Riccardo Patrese

Riccardo Patrese Career Overview

Few drivers will enjoy an F1 career spanning three decades but Riccardo Patrese not only sustained 16 years in the top flight, he remained for a long time the most experienced driver to compete in F1 with 256 GP starts

Moreover, Patrese would enjoy his greatest years during the tail-end of that mammoth tenure when he was still in hot demand up to the moment he decided to retire at the end of the 1993 season.

Showing flashes of promise during the first half of his career in midfield machinery, it was Patrese’s chance test with Williams towards the end of 1987 that revitalised his career and he’d go on to finish inside the top three overall in three of his latter five years in F1.

At the time of his retirement Patrese had achieved six wins, eight pole positions and 37 points.

Riccardo Patrese F1 Career - Team-by-team

Shadow: 1977

European Formula 3 Champion in 1976, Patrese was performing strongly in Formula 2 when he received his F1 debut six rounds into the 1977 season with Shadow at Monaco, three rounds after the team was robbed of its British star driver Tom Pryce during the South African Grand Prix.

Though initially only a two-race stint for Patrese, he held the seat for the majority of the year and would go on to score his first point in the season-concluding Japanese Grand Prix

Arrows: 1978-1981

When team leader Jackie Oliver and Franco Ambrosio - who was bankrolling Shadow - split from the team to form the new Arrows outfit, Patrese followed for what would be his first full F1 campaign.

The early days of the team were fraught though after Shadow took Arrows to court over claims it had directly copied its car (the DN9). With Shadow winning the case, Arrows was forced to design an entirely new machine for its maiden season.

Giving rise to the Arrows A1, as it happens the car proved quick out of the box and Patrese came remarkably close to scoring a sensational victory in what was only the car’s second outing in the South African Grand Prix. Leading with 15 laps to go, an engine failure would force him to retire. 

Unbeknown to anyone at the time, this instance - together with the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix - would be the closest Arrows would get to winning an F1 race in 24 years of competition. 

Thereafter results weren’t quite as sparkling, though Arrows can perhaps claim another agonising miss after Patrese finished second in the Swedish Grand Prix, which had been won by a Brabham ‘fan car’ that skirted the legalities of the regulations. It was promptly banned after only one race, but allowed to retain its victory.

With Patrese quickly gaining a reputation for hard racing, matters came to a sinister head during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza when he was broadly blamed for a tangle with James Hunt - who accused him of aggressively muscling his way through on the run down to the first corner - in a collision that began a chain-reaction that led to a pile-up. Title contender Ronnie Peterson suffered serious leg injuries in the smash and passed away the following morning.

Patrese was banned for the next race in the United States by officials under pressure from a number of leading figures - including Hunt and Niki Lauda - who vowed not to race if he did. In 1981 Patrese was cleared of wrongdoing in a criminal investigation that also included a charge for race director Gianni Restilli because the lights went green before cars at the back of the grid had come to a stop, effectively giving them a rolling start that concertinered the field prior to the crash.

Hunt carried his personal disdain of Patrese through to his commentary duties with the BBC in the years after the crash, regularly using the airtime to criticise the Italian on air. Patrese has always protested his innocence, arguing he was ahead of Hunt when the pair made contact.

Patrese remained with Arrows for another three seasons, experiencing the lows of the 1979 season when he cracked the points on just a single occasion (Belgium) followed by a stronger run in 1980 that brought a second podium at Long Beach and two rostrum visits in 1981, even if his finishing record prevented him from achieving better.

Brabham: 1982-1983

A switch to the more consistently competitive Brabham team delivered another step up in form for 1982, with Patrese on the podium in his third outing before taking a surprise maiden victory in bizarre circumstances at Monaco.

Running second initially, Patrese took the lead when leader Alain Prost crashed out, only to spin down to third the very next lap. However, the path cleared for him when both Didier Pironi and Andrea de Cesaris stopped on the final lap, allowing Patrese to snatch the win at the death. Another podium - amid a slew of DNFs - in Canada saw Patrese take home tenth in the standings.

He endured a more troubled 1983 season in the year team-mate Nelson Piquet romped to the title, Patrese only scoring his first points of the year in Round 10, while he had a potential win in Italy scuppered by a blown engine which the Italian suspected was caused by the team’s deliberate failure to switch from higher power qualifying trim so he wouldn’t finish ahead of his title challenging team-mate.

However, Patrese did score his second win of the year at the season-ending United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen

Alfa Romeo: 1984-1985

Joining Alfa Romeo Racing for the 1984 campaign after it enjoyed an encouraging boost in results the previous year presented a new challenge for Patrese, but the reality was a car that wasn’t so much uncompetitive but very flawed.

While Patrese managed a fourth place finish in his second race with the team at Kyalami, problems with the V8 engine meant it was too thirsty for the maximum 220 litres of fuel it was allowed to carry, resulting in several races where it would run out of fuel before the end of the race.

Patrese did secure a podium at the Italian Grand Prix, though ironically this was achieved when team-mate Eddie Cheever retired ahead after running out of fuel.

Things didn’t improve the following season with Patrese managing to reach the chequered flag on only four occasions, none of which were in the points to leave him ‘NC’ on the final leaderboard.

Brabham: 1986-1987

Patrese embarked on a return to Brabham for the 1986 F1 season but found a team that was already in the midst of a steep decline, despite continued strong support from BMW.

In the two years Patrese raced with the team he managed just four points’ paying finishes, though this did include a podium in Mexico in 1987.

Williams: 1987-1992

It was that podium that ultimately led to a chance test with Williams in the closing stages of the same year. Indeed, with interest in the Italian waning on the back of five lacklustre seasons, he was offered to test the championship-winning Williams FW11B (with help from then Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone) in the hope of landing a spot in the car at the year-ending Australian Grand Prix, in place of the injured Nigel Mansell.

Going half a second quicker than Ayrton Senna’s pole-winning time at Imola, Patrese secured the drive and went on to qualify sixth in Adelide, finishing ninth in the race.

As such, Patrese was retained as the replacement for Nelson Piquet - who left for Lotus - thus kickstarting a revival in fortunes… eventually.

Indeed, with Williams’ new fangled active suspension proving temperamental, Patrese managed just two top six finishes in 1988 before the system was dropped. He didn’t help matters when he was fined for deliberately ‘brake testing’ Julian Bailey at the Spanish Grand Prix, for which he was given a hefty fine and was roundly criticised by rival drivers.

A trio of points’ paying results in the final three races though showed potential, giving way to a career-best 1989 campaign that yielded six podiums en route to third in the overall standings.

A first win for Williams came in 1990 at the San Marino Grand Prix, albeit in a year that saw both himself Thierry Boutsen struggle for form as the Renault slumped in form versus Honda, Ford and Ferrari.

However, things looked up again in 1991 with Patrese claiming two wins in Mexico and Portugal as Williams ramped up for what would be its ‘zenith’ campaign in 1992 as Mansell romped to the title with a (then) record-breaking nine wins.

With the revolutionary FW14B proving a league ahead of its rivals - especially in the first half of the year - though Patrese couldn’t match Mansell (which he put down to the Briton’s driving style being better suited to the active suspension), the Italian provided able support with nine podiums himself, including a sixth (and final) win in Japan.

Benetton: 1993

Midway through 1992, however, Patrese was under the impression his seat at Williams was to be assumed by the incoming Alain Prost and duly agreed to join Benetton instead. As it happens, Mansell - unhappy at Prost’s arrival - opted to leave F1 in favour of CART, while Williams’ next choice Ayrton Senna was vetoed by Prost.

As such, Patrese was offered a deal to stay at Williams, but turned it down due to his commitment to Benetton. 

It remained to be seen whether he made the right choice (Benetton and Williams would share titles between 1994 and 1997) but Patrese’s final season in F1 would at least prove a competitive one, scoring podiums at Silverstone and the Hungaroring to secure fifth in the standings. 

It wasn’t enough to retain his drive though and while Patrese was offered a contract by Ligier for 1994, he opted to make the 1993 Australian Grand Prix his 257th and final grand prix entry

Ricacardo Patrese - Beyond F1

Patrese’s post-F1 exploits were largely limited to a season of 1995 Super Tourenwagen Cup (German Touring Cars) driving a Ford Mondeo, albeit with minimal success, as well as the Le Mans 24 Hours, in which he competed on three occasions in 1981, 1982 and 1997.

During the latter attempt he was paired with Eric van de Poele in the competitive factory-backed Nissan R390 GT1, but it failed to finish.

Patrese would remain the most experienced driver in F1 (most starts) right up until the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix when Rubens Barrichello made his 258th F1 entry.