Jacques Laffite

For the banker and politician, see Jacques Laffitte.

Jacques Laffite

Laffite in 2015
Born	(1943-11-21) 21 November 1943 Paris, France
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	French
Active years	1974 - 1986
Teams	Iso-Marlboro, Ligier, Williams
Entries	180 (176 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	6
Podiums	32
Career points	228
Pole positions	7
Fastest laps	7
First entry	1974 German Grand Prix
First win	1977 Swedish Grand Prix
Last win	1981 Canadian Grand Prix
Last entry	1986 British Grand Prix

Jacques-Henri Laffite (born in Paris, 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1974 to 1986. He achieved six grand prix wins, all while driving for the Ligier team. He is now a TV commentator on French television TF1.

Early years

Jacques-Henri Laffite was born in Paris on 21 November 1943, He attended the Cours Hattemer, a private school.

Formula One career

Laffite debuted in Formula One in 1974 for Frank Williams' Iso-Marlboro team. The following year he raced for the same team, now named Williams, scoring a 2nd place in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.

Laffite's 1979 Ligier JS11 being demonstrated at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Laffite demonstrating the Ligier JS19 chassis at the 1982 Pau Grand Prix

In 1976 Laffite moved to the French Ligier team, scoring 20 points and a pole position at the Italian Grand Prix. The next two seasons were transitional, although he managed to win his first Grand Prix at Anderstorp in the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix.

The 1979 season opened with Laffite winning the first two races. He fought for the World Championship title until the last races, but eventually placed only 4th, with 36 points. The following two seasons were similar, with two more 4th places in the Championship and a further 3 victories. In 1982, however, Laffite finished only 17th in the final classification, with only 5 points scored.

During the early 1980s, Laffite also made three end of season trips to Australia to race in the non-championship Australian Grand Prix. He failed to finish his first race 'Down Under' in 1981 (he was lucky to start after his car hit the wall on the outside of the last turn of the short (1.609 km (1.000 mi)) Calder Park Raceway in qualifying, but his local crew were able to repair it for the race). He finished second to fellow Frenchman Alain Prost in 1982, and third behind Brazilian Roberto Moreno and Australian John Smith in 1983. In all of his pre-F1 AGP drives, Laffite drove a Formula Pacific or Formula Mondial Ralt RT4 powered by a 1.6 litre Ford l4 engine.

Results in the next two seasons weren't much better, when he moved back to England, again to race for Williams (11 and 5 points, respectively). Now in his forties, Laffite returned to Ligier in 1985: in that season he was on the podium three times (Great Britain, Germany and Australia), for a total of 16 points. In 1986 he scored 14 points including two more podium finishes in the first half of the season, but he broke both legs in a crash at the start of the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, and thereafter retired from Formula One. The race was stopped and restarted without Laffite, who was thus classified as a non-starter and ended his career tied with Graham Hill for the most Grand Prix starts. He was the most successful driver in Ligier's history, having taken six of their nine wins.

As a result of Laffite's injuries, new safety rules were enforced from the 1988 season that stated that in all cars the driver's feet must be behind the front axle line.

Post-Formula One career

Laffite recovered from his injuries and later raced in touring cars, finishing 17th in the inaugural World Touring Car Championship driving an Alfa Romeo 75 for Alfa Corse as well as racing three seasons in the German based DTM series.

He is now a television commentator for the French network TF1, best known for his reaction to the incident at the 1997 European Grand Prix in which Michael Schumacher collided with Jacques Villeneuve, and Laffite reacted with curse words on live television.

In October 2008, at the age of 64, he tested a Renault R27 F1 car at the Paul Ricard circuit.

Jacques Laffite, golf enthusiast, is a shareholder of Dijon-Bourgogne Golf.

Deeply attached to the Creuse for Golf Fisheries and nature. It has a property in Creuse near Aubusson

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1972	Automobiles Ligier	Pierre Maublanc	Ligier JS2-Maserati	S 3.0	195	DNF	DNF
1973	Automobiles Ligier	Guy Ligier	Ligier JS2-Maserati	S 3.0	24	DSQ	DSQ
1974	Automobiles Ligier	Alain Serpaggi	Ligier JS2-Maserati	S 3.0	310	8th	5th
1977	Renault Sport	Patrick Depailler	Renault Alpine A442	S +2.0	289	DNF	DNF
1978	Grand Touring Cars Inc.	Vern Schuppan Sam Posey	Mirage M9-Renault	S +2.0	293	10th	5th
1990	Joest Porsche Racing	Henri Pescarolo Jean-Louis Ricci	Porsche 962C	C1	328	14th	14th
1993	Jacadi Racing	Michel Maisonneuve Christophe Dechavanne	Venturi 500LM-Renault	GT	210	DNF	DNF
1994	Larbre Compétition	Jacques Alméras Jean-Marie Alméras	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	GT2	94	DNF	DNF
1996	Team Bigazzi SRL	Steve Soper Marc Duez	McLaren F1 GTR-BMW	GT1	318	11th	9th

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	BP Racing France	March 742	BMW M12	BAR Ret	HOC 10	PAU 2	SAL 1	HOC 2	MUG Ret	KAR 3	PER 7	HOC 18	VAL 3					3rd	31
1975	Écurie Elf Ambrozium	Martini Mk 16	BMW M12	EST 1	THR 1	HOC Ret	NÜR 1	PAU 1	HOC 1	SAL NC	ROU Ret	MUG Ret	PER 1	SIL Ret	ZOL Ret	NOG Ret	VAL 2	1st	63
1976	Fred Opert Racing	Chevron B35	BMW	HOC	THR	VAL	SAL	PAU 2†	HOC	ROU	MUG	PER	EST	NOG 2†				NC	0
	Willi Kauhsen Racing Team	March 762	Hart												HOC Ret
1977	Fred Opert Racing	Chevron B40	Hart	SIL	THR	HOC 7	NÜR	VAL	PAU 10	MUG	ROU	NOG Ret	PER	MIS	EST	DON		NC	0
1978	Maublanc Racing Team	March 782	BMW	THR	HOC	NÜR	PAU 11	MUG	VAL	ROU	DON							NC	0
	Ecurie Univac											NOG Ret	PER	MIS	HOC

^† Laffite was ineligible for points, as he already scored points in F1.

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
1974	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Iso-Marlboro FW	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER Ret	AUT NC	ITA Ret	CAN 15	USA Ret			NC	0
1975	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Williams FW02	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Ret	BRA 11	RSA NC	ESP														12th	6
		Williams FW04						MON DNQ	BEL Ret	SWE	NED Ret	FRA 11	GBR Ret	GER 2	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	USA DNS
1976	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS5	Matra MS73 3.0 V12	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW 4	ESP 12	BEL 3	MON 12	SWE 4	FRA 14	GBR DSQ	GER Ret	AUT 2	NED Ret	ITA 3	CAN Ret	USA Ret	JPN 7		7th	20
1977	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS7	Matra MS76 3.0 V12	ARG NC	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW 9	ESP 7	MON 7	BEL Ret	SWE 1	FRA 8	GBR 6	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 2	ITA 8	USA 7	CAN Ret	JPN 5	10th	18
1978	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS7	Matra MS76 3.0 V12	ARG 16	BRA 9	RSA 5	USW 5		BEL 5												8th	19
		Ligier JS9	Matra MS78 3.0 V12					MON Ret		ESP 3	SWE 7	FRA 7	GBR 10	GER 3	AUT 5	NED 8	ITA 4	USA 11	CAN Ret
1979	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS11	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG 1	BRA 1	RSA Ret	USW Ret	ESP Ret	BEL 2	MON Ret	FRA 8	GBR Ret	GER 3	AUT 3	NED 3	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret			4th	36
1980	Equipe Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS11/15	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA 2	USW Ret	BEL 11	MON 2	FRA 3	GBR Ret	GER 1	AUT 4	NED 3	ITA 9	CAN 8	USA 5				4th	34
1981	Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Ligier JS17	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	USW Ret	BRA 6	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	BEL 2	MON 3	ESP 2	FRA Ret	GBR 3	GER 3	AUT 1	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 1	CPL 6			4th	44
1982	Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Ligier JS17	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	RSA Ret	BRA Ret	USW Ret	SMR	BEL 9		DET 6	CAN Ret										17th	5
		Ligier JS19							MON Ret			NED Ret	GBR Ret	FRA 14	GER Ret	AUT 3	SUI Ret	ITA Ret	CPL Ret
1983	TAG Williams	Williams FW08C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	BRA 4	USW 4	FRA 6	SMR 7	MON Ret	BEL 6	DET 5	CAN Ret	GBR 12	GER 6	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA DNQ	EUR DNQ				11th	11
		Williams FW09	Honda RA163-E 1.5 V6t															RSA Ret
1984	Saudia Williams Honda	Williams FW09	Honda RA163E 1.5 V6t	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	BEL Ret	SMR Ret	FRA 8	MON 8	CAN Ret	DET 5	DAL 4									14th	5
		Williams FW09B	Honda RA164E 1.5 V6t										GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR 14
1985	Equipe Ligier	Ligier JS25	Renault EF4B 1.5 V6t	BRA 6	POR Ret	SMR Ret	MON 6														9th	16
	Equipe Ligier Gitanes							CAN 8	DET 12	FRA Ret	GBR 3	GER 3	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	BEL 11	EUR Ret	RSA	AUS 2
1986	Equipe Ligier	Ligier JS27	Renault EF4B 1.5 V6t	BRA 3	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON 6	BEL 5	CAN 7	DET 2	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS		8th	14

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Alfa Corse	Alfa Romeo 75	MNZ	JAR Ret	DIJ ovr:9 cls:5	NUR ovr:9 cls:7	SPA ovr:12 cls:9	BNO ovr:10 cls:8	SIL ovr:10 cls:8	BAT	CAL	WEL	FJI	17th	86

* Overall race position shown. Registered WTCC points paying position may differ.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos.	Pts
1990	Bigazzi M Team	BMW M3 Sport Evo	ZOL 1 6	ZOL 2 4	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 DNS	NÜR 1 3	NÜR 2 Ret	AVU 1 4	AVU 2 Ret	MFA 1 7	MFA 2 Ret	WUN 1 14	WUN 2 Ret	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 8	NOR 1 8	NOR 2 Ret	DIE 1 18	DIE 2 4	NÜR 1 2	NÜR 2 6	HOC 1 14	HOC 2 5			7th	107
1991	Snobeck S.A.	Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2	ZOL 1 21	ZOL 2 Ret	HOC 1 5	HOC 2 9	NÜR 1 5	NÜR 2 6	AVU 1 15	AVU 2 21	WUN 1 4	WUN 2 5	NOR 1 13	NOR 2 8	DIE 1 3	DIE 2 Ret	NÜR 1 3	NÜR 2 3	ALE 1 DNS	ALE 2 DNS	HOC 1 12	HOC 2 12	BRN 1 13	BRN 2 Ret	DON 1 5	DON 2 7	11th	81
1992	MS Racing	Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2	ZOL 1 9	ZOL 2 14	NÜR 1 18	NÜR 2 10	WUN 1 8	WUN 2 6	AVU 1 9	AVU 2 4	HOC 1 7	HOC 2 6	NÜR 1 11	NÜR 2 9	NOR 1 11	NOR 2 11	BRN 1 Ret	BRN 2 13	DIE 1 18	DIE 2 8	ALE 1 10	ALE 2 8	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 Ret	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 DNS	13th	43