Patrick Tambay | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Tambay at the1983 Dutch Grand Prix | |
| Born | Patrick Daniel Tambay (1949-06-25)25 June 1949 Paris, France |
| Died | 4 December 2022(2022-12-04) (aged 73) Paris, France |
| Children | 3, includingAdrien |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  French |
| Active years | 1977–1979,1981–1986 |
| Teams | Surtees,Theodore,McLaren,Ligier,Ferrari,Renault,Haas Lola |
| Entries | 123 (114 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Podiums | 11 |
| Careerpoints | 103 |
| Pole positions | 5 |
| Fastest laps | 2 |
| First entry | 1977 French Grand Prix |
| First win | 1982 German Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1983 San Marino Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1986 Australian Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1976–1977,1981,1989 |
| Teams | Renault,Rondeau,Jaguar |
| Best finish | 4th(1989) |
| Class wins | 0 |
Patrick Daniel Tambay (French pronunciation:[pa.tʁikda.njɛltɑ̃.bɛ]; 25 June 1949 – 4 December 2022) was a Frenchracing driver,broadcaster and politician, who competed inFormula One from1977 to1986. Tambay won twoFormula One Grands Prix across nine seasons.
Born and raised inParis, Tambay gained training as a racing driver at theWinfield Racing School in 1971. Between1977 and1981, he raced for an assortment of teams includingSurtees,Theodore,Ligier andMcLaren with mixed results; he additionally won twoCan-Am titles underCarl Haas in1977 and1980. Tambay was hired byFerrari afterthe death ofGilles Villeneuve in1982, taking his maiden victory four races later at theGerman Grand Prix. His second and final victory came thefollowing season inSan Marino, finishing the season a career-best fourth in theWorld Drivers' Championship. In1984, Tambay moved toRenault, before ending his Formula One career atHaas Lola, having achieved two wins, five pole positions, two fastest laps and 11 podiums.
Tambay competed in various forms of motorsport following his departure from Formula One, including the24 Hours of Le Mans, theWorld Sportscar Championship, and theDakar Rally.
Early in his career, Tambay was a part ofFormula 5000 with the team run byCarl Haas.[1]
In 1977, winning theCan Am championship with Haas,[2] Tambay debuted inFormula One on a one-off basis withSurtees, driving in only one session at the1977 French Grand Prix before spending the rest of the season withTheodore. This partnership proved fruitful, and Tambay moved toMcLaren to race Formula One full-time for the 1978 and 1979 seasons.[3] In 1980, he returned to Can Am with theLola team run byCarl Haas, immediately winning early in the season and then winning his second Can-Am championship.[2]
In1981 he returned to F1, first driving for the Theodore team then finishing the season withLigier.
In1982, he was offered a drive withArrows by team bossJackie Oliver to replace the injuredMarc Surer in the season-openingSouth African Grand Prix. He arrived at the track and, when faced with the ongoing turmoil and the possibility of a drivers' strike, he soon left and did not take part in the race.[4] Later in 1982 he was offered a place with theScuderia Ferrari after the death of his close friendGilles Villeneuve.[3] He won his first Grand Prix at theGerman Grand Prix that year afterDidier Pironi was injured in qualifying, in his fourth race for Ferrari. He took his second and last Grand Prix win in1983 atImola; driving with Villeneuve's #27, he won afterRiccardo Patrese crashed near the end of the race.[3]
Despite finishing 4th in the1983 World Championship (with team mateRené Arnoux finishing 3rd enabling Ferrari to win the Constructors' Championship), Tambay was dropped by the Scuderia at the end of 1983 in favor of ItalianMichele Alboreto. Tambay then moved from one factory team to the other in Formula One at the time,Renault who had finished 2nd in the 1983 Constructors' Championship and 2nd in the Drivers' with fellow FrenchmanAlain Prost. Unfortunately for Tambay, after 1983 the factory Renault teams fortunes would go on the downslide and he would spend a somewhat fruitless two seasons before Renault pulled the plug on its factory team with his best results over the1984 and1985 seasons being a single pole position and subsequent 2nd place in the1984 French Grand Prix atDijon.
For what would prove to be his final season in Formula One, Tambay was then reunited with his old boss Carl Haas racing in theHaas Lola F1 team in1986 where he spent an even more fruitless season alongside1980 World Champion,Australian driverAlan Jones despite Haas having exclusive use of the newCosworth designed and builtFordTECV6 turbo engine. Tambay's best result driving either the underpoweredHart enginedLola THL1 or the Ford poweredLola THL2 (which itself was somewhat underpowered compared to its rivals fromBMW,Honda,Renault,Ferrari andTAG-Porsche) was a lone 5th place in the THL2 in the1986 Austrian Grand Prix at theÖsterreichring (Jones having an equally hard time of it in 1986, finished 4th). Although he regularly out-qualified his former World Championship winning team mate, his 2 points in Austria would be Tambay's only points of the 1986 season and thus his last scored in Formula One. With the loss of the lucrative sponsorship from American companyBeatrice Foods in mid-1986, Carl Haas shut his Formula One team down at the end of the season and Tambay, unable to find a competitive drive to continue in1987, retired from the sport.[3]
In 1987, Tambay formed his own sports promotion company in Switzerland, but gave this up in 1989 to return to racing. In 1989, he drove aJaguar in theWorld Sportscar Championship and went on to finish fourth in theLe Mans 24 Hours. He then took up desertrally raiding, finishing twice in the top three on theParis-Dakar.[3] Additionally, he was involved in ice races and theTour de Corse jet ski race.
After retiring from full-time racing, Tambay worked as a commentator for French television. He also served as the deputy mayor ofLe Cannet, a suburb ofCannes.[5] He was the godfather to 1997 World ChampionJacques Villeneuve, while his sonAdrien raced in theDTM championship between 2012 and 2016. After suffering fromParkinson's disease for several years,[6] Tambay died on 4 December 2022, at age 73. His son Adrien announced his death.[3][7]
‡ Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Ecurie Elf | Alpine A367 | BMW | BAR 10 | HOC 5 | PAU Ret | SAL 4 | HOC Ret | MUG NC | KAR Ret | PER Ret | HOC 4 | VAL 4 | 7th | 11 | ||||
| 1975 | March Engineering | March 752 | BMW | EST Ret | THR 2 | HOC Ret | NÜR 2 | PAU Ret | HOC Ret | SAL 15 | ROU 2 | MUG Ret | PER Ret | SIL 4 | ZOL 2 | NOG 1 | VAL Ret | 2nd | 36 |
| 1976 | Automobiles Martini | Martini Mk 19 | Renault | HOC 3 | THR 3 | VLL 2 | SAL 3 | PAU Ret | HOC 3 | ROU Ret | MUG 3 | PER Ret | EST 16 | NOG 1 | HOC DSQ | 3rd | 39 | ||
| 1977 | Ardmore Racing | Chevron B40 | Hart | SIL | THR | HOC | NÜR | VLL | PAU Ret | MUG | ROU Ret | NOG | PER | MIS | EST | DON | NC | 0 | |
| 1978 | Chevron Cars | Chevron B42 | Hart | THR | HOC | NÜR | PAU 6 | MUG | VLL | ROU | DON | NOG | PER | MIS | HOC | NC | 0‡ | ||
Source:[8] | |||||||||||||||||||
‡ Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 |  Renault Sport | Jean-Pierre JabouilleJosé Dolhem | Renault Alpine A442 | S 3.0 | 135 | DNF | DNF |
| 1977 | Équipe Renault Elf | Jean-Pierre Jaussaud | Renault Alpine A442 | S 3.0 | 158 | DNF | DNF |
| 1981 | OceanicJean Rondeau | Henri Pescarolo | Rondeau M379-FordCosworth | 2 +2.0 | 41 | DNF | DNF |
| 1989 |  Silk CutJaguarTom Walkinshaw Racing |  Jan LammersAndrew Gilbert-Scott | Jaguar XJR-9LM | C1 | 380 | 4th | 4th |
Source:[8] | |||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Carl A. Haas Racing | Lola T333CS | ChevroletV8 | MTR | LAG | WGL 1 | ROA 4 | MOH 1 | MOS 1 | CTR 1 | SON 1 | RIV 1 | 1st | 159 | |
| 1980 | Carl A. Haas Racing | Lola T530 | ChevroletV8 | SON 1 | MOH 1 | MOS 1 | WGL 1 | ROA | BRA 1 | CTR 1 | ATL 4 | LAG 18 | RIV 3 | 1st | 61 |
(key) Races inbold indicate pole position, races initalics indicate fastest lap.
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Team Lixxus | Delta Motorsport GPM | Nicholson McLaren 3.5V8 | RSA 11 | ||||
| 2006 | Team Lixxus | Delta Motorsport GPM | Nicholson McLaren 3.5V8 | QAT 11 | ITA C | GBR 11 | MAL C | RSA C |
Source:[8] | ||||||||
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jackie Oliver (1974) | Can-Am Champion 1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Can-Am Champion 1980 | Succeeded by |
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