Former French Formula 1 driver Patrick Tambay has died at the age of 73 after a long illness, his family learned on Sunday.
Patrick Tambay won two Grands Prix in a Ferrari, one in 1982 and one in 1983. He also raced for the McLaren and Renault teams. He also won the CanAm North American Championship twice (1977 and 1980).
He suffered from Parkinson’s disease for many years.
Patrick Tambay was born in Paris on June 25, 1949 and started in F1 with the Theodore team in 1977 before joining McLaren in 1978 and Ferrari in 1982.
Promoted to the Italian team following the death of Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, he joined another Frenchman, Didier Pironi, who himself was the victim of a serious accident a few weeks later in qualifying for the Grand Prix d’ Deutschland.
Tambay took victory at the same Grand Prix, putting a distraught Scuderia back on track. He finished this year in 7th place in the world championship standings.
He achieved further success in 1983 at Imola, Italy, finishing fourth in the championship but left Ferrari at the end of the season to join Renault, a team for which he did not take a win but signed a pole position. However, Renault was at the bottom of the wave, finishing only 11th in the world championship in 1984 and 12th in 1985.
Tambay is considered a “gentleman driver” and has also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times, with his best result being 4th place at the wheel of a Jaguar in 1989. He also took part in the Paris-Dakar Rally, where he won twice and took 3rd place twice (1988 and 1989).