Patrick Tambay

Patrick Tambay and Gilles Villeneuve began their Formula 1 careers together at Silverstone in 1977. Five years later, Tambay claimed his first race victory, filling the seat at Ferrari left vacant by Villeneuve after his tragic accident at Zolder.

Nationality	French
Born	Patrick Daniel Tambay 25 June 1949 Paris, France
Died	4 December 2022 (aged 73) Paris, France

Tambay had initially tried to qualify a Surtees at Dijon but was unsuccessful, subsequently joining Ensign for the remainder of 1977. Teddy Mayer later recruited him to drive for McLaren, where he spent two challenging years in less competitive cars. Following a tough 1981 season with Theodore and Ligier, it seemed Tambay’s time in Formula 1 was nearing an end until Ferrari offered him a spot.

He brought some positivity back to the team by winning at the Hockenheimring following another severe accident involving his teammate Didier Pironi. Despite joining the championship late, Tambay had the potential to be a title contender in the fast Ferrari but had to step back due to a back injury caused by the intense ground effect cars of that era.

In the following season, with ground effects banned, Tambay showed competitive form again. He secured a poignant victory at Imola, the very place that had witnessed the intense feud between Villeneuve and Pironi a year prior.

Despite his successes, Tambay was unexpectedly replaced by Michele Alboreto at the end of the season.

He moved to Renault in 1984, but the team struggled with development and exited the sport in 1985. Tambay then raced for Team Haas before it, too, withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of 1986.

After retiring from full-time racing, Patrick Tambay transitioned to a role as a commentator for French television and served as the deputy mayor of Le Cannet, a suburb of Cannes. He was also the godfather to Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion, and played a significant role in guiding Villeneuve’s early racing career, which included victories at the 1995 IndyCar title and Indianapolis 500, and subsequently the F1 World Championship with Williams in 1997.

Tambay was married twice and became a father in 1991 when his son Adrien was born. Following in his father’s footsteps, Adrien became a professional racing driver, competing for Audi in the DTM championship from 2012 to 2016 and later winning the 2021 ETCR Championship.

Patrick Tambay’s family announced his passing on December 4th, 2022, following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Patrick Tambay Formula One World Championship career

F1 Career	1977–1979, 1981–1986
Teams	Surtees, Theodore, McLaren, Ligier, Ferrari, Renault, Haas Lola
Entries	123 (114 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	2
Podiums	11
Career points	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

Patrick Tambay Teammates

12 Teammates	Involvement	First Year	Last Year
Larry Perkins	1	1977
James Hunt	16	1978
Bruno Giacomelli	5	1978
John Watson	15	1979
Jacques Laffite	8	1981
Didier Pironi	4	1982
Mario Andretti	3	1982	1984
René Arnoux	15	1983
Derek Warwick	31	1984	1985
Philippe Streiff	1	1984
François Hesnault	1	1985
Alan Jones	15	1986

Race Wins

Win Number	Grand Prix
1	1982 German Grand Prix
2	1983 San Marino Grand Prix

Complete Formula One Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts
1977	Team Surtees	Surtees TS19	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA DNQ									18th	5
	Theodore Racing Hong Kong	Ensign N177	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8										GBR Ret	GER 6	AUT Ret	NED 5	ITA Ret	USA DNQ	CAN 5	JPN Ret	18th	5
1978	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M26	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG 6	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW 12	MON 7	BEL	ESP Ret	SWE 4	FRA 9	GBR 6	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 9	ITA 5	USA 6	CAN 8		14th	8
1979	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M28	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Ret		RSA 10	USW Ret	ESP 13													NC	0
		McLaren M26	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8		BRA Ret				BEL DNQ
		McLaren M28B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8							MON DNQ
		McLaren M28C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8								FRA 10	GBR 7
		McLaren M29	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8										GER Ret	AUT 10	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret
1981	Theodore Racing Team	Theodore TY01	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	USW 6	BRA 10	ARG Ret	SMR 11	BEL DNQ	MON 7	ESP 13											19th	1
	Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Ligier JS17	Matra MS81 3.0 V12								FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	CPL Ret			19th	1
1982	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 126C2	Ferrari 021 1.5 V6 t	RSA	BRA	USW	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	CAN	NED 8	GBR 3	FRA 4	GER 1	AUT 4	SUI DNS	ITA 2	CPL DNS		7th	25
1983	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 126C2/B	Ferrari 021 1.5 V6 t	BRA 5	USW Ret	FRA 4	SMR 1	MON 4	BEL 2	DET Ret	CAN 3										4th	40
		Ferrari 126C3	Ferrari 021 1.5 V6 t									GBR 3	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 2	ITA 4	EUR Ret	RSA Ret
1984	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE50	Renault EF4 1.5 V6 t	BRA 5	RSA Ret	BEL 7	SMR Ret	FRA 2	MON Ret	CAN WD	DET Ret	DAL Ret	GBR 8	GER 5	AUT Ret	NED 6	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR 7		11th	11
1985	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE60	Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 t	BRA 5	POR 3	SMR 3	MON Ret	CAN 7	DET Ret												12th	11
		Renault RE60B	Renault EF15 1.5 V6 t							FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT 10	NED Ret	ITA 7	BEL Ret	EUR 12	RSA	AUS Ret
1986	Team Haas (USA) Ltd.	Lola THL1	Hart 415T 1.5 L4 t	BRA Ret	ESP 8	SMR Ret															15th	2
		Lola THL2	Ford Cosworth GBA 1.5 V6 t				MON Ret	BEL Ret	CAN DNS	DET	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 8	HUN 7	AUT 5	ITA Ret	POR NC	MEX Ret	AUS NC

Sources: Wikipedia.com