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Champagne + Slicks

Patrick Tambay

Au Revoir, Patrick
Obituary

Au Revoir, Patrick

ByScott Russell December 6, 2022December 7, 2022

It happened almost 40 years ago. A moment of pure joy and elation. A moment almost unrivalled for the emotion it depicts. A moment that still means so much.

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May 8, 1982. Final qualifying for the Belgian Gr May 8, 1982. Final qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. Didier Pironi walks back to the Ferrari garage carrying his and teammate Gilles Villeneuve’s helmets. Villeneuve has just crashed, thrown violently from his somersaulting Ferrari after clipping the back of Jochen Mass’s March at over 200km/h. Pironi is one of the first drivers on the scene. He is lead away, distraught, while Villeneuve is rushed by helicopter to the University St Raphael Hospital. Tragically, he is declared dead that evening. One of the sport’s greatest talents lost at just 32 years old. Villeneuve had been flat-out, likely trying to beat Pironi’s faster time. A fortnight earlier at Imola the pair’s relationship had soured after Pironi ignored team orders to overtake Villeneuve and win. The move enraged the Canadian, who vowed never to speak to Pironi again. “Our relationship had always been good and I trusted him”, Villeneuve had said. “But I won’t make that fucking mistake again”. He never had the chance. After Zolder, Pironi would soon take the lead in the Championship, but something changed. “He went very… strange”, observed Harvey Postlethwaite. “He had big personal problems (including the dissolution of his marriage), but they didn’t seem to concern him too much. He became incredibly arrogant and overconfident.” Death would visit Formula 1 again at Montreal a few weeks later. Pironi, starting from pole, stalled on the grid and was hit from behind by young Riccardo Paletti. The Osella driver was killed, the sport’s second fatality in five weeks. By Hockenheim, Pironi was nine points ahead in the Championship when he suffered terrible leg injuries in an accident eerily similar to Villeneuve’s, ending his Formula 1 career. He took up offshore powerboat racing instead, frightening co-drivers with his fearless style. “He just wouldn’t back off”, Tico Martini said. “Even over big waves”. His luck ran out when he hit the wake of an oil tanker off the Isle of Wight. He drowned in the crash, leaving behind his pregnant girlfriend who would give birth to twins. Their names? Gilles and Didier. 📸 Unattributed
“I control you every millimetre” - Flavio Bria “I control you every millimetre” - Flavio Briatore on Jack Doohan, Drive to Survive Season 7. Today Alpine dropped the axe on Doohan six races into the 2025 season - less than 24 hours after it was announced that Team Principal Oliver Oakes was leaving the team, with Briatore assuming his duties.
Your Miami C+S Power Rankings! 🔥 Who’s Hot Your Miami C+S Power Rankings! 🔥 Who’s Hot 🔼3️⃣ 🇹🇭 Alex Albon – Impressive fifth (with Sainz in ninth) to bring Williams’ 2025 points haul to their highest since 2017. 🔼2️⃣ 🇦🇺 Oscar Piastri – Third consecutive win – a feat only matched by Hamilton, Verstappen and Rosberg in the hybrid era. 🔼1️⃣ 🧱 LEGO Driver Parade – Driver parade with a difference saw the drivers behind the wheel of LEGO F1 cars. Pure fun! ⸻ 🧊 Who’s Not 🔻3️⃣ 🇮🇹 Ferrari – It’s just not working, is it? Sitting a disharmonious 4th in the WCC after a messy weekend. 🔻2️⃣ 🎨 Boring one-off liveries – If you’re going to do a one-off livery, do it properly or don’t bother at all. 🔻1️⃣ 🇺🇸 Miami Circuit – Spa rotating, Zandvoort going, Imola on the chopping block… but Miami until 2041. Um, no thanks.
Vale Jochen Mass 1946-2025 🏆 1975 Spanish GP w Vale Jochen Mass 1946-2025 🏆 1975 Spanish GP winner 🏆 8 x Formula 1 podiums 🏆 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans winner 🏆 32 World Sportscar Championship victories 🏆 1985 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft champion 🏆 1972 European Touring Car champion
Concorde, McLaren F1 and Fred Finn—the world’s Concorde, McLaren F1 and Fred Finn—the world’s most travelled man and most travelled Concorde passenger. He made 718 flights - totalling 2.5 million miles - on the supersonic passenger jet, including the aircraft’s first flight in 1976, and its last in 2003. The McLaren pictured here is the pre-production ‘Clinic’ model, shown off at the 1992 launch in Monaco. 📸 Unattributed
BREAKING: Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher t BREAKING: Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher to race for Ferrari in Miami 🏝️
Lando is quite a weak person’ - Alan Jones. Pre Lando is quite a weak person’ - Alan Jones. Pretty harsh words there from AJ… There’s a fair point to be made that Lando struggles under pressure, but he should also be applauded for speaking about mental health - something that hasn’t always been the done thing in F1 (read Damon Hill’s excellent autobiography about his own demons).
Which 2000s era open wheeler series would you brin Which 2000s era open wheeler series would you bring back? 🌏 A1 Grand Prix (2005-2009) - the World Cup of Motorsport, nation against nation 🧓 Grand Prix Masters (2005-2006) - F1 legends driving ChampCar-based Reynards ⚽️ Superleague Formula (2008-2011) - Forget the weird link with football… V12s 😍
Tribute to the 1990s feat. Schumacher, Earnhardt, Tribute to the 1990s feat. Schumacher, Earnhardt, McRae, Senna, Doohan and more 💫
ICYMI… Cameron Crick and Dean Campbell’s won t ICYMI… Cameron Crick and Dean Campbell’s won the Bathurst 6 Hour over the weekend from 66th on the grid - the lowest ever starting position for a Bathurst enduro winner. 📸 @cameron_crick
Your C+S power rankings for the Saudi Arabian Gran Your C+S power rankings for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Who’s Hot… 🔥 +3 🇲🇨 Charles Leclerc – Extracted the absolute max out of the SF-25 to secure Ferrari’s first podium of 2025. +2 🇦🇺 Oscar Piastri – Another clinical win underscored by an epic overtaking move on Lewis Hamilton. +1 🇸🇦 Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Should F1 be in Saudi Arabia? No. Is Jeddah the best of F1’s tracks in the Middle East? Yes. ⸻ Who’s Not… 🥶 -3 🇫🇷 Alpine – DNF and P17, with the salt on the wound being former Alpine junior Piastri leading the WDC. Ouch. -2 🇬🇧 Lewis Hamilton – Finished 31 seconds behind teammate Leclerc, continuing his difficult start to life at Ferrari. -1 ⚠️ FIA Stewards – Was Max’s penalty too harsh? Too lenient? Either way, why did he get a 5 secs penalty and Lawson 10?
Riding the Daytona banking at 200mp/h on two-wheel Riding the Daytona banking at 200mp/h on two-wheels 👌 Legendary photographer Don Morley took this shot of Kenny Roberts on his TZ750 Yamaha at the 1982 Daytona 200. Roberts later recalled how Morley went up onto the banking to take the photo, leaving authorities less than impressed: “He snapped the photo and was instantly thrown off the corner and almost out of Daytona!” 📸 Don Morley
⬆️ The shot 👌 ⬇️ How it was taken 📸 ⬆️ The shot 👌 ⬇️ How it was taken 📸 NZ photographer Terry Marshall capturing an epic shot of Ken Smith drifting his Lola F5000 around Raupuna Raceway in 1976. 📸 Terry Marshall/Unattributed
Have two letters ever said so much? All 20 livin Have two letters ever said so much? All 20 living Formula 1 World Champions signed Jackie Stewart’s helmet in support of his @racingdementia charity, which aims to raise money to fund research into the cure and prevention of dementia. The signatures include @michaelschumacher’s, in his first ‘public act’ since his 2013 skiing accident. He signed the helmet with help from his wife Corinna. The Schumacher family are highly protective of Michael and his condition; and of course, that is to be respected. But it’s hard not to see those letters on Jackie’s helmet and not feel sadness. That someone so fast, so driven, so dynamic, and so athletic could one day need help to write his own initials is just a tragedy. We really do miss you Michael - but what a tremendous contribution from you and your family to support an amazing cause. #keepfightingmichael ❤️
It’s all about confidence, baby… Our hots and It’s all about confidence, baby… Our hots and nots from the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix 🇧🇭 Who’s Hot… 🔥 +3 🇦🇺 Oscar Piastri – Clinical, confident and controlled. Lando leads the WDC, but Oscar is the one on the ascendancy. +2 🇫🇷 Pierre Gasly – A master of midfield-machinery, Gasly started 4th and finished 7th to open Alpine’s account for 2025. +1 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Jackie Stewart – Legend. The 85 year old drove his ’73 Tyrrell in support of his Race Against Dementia charity. Who’s Not… 🥶 -3 🇬🇧 Aston Martin – 3rd and 6th in 2023, 16th and 18th in 2025. Ouch. The Newey uplift can’t come soon enough… -2 🇳🇿 Liam Lawson – Scrappy. Have RB chewed up and spat out another talent? Better than he is able to show currently. -1 🇬🇧 Lando Norris – Harsh, but we score Lando as a tWDC contender and by that mark it was a poor weekend.
We’ve all heard it before… “They just go ar We’ve all heard it before… “They just go around in circles.” “It’s boring. Why do you watch it?” “It isn’t a ‘real sport’.” Next time someone tells you that, tell them about Niki Lauda’s comeback from his fiery crash at the 1976 German GP at the Nürburgring. Hot burning gases had filled his lungs; his scalp, eyebrows and eyelids badly burned. No one expected him to live. That evening, a priest stood alongside his hospital bed and read out his last rites. Six weeks later Lauda was at Monza—the fastest track in Formula 1. By his own admission, he was petrified: wrapped in bandages covering his burns (pictured above), his eyes watering heavily from being unable to blink. The Austrian got behind the wheel of the same type of car that nearly killed him and lapped Monza at 205km/h to qualify 5th. He finished 4th in the race — just 42 days after almost dying. It’s more than a sport. 📸 Getty Images
Is the World Endurance Championship headed down un Is the World Endurance Championship headed down under? 🇦🇺 @autoactionmag reports an Australian consortium is moving towards a deal that would bring World Championship sports car racing to Australia for the first time since 1988. The report suggests that South Australia’s The Bend Motorsport Park, which hosted the Asian Le Mans Series in 2020, is the most like home to the race.
Ahhh the days when you could take a Formula 5000 c Ahhh the days when you could take a Formula 5000 chassis, turn it into something resembling a flying saucer and run it in Can-Am… Believe it or not, these are the same chassis. Graham McRae’s McRae GM3 Formula 5000 featured a perspex cockpit which offered a unique view of the New Zealander at work. The design was uncompetitive in US F5000 and single-seater Can-Am, but was successful in Australia winning the 1979 Australian Grand Prix, run to F5000 specs. The GM3 then became the basis of GM9, featuring ground effects and streamlined, closed-wheel alloy bodywork designed by Steve Roberts. McRae entered the car in the final round of the 1980 Can-Am season and campaigned it through much of the following season. But with funding in short supply the Kiwi could do no better than 7th at Riverside in 1981, and hung the helmet up and sold the car after a single entry in 1982. 📸 HAGP/Unattributed
Looks who’s back at Le Mans 🧡 McLaren will r Looks who’s back at Le Mans 🧡 McLaren will race for victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2027 as part of a Hypercar WEC assault - 32 years after the McLaren F1 GTR won the 1995 race. 📸 @mclaren
“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” 📸 Brian Leshon
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