Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve will make his Goodwood Revival debut in September 2025, contesting the event’s flagship Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration in the famed 1963 AC Cobra ‘Hairy Canary’.
It marks the Canadian’s first competitive outing at the Revival, following his crowd-pleasing cameo at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where he drove Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312 B3 up the Hill amid a weekend of Formula 1 celebrations.
The 1997 World Champion was the last Formula 1 driver to win a title for the Williams outfit, following a season-long battle with Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher. Their duel for the title concluded in controversy at the final race in Jerez, in which Schumacher was disqualified for deliberately colliding with Villeneuve’s Williams in a failed attempt to knock him out of Championship contention.
Villeneuve’s Formula 1 career continued until 2006 with the BAR, Renault, Sauber and BMW Sauber teams. He has since dabbled in myriad motor sport categories, including the World Rally Championship, NASCAR, the Le Mans 24 Hours and Formula E. He remains one of only three drivers – alongside Jim Clark and Graham Hill – to have won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula 1 World Championship.
This year’s Revival, however, marks Villeneuve’s first foray into Historic racing. Here, he will compete wheel-to-wheel against elite drivers from across the motor-racing spectrum – including several past F1 rivals. Below is a selection of the greatest racers to have graced this world-renowned motor sport extravaganza since its inception in 1998.
Sir Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Moss’s illustrious career is deeply entwined with the Goodwood Motor Circuit. His first race took place there in 1948 – the day after his 19th birthday – and he would go on to contest 56 events at the venue, winning 21, claiming podiums in a further 13, and securing four of his seven Tourist Trophy victories with Ferrari and Aston Martin.
Goodwood was also the scene of Moss’s career-ending accident in 1962. Nevertheless, he retained a lifelong affection for the West Sussex circuit, becoming a Revival regular and earning the fitting moniker ‘Mr Goodwood’. His life and legacy were honoured with an emotional tribute in 2021, and the Sir Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy has remained a permanent Revival fixture ever since.
Jenson Button
The 2009 Formula 1 World Champion made his Historic racing debut at the 2021 Goodwood Revival racing in the RAC TT Celebration and Sir Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy alongside Alex Buncombe. Predictably, Button’s preternatural talent behind the wheel was immediately obvious; he rose from 19th on the grid to sixth in the RAC TT Celebration and qualified third in the Sir Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy before an engine misfire forced the pair to retire.
Button will return to race in this year’s RAC TT Celebration in his own 1962 Jaguar E-type, against his former BAR F1 teammate Villeneuve.
Tom Kristensen
One of the most successful racing drivers in history, Kristensen has nine Le Mans 24 Hours victories and an FIA World Endurance Championship title to his name.The Danish driver also enjoyed success in Formula 3000 and DTM, and remains Audi’s most prolific Works driver.
Tom has made several appearances at the Goodwood Revival over the years, contesting the RAC TT Celebration – where he’s secured multiple podium finishes – as well as the St Mary’s Trophy and Freddie March Memorial Trophy. This year he returns to the RAC TT Celebration grid in a 1964 Ford GT40 – a fitting car for the endurance-racing legend.
Derek Bell
A five-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner and two-time World Sportscar Champion, Bell stands as one of the great endurance racers. His glittering career also includes three victories at the Daytona 24 Hours, two at the Spa 1000km and a period as a Ferrari Formula 1 driver in the early 1970s.
Goodwood honoured Bell’s career at the Festival of Speed 2025, and the Briton will return to compete at this year’s Revival in the RAC TT Celebration, St Mary’s Trophy and Freddie March Memorial Trophy. As with Moss, Bell’s induction into motor racing began at Goodwood, although as a marshal rather than a driver. An aggregate winner in the St Mary’s Trophy in 2002 and 2010, Bell is by far one of the most experienced drivers on this year’s grid – and he remains incredibly fast, too.
Martin Brundle
Formula 1’s legendary commentator and gridwalk specialist is also one of Britain’s greatest drivers, with victories at Daytona and Le Mans as well as podium finishes in F1, before moving into the commentary box. He has made several Goodwood appearances over the years, including a memorable outing alongside his son Alex in the 2021 Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy, sharing a Jaguar E-type.
Brundle’s Revival cameos are defined by fierce, crowd-pleasing duels – none more memorable than his wheel-to-wheel battle with Jon Minshaw in the 2021 RAC TT Celebration.
For more information about the Goodwood Revival 2025, please see here.
