Riccardo Patrese

Interesting facts

Riccardo Patrese started karting at age nine and won the Karting World Championship in 1974, beating Eddie Cheever. After Ronnie Peterson's fatal crash at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, Patrese was blamed for triggering the pile-up; several senior drivers, including James Hunt, threatened a boycott unless he was banned, and he was excluded from the following US Grand Prix, though an Italian court cleared him of all wrongdoing in 1981. Hunt never forgave him, criticising Patrese publicly on BBC broadcasts between 1980 and 1993. His first Grand Prix win came unexpectedly at the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix, after both Pironi and de Cesaris failed late in the race. As Nigel Mansell's Williams teammate, he out-qualified him at every race for half of the 1991 season, and at the 1992 French Grand Prix he moved aside for team orders without complaint. He became the first F1 driver to reach 200 and later 250 starts, and his record of 256 starts stood for nineteen years until Rubens Barrichello surpassed it. After retiring he took up show jumping, following his daughters' interests, and became a passionate model railway collector. Riccardo Patrese raced in Formula 1 from 1977 to 1993, across 17 seasons as an Italian driver. He scored a total of 281 championship points over his career.