Patrick Tambay

Patrick Tambay
Tambay at the 1983 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, including Adrien
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
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
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.tʁik da.njɛl tɑ̃.bɛ]; 25 June 1949 – 4 December 2022) was a French racing driver, broadcaster and politician, who competed in Formula One from 1977 to 1986. Tambay won two Formula One Grands Prix across nine seasons.

Born and raised in Paris, Tambay gained training as a racing driver at the Winfield Racing School in 1971. Between 1977 and 1981, he raced for an assortment of teams including Surtees, Theodore, Ligier and McLaren with mixed results; he additionally won two Can-Am titles under Carl Haas in 1977 and 1980. Tambay was hired by Ferrari after the death of Gilles Villeneuve in 1982, taking his maiden victory four races later at the German Grand Prix. His second and final victory came the following season in San Marino, finishing the season a career-best fourth in the World Drivers' Championship. In 1984, Tambay moved to Renault, before ending his Formula One career at Haas 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 the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Sportscar Championship, and the Dakar Rally.

Racing career

Tambay at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix where, like many others, he retired after hitting a wall.

Tambay during practice for the 1985 European Grand Prix

Early in his career, Tambay was a part of Formula 5000 with the team run by Carl Haas.

In 1977, winning the Can Am championship with Haas, Tambay debuted in Formula One on a one-off basis with Surtees, driving in only one session at the 1977 French Grand Prix before spending the rest of the season with Theodore. This partnership proved fruitful, and Tambay moved to McLaren to race Formula One full-time for the 1978 and 1979 seasons. In 1980, he returned to Can Am with the Lola team run by Carl Haas, immediately winning early in the season and then winning his second Can-Am championship.

In 1981 he returned to F1, first driving for the Theodore team then finishing the season with Ligier.

In 1982, he was offered a drive with Arrows by team boss Jackie Oliver to replace the injured Marc Surer in the season-opening South 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. Later in 1982 he was offered a place with the Scuderia Ferrari after the death of his close friend Gilles Villeneuve. He won his first Grand Prix at the German Grand Prix that year after Didier Pironi was injured in qualifying, in his fourth race for Ferrari. He took his second and last Grand Prix win in 1983 at Imola; driving with Villeneuve's #27, he won after Riccardo Patrese crashed near the end of the race. He was dropped by the team in 1984 in favor of Italian Michele Alboreto. Tambay moved to Renault, and then spent a year reunited with his old boss Carl Haas racing in the Haas Lola F1 team.

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 a Jaguar in the World Sportscar Championship and went on to finish fourth in the Le Mans 24 Hours. He then took up desert rally raiding, finishing twice in the top three on the Paris-Dakar. Additionally, he was involved in ice races and the Tour de Corse jet ski race.

Later life and death

After retiring from full-time racing, Tambay worked as a commentator for French television. He also served as the deputy mayor of Le Cannet, a suburb of Cannes. He was the godfather to 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, while his son Adrien raced in the DTM championship between 2012 and 2016. After suffering from Parkinson's disease for several years, Tambay died on 4 December 2022, at age 73. His son Adrien announced his death.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1974	European Formula Two	Écurie Elf	10	0	0	0	0	11	7th
1975	European Formula Two	March Engineering	14	1	3	0	5	36	2nd
1976	European Formula Two	Automobiles Martini	12	1	2	1	7	39	3rd
	SCCA Continental Championship	Theodore Racing Hong Kong	1	0	0	0	0	2	21st
1977	Formula One	Theodore Racing Hong Kong	7	0	0	0	0	5	18th
	Can-Am	Carl A. Haas Racing	6	6	0	0	6	0	1st
	European Formula Two	Ardmore Racing	2	0	1	0	0	0	NC
1978	Formula One	Marlboro Team McLaren	15	0	0	0	0	8	14th
	European Formula Two	Chevron Cars	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC‡
1979	Formula One	Marlboro Team McLaren	13	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1980	Can-Am	Carl A. Haas Racing	6	6	0	0	6	0	1st
1981	Formula One	Equipe Talbot Gitanes	8	0	0	0	0	1	19th
		Theodore Racing	6	0	0	0	0
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Oceanic Jean Rondeau	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1982	Formula One	Scuderia Ferrari	6	1	0	0	3	25	7th
1983	Formula One	Scuderia Ferrari	15	1	4	1	5	40	4th
1984	Formula One	Equipe Renault Elf	15	0	1	1	1	11	11th
1985	Formula One	Equipe Renault Elf	15	0	0	0	2	11	12th
1986	Formula One	Team Haas (USA) Ltd.	14	0	0	0	0	2	15th
1989	World Sportscar Championship	Silk Cut Jaguar	8	0	1	0	1	30	8th
2005	Grand Prix Masters	Team Lixxus	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	–
2006	Grand Prix Masters	Team Lixxus	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	–
Source:

^‡ Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points.

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics 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	VAL 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	VAL	PAU Ret	MUG	ROU Ret	NOG	PER	MIS	EST	DON		NC	0
1978	Chevron Cars	Chevron B42	Hart	THR	HOC	NÜR	PAU 6	MUG	VAL	ROU	DON	NOG	PER	MIS	HOC			NC	0‡
Source:

^‡ Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

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
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			BRA Ret				BEL DNQ
		McLaren M28B								MON DNQ
		McLaren M28C									FRA 10	GBR 7
		McLaren M29											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
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										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
Source:

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1976	Renault Sport	Jean-Pierre Jabouille José 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	Oceanic Jean Rondeau	Henri Pescarolo	Rondeau M379-Ford Cosworth	2 +2.0	41	DNF	DNF
1989	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Jan Lammers Andrew Gilbert-Scott	Jaguar XJR-9LM	C1	380	4th	4th
Source:

Complete Grand Prix Masters results

(key) Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap.

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5
2005	Team Lixxus	Delta Motorsport GPM	Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8	RSA 11
2006	Team Lixxus	Delta Motorsport GPM	Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8	QAT 11	ITA C	GBR 11	MAL C	RSA C
Source:

Complete Canadian-American Challenge Cup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics 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	Chevrolet V8	MTR	LAG	WGL 1	ROA 4	MDO 1	MOS 1	CTR 1	SON 1	RIV 1		1st	159
1980	Carl A. Haas Racing	Lola T530	Chevrolet V8	SON 1	MDO 1	MOS 1	WGL 1	ROA	BRA 1	CTR 1	ATL 4	LAG 18	RIV 3	1st	61
Sources:

General and cited references

• Burbi, Massimo; Tambay, Patrick (2016). 27: Patrick Tambay – The Ferrari Years. Evro Publishing. ISBN 978-1910505120.