Written by Cameron Gale, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Patrick Tambay, who helped Ferrari to two Constructors Championships in 1982 and 1983, and won two races for the Italian team, didn’t have the best of careers in Formula 1, but managed to secure 103 championship points from the 123 he entered; he also had two wins, 11 podiums and five pole positions throughout his career. Following his retirement from full-time racing, he worked as a French television commentator, and also served as a deputy mayor for Le Cannet, a suburb of Cannes. He competed in the World Sportscar Championship for Jaguar in 1989, securing one pole position in eight races. In the early 2000s, he raced in Grand Prix Masters for Team Lixxus but didn’t manage to get any poles in the three races he competed in. However, he did manage to win 2 Can-Am world titles during his racing career, in 1977 and 1980 for Haas Racing.
In a Tweet, Ferrari said, “ We are all truly saddened by the news of the passing of Patrick Tambay. He was one of the true stars of the 80s, winning two races with the Scuderia and contributing to winning the Manufacturers’ titles in 1982 and 1983.”
Did not have the best of careers in F1... come on Cameron thats to downplay things quite a bit. Grand Prix winner, revered Ferrari driver to this day and a career with Theodore, Mclaren, Ligier, Ferrari, Renault and the previous (unrelated) Lola Haas team. A classical French driver trained by the well run french racing schools of the day, so well versed in mechanical sympathy and the intricacies of the art of driving.
I fear your article here has grabbed stats readily available online without much relavance to Patricks actual impact on F1 or the finer details of his career. Glad you referenced the well worded Ferrari tweet however, which absolutely did state correctly that he was a true star…