Masters Degree: Patrick Tambay

Conduct a few Internet searches on Patrick Tambay. Have a look in some of the many excellent dedicated Grand Prix encyclopedias out there. You will find that, in summing up the career of Frenchman and former Ferrari driver Patrick Tambay, they pretty much all start the same way.

What a thoroughly nice and popular chap he is.

Indeed, those who have been fortunate to meet Tambay would find it hard to disagree.

Considering the pressure and emotional torment that he had to endure at moments during his Grand Prix career, it is perhaps incredible to believe that he recalls some of the worst times with a positive outlook and grateful, respectful attitude.

Having had comparatively unsuccessful spells for McLaren, Theodore and Ligier in the late Seventies and early Eighties, Tambay announced his retirement at the start of the 1982 season only for a cruel twist of fate to put him back in Formula One.

His long-time friend Gilles Villeneuve was tragically killed in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix and four races later Tambay agreed to replace him at Ferrari for the rest of the year.

Patrick Tambay (Ferrari 126C2) in his first race replacing Gilles Villeneuve, 1982 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort © LAT

"I had mixed feelings," Tambay recalls, "because obviously I had a special relationship with Gilles. He had moved from Canada to Europe and lived with us for six months before he moved to his own place. We had known each other since I drove in the Cam Am series in the US.

"We had a close relationship in sorting out the seat for him at Ferrari. It had been proposed to me, but I turned it down to sign a contract with McLaren. When I did sign the contract I told Gilles that I had just picked up the contract that he was supposed to have to stay with McLaren - but there was Ferrari and they were looking for a young guy. That is how it happened.

"Then I had my career with McLaren and he had his with Ferrari, and they had their ups and downs for both of us.

"For me suddenly to be called on to replace him four years later was a bit of a stressful decision and a complicated decision. I talked with a few racing people, family members and they all said that it would be a good decision to take the drive."

As teammate to Didier Pironi, Tambay started off remarkably well for the Scuderia. After an eighth in his maiden race with the team at Zandvoort, he was on the podium with his teammate at the British GP. A fourth in his home race at Paul Ricard was also useful in keeping the team in contention for the constructors' title.

"It felt straight away as if there was a good relationship with the mechanics," he continues. "I arrived and we didn't have to speak much - we all knew exactly the story, and the sorrow and the relationship was evident straight away. It was open and honest and it worked.

"I tried to help them emotionally and they tried to help me technically, and at no point did I feel that bitterness. There was sadness but they were going on with their lives.

"Didier was now the number one driver in the team and all hopes were on his back. The car was very competitive and he was looking good for the championship."

But Pironi never got that far. The sequence of events that surrounded the team, Pironi and Villeneuve that year are well documented. Pironi snatched victory from Villeneuve at the San Marino Grand Prix earlier that year against team orders, in the race before Villeneuve was killed.

Then, leading the championship going into the German GP, Pironi had a violent accident colliding with Alain Prost in wet practice, which ended Pironi's driving career and his chances of becoming France's first world champion.

It was a moment that thrust Tambay - who had been in retirement just four races ago - into the team leader role for the most recognisable and biggest Grand Prix team in the world.

"We didn't know what state Didier was in at that time. The accident to Gilles was very dramatic and physiologically disturbing because of all of a sudden Ferrari's hopes for a constructors' championship seemed gone and to lose two great drivers is a big shamble.

The wreckage of the Ferrari 126C2 driven by Didier Pironi, 1982 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim © LAT

"Some Italian journalists came up to me the day of the accident and said something which I will never forget. One said: 'This is it for you now. Either you decide this is what you want to do and you carry on with this sport - or you quit now. Because if you are going to carry on you have to take the decision in your hands because now you are number one in this team. You are not anybody's number two anymore. You have got to do your stuff and be confident you can do it'.

"Things changed. Well, the guy was right. No matter what I did now I had to have a different approach. And it changed like that. I can still remember those words and they gave me some confidence and helped me to get over all that."

The next day was an emotional victory for Tambay. Thanks, in part, to Chilean Eliseo Salazar taking out runway leader Nelson Piquet, he won the German Grand Prix to take his first victory in Formula One.

"We had a strong car but Nelson was going away with it. Then suddenly I was coming up to the chicane and you see the cars there stranded and you feel something is happening to you. That's it. Something is turning around, and you realise you've got a good car and suddenly you realise it is going to be your turn.

"I went onto the podium and heard the French National Anthem. Then the Italian National Anthem. I had won.

"And somebody gave me the Italian flag, which I thought was a French flag and I waved it which kind of created a bit of an awkward situation with the French press.

"But deep, deep inside I know it is not total joy and happiness because I know that it is not a race won from the front. Yes, I knew it was racing and there was an accident. But I also knew that I had a teammate in hospital and I didn't know if he was going to keep his legs."

It wasn't Tambay's only victory for Ferrari. He earned himself a full season deal with the Italian team for 1983 and won the San Marino Grand Prix that year, one year on from the turmoil the team had gone through following Pironi's victory.

"That was another big stressful moment, and every time there is a lot of stress and a big commitment or something, it makes me use the better part of me.

"Imola was where everything had started. It was where Gilles and Didier had their family feud which led to Zolder's shit, which led to making the wrong decision and the wrong choice and Gilles being under stress and mental instability which led to...

"And here we are a year later and I qualify on the same spot as Gilles - third - and the fans all understand the meaning of that position. And the race is another strange moment. I have a fuel pick-up problem and the car stops in the Tamburello and then it starts up again with no problem for the rest of the way.

"Then, Riccardo [Patrese] comes and catches me and then in the Acque Minerale he goes a little wide and goes off the road. Then after the finish my car stopped completely so I couldn't even get on to the podium."

Patrick Tambay © LAT

Tambay was in the run for the world title that year, but ultimately faded and finished fourth before being dropped by Ferrari at the end of the season. He reflects on his time in Italy with much fondness and pride, with the situation allowing him to finally achieve the ambition of winning a Grand Prix. It is his philosophical attitude that perhaps made him such a popular driver.

"Many, many times I think things are meant to be. Decisions that you make, and people that you meet and circumstances in life. You can make the wrong decision and think you are going the wrong way but it was probably meant to be, you know? Everything that has happened to me was meant to be.

"I regret a lot of things but I am pleased with a lot of things too. I was always pretty much on my own, no manager, and all the choices and all the decisions were based on my own personal decisions and those are the things that sometimes I regret. I don't think that I pushed myself hard enough. I should have - well, maybe I shouldn't say those things.

"But my time with Ferrari was very special, even today. It was a very important moment and it was a privilege that it happened to me. It was a dream come true. Everybody wants to be a Grand Prix driver and when you do it you try and do your best and it is complicated just to be in the right team at the right time. To have a good teammate and perfect engine and then in the end be in that red car - it is a unique opportunity.

"Better even than being a French driver in a French car."