caution, he chose not to pit and stayed out to become the new race leader.

However, Villeneuve, who wasn't aware that he was the race leader among the chaos all around, overtook the pace car twice. IndyCar slapped him with a harsh two-lap penalty for the same. Though he was "furious", he accepted his fate and exploited the setup advantages on his car and chassis to enter victory contention again.

A late caution came out with just over 10 laps to go in the 200-lap race. Jacques Villeneuve, who was in P2, decided to freak out the race leader, Scott Goodyear, with mind games.

"I started playing tricks on him. As we were running behind the pace car, I pulled alongside him, and then slowed down a lot, and then accelerated again. I was all over the place. He suddenly stepped on the gas and went for it at full speed. But the pace car was still running on the race track. He passed it while I jumped on the brakes," Villeneuve said via Motorsport in 2017.

"I knew the rule was very clear: you never pass the pace car. I was hoping the officials would penalize him like they had punished me. It worked. I gambled big and I won!" he exclaimed.

Villeneuve became the first Canadian driver to win the Indy 500 en route to becoming IndyCar's youngest-ever champion that year as well.