Patrick Tambay

Patrick Tambay

Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	French
Active years	1977- 1986
Teams	Surtees, Theodore, McLaren, Ligier, Ferrari, Renault, Haas Lola
Entries	123
Championships	0
Wins	2
Podiums	9
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 (born 25 June 1949 in Paris) is a French former Formula One driver. In 2006, he will race in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers.

Career

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, who were running an Ensign N177. Subsequently he raced with McLaren between 1978 and 1979, and then drove briefly for the Ligier Team. In 1982, he was offered a place with Ferrari after the death of Gilles Villeneuve. He won the German Grand Prix that year after Didier Pironi was injured in practice. He won his second and last Grand Prix in 1983 at Imola, in a very emotional victory in front of the Italian faithful when he drove the #27 Ferrari (the car number of Villeneuve) to the win. He was dropped by the team in 1984 in favor of Italian Michele Alboreto. Tambay moved to Renault, and then spent a year with the Haas Lola team before retiring in 1986.

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 Sports-Prototype World Championship and went on to finish fourth in the Le Mans 24 Hours. He then took up desert raid racing, finishing twice in the top three on the Paris-Dakar. Additionally, he has been noted as involved in ice races and the Tour de Corse jet ski race.

Tambay was briefly involved actively with the Larrousse team, beginning in 1994 as a partnership with friend and business associate Michael Golay. At the end of the 1994 season, however, the Fast Group SA company owned by Tambay and Golay ended its involvement with the team.

Since retiring from racing, Tambay remains a commentator for French television. He also serves as the deputy mayor of Le Cannet, a suburb of Cannes.

He is godfather to 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1977	Surtees	ARG	BRA	SAF	USAW	SPA	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA DNQ	GBR Ret	DEU 6	AUT Ret	DUT 5	ITA Ret	USA DNQ	CAN 5	JPN Ret	Theodore	18th	5
1978	McLaren	ARG 6	BRA Ret	SAF Ret	USAW 12	MON 7	BEL	SPA Ret	SWE 4	FRA 9	GBR 6	DEU Ret	AUT Ret	DUT 9	ITA 5	USA 6	CAN 8		McLaren	14th	8
1979	McLaren	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	SAF 10	USAW Ret	SPA 13	BEL DNQ	MON DNQ	FRA 10	GBR 7	DEU Ret	AUT 10	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret			McLaren	-	0
1981	Theodore	USAW 6	BRA 10	ARG Ret	RSM 11	BEL DNQ	MON 7	ESP 13	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	DEU Ret	AUT Ret	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	LAS Ret			Ligier	19th	1
1982	Ferrari	SAF	BRA	USAW	RSM	BEL	MON	USAE	CAN	DUT 8	GBR 3	FRA 4	DEU 1	AUT 4	SWI DNS	ITA 2	LAS DNS		Ferrari	7th	25
1983	Ferrari	BRA 5	USAW Ret	FRA 4	SMR 1	MON 4	BEL 2	USAE Ret	CAN 3	GBR 3	DEU Ret	AUT Ret	DUT 2	ITA 4	EUR Ret	SAF Ret			Ferrari	4th	40
1984	Renault	BRA 5	RSA Ret	BEL 7	SMR Ret	FRA 2	MON Ret	CAN DNS	USAE Ret	USA Ret	GBR 8	DEU 5	AUT Ret	DUT 6	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR 7		Renault	11th	11
1985	Renault	BRA 5	POR 3	SMR 3	MON Ret	CAN 7	USA Ret	FRA 6	GBR Ret	DEU Ret	AUT 10	DUT Ret	ITA 7	BEL Ret	EUR 12	RSA	AUS Ret		Renault	12th	11
1986	Haas Lola	BRA Ret	ESP 8	SMR Ret	MON Ret	BEL Ret	CAN DNS	USA	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	DEU 8	HUN 7	AUT 5	ITA Ret	POR NC	MEX Ret	AUS NC		Haas Lola	15th	2