Patrick Depailler

Interesting facts

Inspired as a boy by racing driver Jean Behra, Depailler grew up in Clermont-Ferrand before joining Tyrrell's Formula One line-up in 1972. He put his car on pole as early as his ninth grand prix, the 1974 Swedish GP, but had to wait through 69 races and eight runner-up finishes before his first win. That breakthrough victory finally came at Monaco in 1978, driving a Tyrrell-Ford. Racing for Ligier in 1979 he won at Jarama in Spain and was level on points with Gilles Villeneuve, until a hang gliding accident near his hometown that same month left him with two broken legs. While he recovered, French government sponsorship rules forced the team to replace him with Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He returned in 1980 with the revived Alfa Romeo team, reportedly still racing in pain, and was killed on 1 August that year when a suspension failure sent his car into the barriers at Hockenheim's fast Ostkurve, just days before his 36th birthday. His death led Hockenheim to add a chicane through that section of track, first used at the 1982 German Grand Prix. Patrick Depailler raced in Formula 1 from 1972 to 1980, across 8 seasons as a French driver. He scored a total of 139 championship points over his career.