Riccardo Patrese

Riccardo Patrese

Patrese in 1991
Born	Riccardo Gabriele Patrese (1954-04-17) 17 April 1954 Padua, Italy
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1977 – 1993
Teams	Shadow, Arrows, Brabham, Alfa Romeo, Williams, Benetton
Entries	257 (256 starts)
Championships	0 (Best Finish: 2nd in 1992)
Wins	6
Podiums	37
Career points	281
Pole positions	8
Fastest laps	13
First entry	1977 Monaco Grand Prix
First win	1982 Monaco Grand Prix
Last win	1992 Japanese Grand Prix
Last entry	1993 Australian Grand Prix

Riccardo Gabriele Patrese (born 17 April 1954) is an Italian former racing driver, who raced in Formula One from 1977 to 1993.

He became the first Formula One driver to achieve 200 Grand Prix starts when he appeared at the 1990 British Grand Prix, and the first to achieve 250 starts at the 1993 German Grand Prix. Patrese entered 257 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix and started 256 races making him the fifth most experienced F1 driver in history, after Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso. He was runner-up in the 1992 Formula One season and third in 1989 and 1991. He won six Formula One races, with a record gap of over six years between two of these – the 1983 South African Grand Prix and 1990 San Marino Grand Prix.

Patrese also competed at the World Sportscar Championship for the Lancia factory team, finishing runner-up in 1982 and collecting eight wins.

Early life and career

Born in Padua, Veneto, Patrese started driving karts at age 9. In 1974, he won the Karting World Championship and received an offer to drive in Formula Italia the following year, finishing second in the championship. In 1976, he moved to European Formula 3 and won the championship. The following year he moved to Formula 2 before making his Formula One debut mid-way through the year.

Formula One career

Shadow and Arrows

File:Patrese Monza 1977 Shadow.jpg

Patrese driving a Shadow in 1977.

Patrese in the Arrows A1 at the 1979 Dino Ferrari Grand Prix.

He made his debut at the 1977 Monaco Grand Prix with the Shadow racing team sponsored by Italian businessman Franco Ambrosio, replacing Renzo Zorzi. Later that year team-leader Jackie Oliver and sponsor Ambrosio left Shadow to form the Arrows team, taking Patrese with them. Shadow took Arrows to court, arguing that the design of the Arrows car was so similar to their own that Arrows had stolen it. The court agreed, forcing Arrows to redesign their car, which they did in just six weeks.

In 1978 Patrese very nearly won Arrows' second race, the South African Grand Prix, until engine failure forced him to retire 15 laps from the end. Later that year, Patrese was involved in a pile-up when he came together with James Hunt and other drivers' cars at the start of the Italian Grand Prix. One of the other drivers involved was Ronnie Peterson, who, although his injuries were not in themselves life-threatening, died from an embolism the following day. An injunction was filed by the Grand Prix Driver's Association to ban Patrese from the next race, the United States Grand Prix. This went through and Patrese took no part in that Grand Prix weekend at Watkins Glen. After the crash, Hunt (along with other drivers) blamed Patrese for starting the accident, and viewers of Hunt's commentaries of Formula One races from 1980 to 1993 on BBC Television were regularly treated to bitter diatribes against Patrese when the Italian appeared on screen. Hunt believed that it was Patrese's muscling past that caused the McLaren and Lotus to touch, but Patrese successfully argued that he was already well ahead of the pair before the accident took place. Patrese, together with the official who started the race, stood trial in 1981 for Peterson's death but both were declared not guilty of any wrongdoing.

Brabham

Patrese at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix.

In 1982 Patrese moved to Brabham and gained a lucky win at that year's Monaco Grand Prix when there were five leaders. He took the lead when Alain Prost crashed out, only to spin in dampening conditions on the next lap. This left him third behind Didier Pironi and Andrea de Cesaris, who both stopped on the final lap – Pironi with an electrical fault and de Cesaris out of fuel. A second win followed in 1983 at the South African Grand Prix. He also crashed out late in the race while leading at San Marino, but in a season which saw his team-mate Nelson Piquet claim his second Drivers' Championship title, Patrese finished a distant ninth. It would be seven years before he made another visit to the top step of the podium.

Alfa Romeo

Patrese driving for Alfa Romeo in 1985.

A move to Alfa Romeo in 1984 delivered two lacklustre seasons resulting in eight world championship points and a single visit to the podium at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix. Patrese and team mate, American Eddie Cheever, were hampered by cars with Alfa Romeo 890T V8 turbo engines that proved too thirsty for the amount of fuel they were allowed to carry (220 litres). Often both drivers drove good races to be in the points, only to run out of fuel two or three laps from the finish dropping them out of the points. Indeed, Patrese's 3rd place at Monza in 1984 (to date the final podium finish for Alfa Romeo in F1) came at the expense of Cheever who was robbed of a podium finish when his car ran out of fuel 6 laps from the finish.

The pair were also hampered by their cars. 1984's Alfa Romeo 184T proved fast in qualifying, but fuel restrictions saw them well off the pace in most races. The 1985 car, the 185T proved to be even less competitive to the point that half way through the season the team replaced it with an updated version of the 184T (dubbed the 184TB). Although the updated car did prove faster, results were not forthcoming. In an interview in 2000, Patrese described the 185T as "The Worst Car I ever drove".

Return to Brabham

In 1986 Patrese returned to Brabham alongside fellow Italian Elio de Angelis, but by now the team was a spent force and would never again take a driver to victory in a grand prix. Two more winless seasons followed despite the team's BMW engine being considered at the time to be the most powerful on the grid. Despite the trials of uncompetitive machinery, Patrese never publicly criticised the team and earned respect throughout the sport for his professionalism.

Williams

Patrese driving for Williams at the 1988 Canadian Grand Prix.

Patrese driving for Williams at the 1991 Monaco Grand Prix.

Patrese in the Williams FW14B at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Toward the end of the 1987 season, Patrese was given the chance to revitalise what seemed to be a declining career when the Williams driver Nigel Mansell was injured whilst qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. With the help of Brabham owner and Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, Patrese was drafted in to replace Mansell for the season's finale in Australia.

Patrese impressed the Williams management sufficiently to be signed by them as Nelson Piquet's replacement for the 1988 season. However, 1988 saw Williams struggling with an uncompetitive car powered by non-turbocharged Judd V8 engines. Patrese and Mansell were also hampered in the first half of the season by the Williams FW12's reactive suspension not working properly. It was not until 1989 and the arrival of the V10 Renault engines that Patrese and his new team-mate Thierry Boutsen were able to challenge for race points. Patrese achieved an impressive 3rd place in the Drivers' Championship, despite taking no wins but securing 6 podium finishes, including 4 second places, as well as claiming pole position in Hungary, a race he confidently led under constant pressure from reigning World Champion Ayrton Senna in his McLaren-Honda until lap 54 when a holed radiator forced his retirement. Patrese finally won his third Grand Prix at the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix, and finished the 1990 Drivers' Championship in seventh place.

In 1991 Nigel Mansell returned to Williams after two seasons with Ferrari and, together with Patrese, the team became genuine contenders for both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. Two wins in Mexico and Portugal gave Patrese his most competitive F1 season thus far and a respectable third place behind Championship contenders Mansell and Ayrton Senna. Patrese also out qualified Mansell at every race until the halfway point of the season at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, and provided much support for the Englishman's title chase at races such as Italy and Portugal.

Williams dominated F1 in 1992 and Patrese continued to deliver in his role of second driver to Nigel Mansell, moving out of the way for Mansell while leading comfortably at that year's French Grand Prix. Again Patrese handled the delicate situation about team orders diplomatically, repeatedly offering a "No comment" to questions about the team orders that had been imposed on him at the red flag period of the French race. Patrese took a single win at the Japanese Grand Prix and had eight other podium finishes, including six second-place results.

With Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell all desperately trying to sign for Williams, Patrese's position looked to be under threat and he signed for the Benetton team before the end of the year. His team mate for 1993 would be young German driver Michael Schumacher.

Ironically, only Prost was able to agree terms with Williams for 1993, leaving a seat free for Patrese had he remained with the team.

Patrese was invited to rejoin Williams in 1994 to fill the seat of Ayrton Senna after his fatal accident at Imola, but ultimately decided against returning to Formula One.

In the second half of 1996, Williams invited Patrese to test their latest car at Silverstone, with the Italian reportedly setting a time that would have placed him on the second row of the grid for that year's British Grand Prix.

Benetton

While Williams continued to dominate F1 in 1993, Patrese found it difficult to live with his new team-mate Michael Schumacher and before the end of the season Benetton informed Patrese that he was "free to seek an alternate drive".

Retirement

As most teams already had drivers signed for 1994, Patrese opted for retirement and brought what was then the longest F1 career in history to a conclusion. After this, Patrese competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997. He drove a Nissan R390 GT1 for the Nissan factory team; the car was third fastest in qualifying but was forced to retire with gearbox problems.

In 1996, as thanks for his years of service to Williams, Patrese was invited to test the team's latest F1 car. In 2005 he returned to racing in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired F1 drivers. He finished third behind his former team-mate Nigel Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi in the sole 2005 race at Kyalami, South Africa. His 2006 season was less successful with a 10th-place finish at Losail in Qatar and a 6th at Silverstone.

Patrese's record of 257 Grand Prix entries, set in a period when a typical F1 season was limited to 16 races, stood for 15 years, surviving the Schumacher era when Michael Schumacher retired on 250 race entries. Rubens Barrichello finally surpassed Patrese's total, recording his 258th Grand Prix entry at the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix. As part of the "handover", Patrese tested a Honda RA107 at Jerez on 9 September (Barrichello was driving for Honda at the time). Schumacher subsequently came out of retirement and became the second driver to surpass Patrese's former record.

Racing record

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	Shadow Racing Team	Shadow DN8	Ford Cosworth 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON 9	BEL Ret	SWE	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 10†	AUT	NED 13†	ITA Ret	USA	CAN 10†	JPN 6	20th	1
1978	Arrows Racing Team	Arrows FA1	Ford Cosworth 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA 10	RSA Ret	USW 6	MON 6	BEL Ret	ESP Ret	SWE 2	FRA 8	GBR Ret	GER 9							12th	11
		Arrows A1													AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	USA	CAN 4
1979	Warsteiner Arrows Racing Team	Arrows A1	Ford Cosworth 3.0 V8	ARG DNS	BRA 9	RSA 11	USW Ret	ESP 10	BEL 5	MON Ret							CAN Ret				20th	2
		Arrows A2									FRA 14	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA 13		USA Ret
1980	Warsteiner Arrows Racing Team	Arrows A3	Ford Cosworth 3.0 V8	ARG Ret	BRA 6	RSA Ret	USW 2	BEL Ret	MON 8	FRA 9	GBR 9	GER 9	AUT 14	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret				9th	7
1981	Warsteiner Arrows Racing Team	Arrows A3	Ford Cosworth 3.0 V8	USW Ret	BRA 3	ARG 7	SMR 2	BEL Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	FRA 14	GBR 10†	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	CPL 11			11th	10
1982	Parmalat Racing Team	Brabham BT50	BMW M12 1.5 L4 t	RSA Ret				BEL Ret				NED 15	GBR Ret	FRA Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	SUI 5	ITA Ret	CPL Ret		10th	21
		Brabham BT49D	Ford Cosworth 3.0 V8		BRA Ret				MON 1	DET Ret	CAN 2
		Brabham BT49C				USW 3	SMR
1983	Fila Sport	Brabham BT52	BMW M12 1.5 L4 t	BRA Ret	USW 10†	FRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	BEL Ret	DET Ret	CAN Ret										9th	13
		Brabham BT52B										GBR Ret	GER 3	AUT Ret	NED 9	ITA Ret	EUR 7	RSA 1
1984	Benetton Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 184T	Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8 t	BRA Ret	RSA 4	BEL Ret	SMR Ret	FRA Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	DET Ret	DAL Ret	GBR 12	GER Ret	AUT 10†	NED Ret	ITA 3	EUR 6	POR 8		13th	8
1985	Benetton Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 185T	Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8 t	BRA Ret	POR Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 10	DET Ret	FRA 11	GBR 9										NC	0
		Alfa Romeo 184T										GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	BEL Ret	EUR 9	RSA Ret	AUS Ret
1986	Motor Racing Developments Ltd.	Brabham BT55	BMW M12 1.5 L4 t	BRA Ret	ESP Ret	SMR 6†	MON Ret	BEL 8	CAN Ret	DET 6	FRA Ret		GER Ret	HUN Ret	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	MEX 13†	AUS Ret		17th	2
		Brabham BT54										GBR Ret
1987	Motor Racing Developments Ltd.	Brabham BT56	BMW M12 1.5 L4 t	BRA Ret	SMR 9	BEL Ret	MON Ret	DET 9	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 5	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP 13	MEX 3	JPN 11			13th	6
	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW11B	Honda RA167E 1.5 V6 t																AUS 9†
1988	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW12	Judd CV 3.5 V8	BRA Ret	SMR 13	MON 6	MEX Ret	CAN Ret	DET Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 8	GER Ret	HUN 6	BEL Ret	ITA 7	POR Ret	ESP 5	JPN 6	AUS 4		11th	8
1989	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW12C	Renault RS1 3.5 V10	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON 15	MEX 2	USA 2	CAN 2	FRA 3	GBR Ret	GER 4	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 4		ESP 5				3rd	40
		Williams FW13														POR Ret		JPN 2	AUS 3
1990	Canon Williams Renault	Williams FW13B	Renault RS2 3.5 V10	USA 9	BRA 13†	SMR 1	MON Ret	CAN Ret	MEX 9	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER 5	HUN 4	BEL Ret	ITA 5	POR 7	ESP 5	JPN 4	AUS 6		7th	23
1991	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW14	Renault RS3 3.5 V10	USA Ret	BRA 2	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 3	MEX 1	FRA 5	GBR Ret	GER 2	HUN 3	BEL 5	ITA Ret	POR 1	ESP 3	JPN 3	AUS 5		3rd	53
1992	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW14B	Renault RS3C 3.5 V10	RSA 2	MEX 2	BRA 2	ESP Ret	SMR 2	MON 3	CAN Ret	FRA 2	GBR 2	GER 8†								2nd	56
			Renault RS4 3.5 V10											HUN Ret	BEL 3	ITA 5	POR Ret	JPN 1	AUS Ret
1993	Camel Benetton Ford	Benetton B193	Ford HB 3.5 V8	RSA Ret	BRA Ret																5th	20
		Benetton B193B				EUR 5	SMR Ret	ESP 4	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 10	GBR 3	GER 5	HUN 2	BEL 6	ITA 5	POR 16†	JPN Ret	AUS 8†

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1981	Martini Racing	Piercarlo Ghinzani Hans Heyer	Lancia Beta Monte Carlo	Gr.5	186	DNF	DNF
1982	Martini Racing	Piercarlo Ghinzani Hans Heyer	Lancia LC1	Gr.6	152	DNF	DNF
1997	Nissan Motorsport TWR	Eric van de Poele Aguri Suzuki	Nissan R390 GT1	GT1	121	DNF	DNF

External links

• The Riccardo Patrese Website
• Riccardo Patrese: The Italian Hero