Patrick Tambay’s racing life was notable for taking him to the heights of success with the Ferrari F1 team. A charming and well educated man, as well as a greatly talented driver (and ski racer), he was perhaps not hard-edged enough as a person, lacking the final killer instinct, to really stamp his authority on the scene. He therefore never dominated a team, or had any major psychological advantage over his rivals. In all fairness, though, anyone who knew him would surely not have wanted it any other way.
Patrick was a graduate from the Paul Ricard circuit racing drivers’ school in 1971. He won the 1972 Pilote Elf scheme, and thereby graduated into the French Formule Renault series, finishing second in the ’73 title chase. He then moved straight into Formula 2 with the Elf team, capping his three fourth places (at Hockenheim, the Salzburgring and Vallelunga) and a fifth, in the Elf 2/A367-BMW, with a non-championship win at Nogaro. 1974 also saw Tambay classified second in the European F Renault championship, although level on points with the series victor.
Progress was seen in Tambay’s 1975 European F2 season. He drove a full works March 752-BMW, again backed by Elf. Having taken three pole positions, his one win (at Nogaro) and second places at Thruxton, the Nürburgring, Rouen-les-Essarts and Zolder-Terlaemen, plus fourth at Silverstone, secured him the joint runner-up slot.
1976 was much the same, with Patrick finishing third overall in the Elf Martini MK19-Renault. His results included two pole positions, one fastest lap, a win at Nogaro (again!) and second or third placed finishes at Hockenheim (twice), Thruxton, Vallelunga, the Salzburgring and Mugello. He had showed admirable consistency, but still failed to mount a full title assault. As this didn’t represent a step forward, he found his Elf backing was transferred elsewhere.
This didn’t set the Frenchman back for long. Following an injury to Brian Redman, Tambay found his way into the Haas-Hall Racing Lola T333CS-Chevrolet Can-Am car. This proved an excellent match up, as he took six wins (Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Mosport Park, Trois Rivières, Sears Point and Riverside) in the nine round series (he was entered in only seven), and comfortably secured the title itself.
1977 also saw his Formula One début, in Theodore Racing’s Ensign N177. The car was not ready in France, where he failed to make the cut in a hastily arranged run for Surtees, but he easily passed the pre-qualifying test in Britain, joining fellow first timer Gilles Villeneuve in the Grand Prix ranks. Tambay would go on to impress in the remainder of the year, qualifying the Ensign seventh at the Österreichring, and scoring a sixth in Germany, and fifths in Holland and Canada. When McLaren passed up the hard charging Villeneuve in favour of Tambay, the Frenchman looked forward to taking advantage of his big break in 1978.
But it didn’t quite go to plan, as McLaren were moving into a relative slump. With nineteen victories in the past five seasons, one constructors’ title and a drivers’ title each for Émerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt, McLaren were expected to be strong once again. As it turned out, the M26 cars were left trailing in the wake of Ferrari, Brabham and, in particular, Lotus. Tambay managed some top ten qualifying performances early in the season, but his consistent finishing record yielded only a fourth place in Sweden, a fifth in Italy and three sixths. Hunt managed a best result of third in France, and this meant the team were only eighth in the final table. Tambay also drove a Chevron B42-Hart in the Pau F2 race, where he was sixth.
For his 1979 F1 season, Patrick was due to be joined by Ronnie Peterson but, after the Swede’s death at Monza, the vacancy was filled by John Watson. The M28 and M29 McLarens employed that year were hardly the answer to the full ground effect vehicles such as the Williamses and Ligiers and, although Watson had some effective performances, Tambay failed to score a single point for the team. He was eighth in the non-championship GP Dino Ferrari at Imola.
What followed was a subsequent switch back to Can-Am, where Patrick drove a Lola T530-Chevrolet for Carl Haas Racing. This time the wins came at Sears Point, Mid-Ohio, Mosport Park, Watkins Glen, Brainerd and Trois Rivières, and this amounted to his second championship victory in two attempts.
After this revitalising year, Tambay went ahead with another crack at GP racing. He returned to the Theodore team, by now running their own car, and did wonders with the TY01, finishing sixth at Long Beach and seventh in Monte Carlo. He was transferred to the all French Ligier team mid-season, after Jean-Pierre Jabouille elected to retire, but it did not go well. Ironically, Patrick failed to finish a race for the better funded team, and relied on his Theodore point in the final table. By the same token, Marc Surer, who had been superb at Ensign, could not score any more points when he took over Tambay’s Theodore seat.
Despite not having really broken through in F1 by this stage, he was able to find another opportunity at the start of the 1982 campaign. When Marc Surer suffered injuries to his heels in testing, he could not start the season for Arrows. Tambay was picked to deputise and duly took part in the early practice sessions at the Kyalami season-opener. Unfortunately, what came next was the infamous drivers’ strike over superlicences, and Patrick, finding the whole Grand Prix scence far too politically-charged for his tastes, walked away at this juncture, leaving his car to Brian Henton.
He found a home back in Can-Am, with a VDS 001-Chevrolet, but not for very long. It took a terrible tragedy, but Tambay was given his best F1 opportunity in the middle of the season. Following Didier Pironi’s treacherous deceit at Imola, where he disobeyed Ferrari team orders to steal Gilles Villeneuve’s victory, the spectacular French-Canadian was killed in a qualifying crash at Zolder in Belgium. The man chosen to replace Gilles was Patrick Tambay, and this must have been an emotional appointment, as the two had become close friends. After a first test session at Brands Hatch, Patrick’s first race outing was the Dutch GP at Zandvoort. Although his result was compromised by engine and tyre problems, he brought the attractive 126C2 home eighth. He went on to maintain a consistently strong finishing record, beginning with third in Britain and fourth in France.
The German race, at Hockenheim, brought more trauma to the Ferrari team. Pironi was by now leading the points battle, and he carried on his form by dominating the first qualifying session. On the Saturday, torrential rains meant his pole position would be safe. Nevertheless, the Frenchman was not about to take it easy, and was circulating rapidly when he met with disaster. The nature of the circuit, with trees lining the long straights, meant that spray from the cars was not able to disperse and visibility was poor. Pironi came upon the Williams of Derek Daly, which appeared to move out of his way. The Ferrari slammed into the back of Alain Prost’s slowing Renault, which Daly had been about to overtake, and was launched violently, crashing down even more violently. Pironi suffered severe leg injuries, lost any hope of the world title and put himself out of action and in for a painfully slow rehabilitation programme.
Patrick Tambay became the focus for Ferrari from this point on, and he moved up magnificently during the race until he inherited the lead from Nélson Piquet, who was involved in a somewhat comical altercation after being taken out in a collision. Patrick increased his lead steadily and was a memorable winner, bringing some cheer to his team. His season carried on strongly, and a fourth in Austria and a second in Italy meant he had finished in the top four every time he took the start, barring his début. Unfortunately, a pinched nerve had led to back pains, and he was forced to withdraw from the Dijon-Prénois and Las Vegas events.
With help from Mario Andretti, who returned with pole and third place at Monza, Tambay had made certain of Ferrari’s constructors’ championship title, and was seventh equal overall himself. Pironi, who ended up second equal, was determined to return to F1 and was due to do so in 1988, but died in a power boating accident seven months before the season began.
After the troubles of 1982, Tambay’s retention for the following season represented a deserved point of stability for Ferrari, who produced another strong contender in the 126C2/B development model. As with the ’82 car, this was designed by Harvey Postlethwaite and powered by the 120-degree turbo charged V6. The 126C2/B was replaced by the all-new and equally rapid 126C3 at mid-season.
For a team-mate, Patrick was joined by fellow countryman René Arnoux but, as ever, it was Tambay who was the more consistent performer. In qualifying, the Ferraris were the pick of the field, coming out on top over the balance of the season. Both drivers recorded four pole positions each, but Tambay was the fastest driver of all that year, on average position, and was only twice outside the top four. He wasn’t quite so lucky in the races, and his championship chances were compromised.
After finishing fifth in Brazil, Long Beach saw Tambay lead the race from pole until an over-optimistic Keke Rosberg put him out. At Imola, he started from the same grid slot as Villeneuve had a year before, in the same number 27 Ferrari, and with a Canadian flag painted on the track beneath him in tribute. This time it was the right result, with Patrick taking his second victory and feeling that Gilles had been with him that day. In Monaco, he was cost dearly when he had to stay out on wet weather tyres for longer than necessary. He still finished fourth, and followed up with second in Belgium. In Detroit, he was towed away rather than being push started after stalling at the getaway. He bounced back with third place and fastest lap in Canada.
At Silverstone, it was Tambay who led in the early laps. Unfortunately, problems with mechanical grip resulted in excessive tyre wear, and he dropped to an eventual third place. In Germany, he led the first lap from pole, was passed by Arnoux and ultimately succumbed to engine problems. In Austria, he again led away from pole, until his team-mate used a backmarker to block him in, causing Tambay to lose two positions. Patrick got ahead of Piquet to regain second, but again suffered engine troubles and retirement. At Zandvoort, a delayed start affected the Frenchman’s clutch, forcing him into a fightback from 21st to a brilliant second. He followed up with fourth at Monza, despite a down on power engine.
By now, it was known that Michele Alboreto would be joining the team in 1984. Three wins from the last six races had strengthened Arnoux’s claims to the other seat, although Tambay had probably looked the more assured driver over the balance of the season, albeit with some bad luck at times. At this stage, there were just eleven points between Alain Prost, leading the championship for Renault, and Tambay in fourth place, behind Piquet and Arnoux. With two races to run, it was wide open. Tambay was on course for fourth at Brands Hatch when brake problems caused him to spin off. His championship hopes were over, and so were his hopes of staying at Ferrari, who now opted to retain Arnoux.
It was a somewhat puzzling choice in light of the wider evidence, and it has to be said that the Ferrari crew were very fond of Patrick and would have preferred him to stay on. By contrast, Arnoux’s relationship with Ferrari would go on to deteriorate rapidly, ending in his dismissal after one race of the 1985 season. Patrick was able to arrange a deal with Renault, where he believed he would pe partnering Alain Prost. In fact, the ‘Professeur’ was made scapegoat when the championship bid failed in the last round of ’83, and the Renault team would never quite recover their momentum. In that South African race, Tambay’s Ferrari failed with ignition troubles, and he was left fourth in the final table. He had still contributed to a second constructors’ trophy, the last one the Scuderia would achieve for sixteen years.
At Renault, he was partnered by Derek Warwick. Although promise was shown by the RE50, it was not a memorable season. Patrick started well in Brazil, and was in second position when his fuel ran out with two laps to go. Four races later, in his home event, he was really impressive. Although not getting away well from his pole position, Tambay fought his way to the front during the opening lap, and led for sixty per cent of the race, before being passed by Niki Lauda’s McLaren and finishing second.
Having also set fastest lap at round two, in South Africa, Tambay’s form would pick up again in the final races of the year, when he recorded four top five qualifying slots. At Monza, he inherited the race lead from Piquet, and was ahead for more than half the distance. Unfortunately, throttle problems left him vulnerable to Lauda and, after he had been demoted, the cable snapped and ended his day. He had managed only eleven points when the season came to a close.
1985 saw a downturn in competitive pace and, despite two third places in the first three rounds, he could do no better than eleven points in total. Once again, the pace of the RE60B (which replaced the RE60) allowed Tambay some stronger qualifying performances at the tail end of the year, but race performances were such that the team was wrapped up for good. Warwick had scored only five points, compared to twenty-three a year earlier.
Patrick was out of work again, but his links with Carl Haas and Lola, from the Can-Am days, helped bring him into the new Beatrice F1 team, alongside Alan Jones. This project was run by Haas, backed by the Beatrice consumer products concern and ran a turbo charged Ford Cosworth-powered Lola, designed by FORCE (Formula One Race Car Engineering Ltd). Guiding lights within the set-up also included Teddy Mayer, Neil Oatley, John Baldwin, Ross Brawn and Adrian Newey (who was to be Tambay’s engineer).
After three races with the 1985 THL1-Hart, the ’86 car, THL2, was brought into action. Unfortunately, neither vehicle was particularly competitive. Tambay missed the Detroit race, where Eddie Cheever took over, managed four top ten grid positions (and outqualified Jones 11-4), but scored only two points, in the Austrian GP. In Hungary, he ran fourth on the first lap, but was gradually pushed down the order until the best he could do was bring it home seventh. He also suffered a number of accidents in the year, and the team itself disbanded after its only full season.
Tambay never again raced an F1 car, but he would be actively seen in the 1989 TWR Jaguar sports car team. He shared an XJR-9 with Jan Lammers and was second at Járama, sixth in Mexico City and fourth at Le Mans, where Andrew Gilbert-Scott also drove the XJR-9LM. Tambay has competed regularly on the Paris-Dakar rally for many years (finishing third for Mitsubishi in 1989), as well as doing some ice racing and working in TV commentary and, for a time, as a PR man for Larrousse in F1. Although his talents were never fully rewarded, he remains universally popular, and rightly so.