Carlos Reutemann | |
|---|---|
 Reutemann at the1981 Italian Grand Prix | |
| Governor of Santa Fe | |
| In office 10 December 1999 – 10 December 2003 | |
| Lieutenant | Marcelo Muniagurria |
| Preceded by | Jorge Obeid |
| Succeeded by | Jorge Obeid |
| In office 10 December 1991 – 10 December 1995 | |
| Lieutenant | Miguel Angel Robles |
| Preceded by | Víctor Reviglio |
| Succeeded by | Jorge Obeid |
| National Senator forSanta Fe | |
| In office 10 December 2003 – 7 July 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Oscar Lambert |
| Succeeded by | Alexandra Vucasovich |
| In office 10 December 1995 – 10 December 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Louis Rubeo |
| Succeeded by | Arturo Rolando di Pietro |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Carlos Alberto Reutemann (1942-04-12)12 April 1942 Santa Fe, Argentina |
| Died | 7 July 2021(2021-07-07) (aged 79) Santa Fe, Argentina |
| Political party | Justicialist Party |
| Other political affiliations | Cambiemos (2015–2019) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Occupation |
|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Argentine |
| Active years | 1972–1982 |
| Teams | Brabham,Ferrari,Lotus,Williams |
| Entries | 146 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 12 |
| Podiums | 45 |
| Careerpoints | 298 (310)[a] |
| Pole positions | 6 |
| Fastest laps | 6 |
| First entry | 1972 Argentine Grand Prix |
| First win | 1974 South African Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1981 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1982 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Active years | 1980,1985 |
| Teams | Fiat,Peugeot |
| Rallies | 2 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Rally wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 2 |
| Stage wins | 1 |
| Total points | 24 |
| First rally | 1980 Rally Argentina |
| Last rally | 1985 Rally Argentina |
Carlos Alberto "Lole"Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentineracing driver and politician, who competed inFormula One from1972 to1982 and served as theGovernor of Santa Fe from 1999 to 2003. Reutemann was runner-up in theFormula One World Drivers' Championship in1981 withWilliams and—at the time of his retirement—held therecord for mostpodium finishes (45); he won 12Grands Prix across 11 seasons. A member of theJusticialist Party, he was aNational Senator forSanta Fe from 2003 until his death in 2021.
As a racing driver, Reutemann was among Formula One's leading protagonists between 1972 and 1982. He scored 12 Grand Prix wins and six pole positions. In1981 while driving forWilliams he finished second in the World Drivers' Championship by one point, having been overtaken in thelast race of the season. Reutemann also finished in third overall three times for three separate teams,1975 forBrabham,1978 forFerrari, and1980 for Williams. To date, he is the last Argentine driver to win aGrand Prix.
In terms of race wins, his final Ferrari season in 1978 was his most successful with four wins, but he fell short to the consistency of theLotus team withMario Andretti andRonnie Peterson and was not in championship contention to the final race. He finished third, just behind Peterson, who had died in anaccident at Monza earlier that autumn. In 1981, Reutemann instead relied on consistency, but narrowly lost out toNelson Piquet for the title. He became the second Formula One driver afterLeo Kinnunen to be at the podium of aWorld Rally Championship event, when he finished third in the 1980 and 1985 editions ofRally Argentina. He was also for three decades the only Formula One driver to score drivers' championship points in both F1 and WRC, untilKimi Räikkönen's eighth place at the2010 Jordan Rally.[1]
As a popular governor and asenator, he was considered by some, on several occasions, to be a worthy candidate forpresident of Argentina. While he considered running for president in the2011 Argentine general election, he ultimately declined to do so.[2] Reutemann died in a medical facility inSanta Fe, Argentina, on 7 July 2021 after suffering from issues relating to ahaemorrhage as well as other health issues.[3][4]
Descended from aSwiss-German grandfather, an Argentine father and anItalian mother, Reutemann was the first successful Argentine Formula One driver to come along since the retirement of five-time World ChampionJuan Manuel Fangio in 1958. He first raced in 1965 in aFiat saloon car.[5] After racing touring cars andFormula 2 in Argentina, he moved to Europe in 1970 to drive aBrabham for the Automobile Club of Argentina Team in the European Formula 2 series. He immediately received attention when he took outAustrian Formula One driverJochen Rindt (that year's eventual posthumous World Champion) on the first lap of his first race atHockenheim, but carried on to finish fourth. The next season, he finished a close second in the series toSweden'sRonnie Peterson.[citation needed]
Brabham F1 team bossBernie Ecclestone signed Reutemann to drive alongside veteran and two-time World ChampionGraham Hill for the1972 season. At thefirst race, in front of his home crowd atBuenos Aires for his first Grand Prix, Reutemann qualified hisBrabham BT34 on pole position. This was a feat previously performed only byMario Andretti, and since matched only byJacques Villeneuve; his teammate Hill qualified 16th. He finished the race in seventh after having to pit to replace his soft tyres, and the main highlight for the rest of the year was his win in the non-championship Interlagos Grand Prix.[citation needed]
Teamed with BrazilianWilson Fittipaldi Júnior for the1973 season, Reutemann scored two podium finishes and seventh in the Drivers' Championship in the tiny but radicalGordon Murray-designed BT42. For1974, Murray designed theBT44, which was a further improvement and the team finished a close fifth in the Constructors' Championship. Reutemann, who very much liked the BT44 took the first three victories of his F1 career atSouth Africa,Austria, and theUnited States. He might have won the first race of the year inArgentina, too, but the Brabham team apparently failed to properly fuel his car and he ran out of fuel with less than two laps to go while safely in the lead. Though he matched Drivers' ChampionEmerson Fittipaldi's win total, inconsistent performances in the other races left Reutemann sixth in the season standings.[citation needed]
Five podium finishes in1975, including a win inGermany at the old 14-mileNürburgring allowed Reutemann to place third in that year's championship. The Brabham team switched to theAlfa Romeo flat-12 engine for1976 and suffered from serious reliability problems. After seven retirements and only one finish in the points (fourth place inSpain) in the first twelve races, Reutemann negotiated a release from his Brabham contract to sign withFerrari, who was looking for a temporary replacement for the injuredNiki Lauda. Lauda's unexpected speedy recovery resulted in Reutemann racing only once for the team, in a third car atMonza, and then sitting out for the final three races.[citation needed]
For the1977 season Ferrari opted to keep the now fully recovered Lauda and have Reutemann replacingClay Regazzoni, who moved on to theEnsign team. In the first two races, Reutemann finished third inArgentina and won inBrazil, outdriving Lauda in both events and taking the championship lead. For the Brazilian race, Ferrari had just designed a new rear wing that was put on Reutemann's car and not Lauda's, so Reutemann went into this Brazilian GP with a performance advantage and a psychological high- the psychological aspect being crucial to how Reutemann would perform in the race. Reutemann would later state in an interview that this was his best race. Over the course of the season, however, Lauda reaffirmed his position as team leader, and the Austrian won his second championship, while Reutemann finished fourth and did not win another race that year. Reutemann also did not have a good relationship with Ferrari chief engineerMauro Forghieri, who was weary, distrustful of and often frustrated by Reutemann and his temperament, even though Reutemann consistently finished races in the points and rarely ever retired (although difficult to drive, the 1977 B-spec. Ferrari 312T2 was a very reliable car).
When Lauda moved to Brabham in1978, Reutemann became the senior member of the Ferrari team, joined by the youngCanadianGilles Villeneuve. Reutemann used the312T2B to win inBrazil, and a312T3 to win inBritain and twice in the United States (Long Beach andWatkins Glen). Reutemann's win in Britain atBrands Hatch was particularly memorable as he took advantage of Lauda being held up by backmarkerBruno Giacomelli, and Reutemann passed a beleaguered Lauda for the lead at Clearways. However, theLotus team was dominant once their new79 was introduced atMonaco, and Reutemann finished a close third in the points standings behind Andretti and Peterson. Reutemann also had a huge accident at the Spanish Grand Prix after a tyre failure and a collision withJacques Laffite sent his Ferrari into the air, clearing the Armco barrier and landing in the debris fencing.[citation needed]
With an opening at Lotus in1979 after the death of Ronnie Peterson, Reutemann decided to move from Ferrari to Lotus. The first few races went well for him – highlights being forceful second places in Argentina and Spain, plus third places at Brazil and Monaco – but, as the season wore on, the team struggled whileJody Scheckter won the title for Ferrari. After four podiums and six points finishes in the first seven races, Reutemann ended up finishing in only seventh place for the season. Reutemann leaving Ferrari for Lotus for the 1979 season was poorly timed because with the introduction of the model 312T4, Ferrari was able to make a big comeback and place its drivers in 1st and 2nd place in the final standings of the season.
Joining theWilliams team for1980 put him back in a competitive car once again- the very quickFW07. The season started off badly for the patriotic Argentine, he failed to win his home Grand Prix inBuenos Aires (which was the first race of the season; this was a feat he would never accomplish) after his car suffered engine failure. Reutemann got out of the car, took off his helmet, sat down next to his car, and burst into tears in full view of cameras broadcasting the race worldwide and in front of the 80,000 spectators at the track. However, the season got much better as he would win atMonaco and score eight podiums throughout the year to finish third in the championship. His partnership with number one driver and World ChampionAlan Jones was productive for Williams, who won their first Constructors' Championship with a then-record 120 points.
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Reutemann's relationship with his teammate soured when, the following season, Reutemann disobeyed the team's orders and thereby refused to allow Jones to win inBrazil. Jones never forgave this act of disobedience on the part of his teammate, while Reutemann felt frustrated at Jones' refusal to acknowledge his help, especially after having just given him the victory at theLong Beach. Reutemann continued to score more points than Jones throughout the remainder of the season, and the Brazilian victory (and another inBelgium) helped put him in a position to challenge for the title in a three-way battle withNelson Piquet andJacques Laffite at the season-ending race inLas Vegas. In what was probably a defining moment of the season, Reutemann was ordered in Germany to turn over his race car to teammate Jones for the race due to the latter's car failure and had to race with the spare car. That proved disastrous when his engine failed, preventing him from scoring points in a race where he had qualified in 3rd place.
Reutemann arrived in Las Vegas with a one-point lead in the championship overBrazilianNelson Piquet. He began the race from pole position, ahead of Jones, who had vowed not to provide any "help" in Reutemann's quest, while Piquet was fourth. At the start, Jones jumped into the lead and Reutemann was quickly passed by Villeneuve,Alain Prost, andBruno Giacomelli.[citation needed]
On lap 17, battling over seventh place as they approached the last left-hander before the pits, Piquet's Brabham was nearly touching the back of Reutemann's Williams. Piquet got around Reutemann on the inside when Reutemann, fighting for the championship, braked early. On the next lap, Andretti also went by Reutemann. Piquet put himself in a position to score points when he took over sixth place fromJohn Watson on lap 22. Reutemann continued to slip backwards with gearbox trouble, having lost fourth gear as early as lap two. Reutemann finished the race in eighth, a lap down, and the title went to Piquet. Meanwhile, if that year's season opener, inSouth Africa, which had been run as a Formula Libre race and one which Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Renault, and Ligier didn't attend, had been a race with World Championship points awarded, Reutemann would have been World Champion with 58 points against Piquet's 56. He returned with Williams for1982, finishing second in theSouth African Grand Prix, the onlyCosworth-engined runner able to take the fight to the much more powerful turbo-engined Renaults. TheFalklands War, however, generated a tense political period between Argentina and the United Kingdom, and Reutemann chose to distance himself from the team and retire after theBrazilian race.[6] In light of the further developments that took place in Reutemann's life, many felt that his decision to terminate his racing career was made with an eye to his future in politics. This is disputed by Williams's Chief DesignerPatrick Head, who felt that the Falklands War was only an excuse and that Reutemann had simply retired because "his heart wasn't in it anymore".[7]
After his retirement, Reutemann was invited byGuy Ligier to test a Ligier in a1984 pre-season test. He tested aLigier JS21 modified to test the new-for 1984Renault Gordini EF4 V6 turbo. The test took place at Paul Ricard in November 1983 and he usedMichel Ferté's helmet, who was also present at the test. This was his only test and he never drove in the 1984 season.
In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Reutemann was ranked the 27th best Formula One driver of all time.[8]
Reutemann was approached byFiat during the 1980 F1 season with an offer to drive aFiat 131 in the inaugural 1980Codasur Rally (nowRally Argentina), where he finished in third place. In 1985 he accepted another offer to drive in the Argentinian Rally, this time byPeugeot. Driving a205 T16 Reutemann again finished in third place.[5]
After retiring from racing, Reutemann's popularity led theJusticialist Party of the province ofSanta Fe to invite him to run for governor. He won the election and ran the province for one four-year term (1991–1995). The provincial constitution does not allow for re-election, but after four years Reutemann presented again and won the governorship for the period 1999–2003. During those years, his profile grew and he became one of the leading politicians in Santa Fe and in Argentina.[citation needed]
Reutemann's second term was marked by the nationwide economic problems brought by therecession that had started in 1999 and ultimately led to thesocioeconomic crash of 2001. Under Reutemann, Santa Fe kept a conservative fiscal policy, whereby it applied discounts and froze public workers' salaries and pensions through an Economic Emergency Law. The province was among the few not to resort to the issue of government bonds as a form of quasi-currency, and thus did not become highly indebted.[citation needed]
After the 2001 crash and the resignation ofFernando de la Rúa, Reutemann surprised and disappointed many by declining, on several occasions, to run for president. He finally presented himself for the2003 general election and won a seat in theNational Senate.[citation needed]
During the2005 legislative elections Reutemann chose not to be a major participant in the campaign. After the Justicialist Party lost to theSocialist Party candidates for the first time in Santa Fe, members of the party were rumored to be unhappy about Reutemann's low profile. Reutemann also declined to run for governor of Santa Fe again in the2007 elections.[citation needed]
On 1 January 2006 Reutemann was namedCommendatore della Repubblica byPresident of the Italian RepublicCarlo Azeglio Ciampi.[citation needed]
During a session in the Argentine Senate on 17 July 2008, Reutemann presented an alternative project for the Commission of Agriculture in opposition to the one of then Vice-presidentJulio Cobos. His project didn't pass, and in February 2009 he renounced his role in the Bloque Parliamentario del Frente para la Victoria to create his own political fraction, "Santa Fe Federal", with the intention of protecting the interests of the province.[citation needed]
He was re-elected to the Senate both in2009 and2015, when he formed part of theCambiemos alliance nationally and supportedMauricio Macri in the presidential election. He died in office, soMaría Alejandra Vucasovich replaced him for the remainder of his term.[9]
Reutemann suffered an intestinal haemorrhage in May 2021, and was hospitalized. His condition worsened, and he suffered fromanaemia, dehydration,hypoalbuminemia,haemodynamic instability, very rapidweight loss. He died on 7 July, at 79 years old, and the news was announced by his daughter on social media.[10]
Many Argentine politicians gave their condolences through theirTwitter accounts, such as the presidentsMauricio Macri,Alberto Fernández, andCristina Fernández de Kirchner, and many from both major parties,Juntos por el Cambio andFrente de Todos.[11]
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position, races initalics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position, races initalics indicate fastest lap)(Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 |  SpA Ferrari SEFAC |  Tim Schenken | Ferrari 312PB | S 3.0 | 182 | DNF | DNF |
Source:[15] | |||||||
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Fiat Italia | Fiat 131 Abarth | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | GRC | ARG 3 | FIN | NZL | ITA | FRA | GBR | CIV | 21st | 12 |
| 1985 | Peugeot Talbot Sport | Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 | MON | SWE | POR | KEN | FRA | GRC | NZL | ARG 3 | FIN | ITA | CIV | GBR | 18th | 12 |
Source:[16] | ||||||||||||||||
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Argentine Formula Two Champion 1969 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Santa Fe 1991–1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Santa Fe 1999–2003 | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
