MUST-SEE: Charles Leclerc drives Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari 312 T4 at Fiorano to mark the 40th anniversary of his death

He may have died 40 years ago, on May 8, 1982 – but Gilles Villeneuve remains very much an icon of Ferrari folklore. And to celebrate the great French-Canadian racer, the team’s incumbent driver Charles Leclerc got behind the wheel of Villeneuve’s 1979 Ferrari 312 T4 at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track.

Villeneuve is hailed as one of the best F1 drivers never to have won the World Championship. His driving style caught not only the eye of Enzo Ferrari but peers and fans around the world.

READ MORE: 5 reasons F1 fans are still in awe of the legendary Gilles Villeneuve

And Leclerc was lucky enough to drive his 1979 Ferrari 312 T4, the machine with which Villeneuve won the South African, USA West Grand Prix and USA Grand Prix – clinching Ferrari the constructors' championship alongside drivers' title winner and team mate Jody Scheckter.

Watch the incredible moment in the video player above, as Leclerc also receives guidance from Rene Arnoux – another Ferrari icon, and the man who Villeneuve famously duelled with at the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon.

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