Riccardo Patrese - The Italian Hero

Best viewed with

1024 X 768

By Williams F1 Team (1988)

One of the most experienced drivers in Grand Prix racing, Riccardo Patrese has been recruited as number two to Nigel Mansell in the Canon Williams team for the 1988 season. His first Grand Prix outing was in the 1977 Monaco race where he drove a Shadow DN8. He scored the first of two career wins so far at the same circuit five years later at the wheel of a Brabham BT49C.

A graduate of the cut-and-thrust world of karting, Riccardo had his first race at the age of 10 years. In 1972 he won the Italian Karting Championship, took the World Championship in 1974 and was a member, along with Eddie Cheever, of the Italian team which won the European team title in 1973 and '74.

In 1975, Riccardo graduated to Formula Italia, his country's junior national single-seater formula. He finished second in the series behind Bruno Giacomelli before moving spectacularly into Formula 3 the following year, winning the Italian and European Championships with a Chevron. After opening the 1977 season at the wheel of a Chevron Formula 2 car, he was drafted into the Shadow Grand Prix team alongside Alan Jones (later to win the World Championship for Williams) for the Monaco race. He finished ninth after a promising debut outing.

In 1978 Patrese drove for the newly formed Arrows team which was headed by former Shadow personnel, leading the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami until 14 laps from the finish. Other consistent performances produced second place in the Swedish Grand Prix, fourth in the Canadian and sixth in both the Long Beach and Monaco events.

Riccardo stayed with Arrows until the end of the 1981 season after which he was signed to drive for Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham team alongside Nelson Piquet. He stayed with Brabham for two seasons, during which he won the 1982 Monaco and 1983 South African Grands Prix before moving off again for a barren two year spell with the Alfa Romeo team.

In 1985 he failed to score a single Championship point, so he did not hesitate when he was invited to join the Brabham team with whom he had always enjoyed a good relationship. Using the distinctive low-line BT55, he started the season with Elio de Angelis as his team-mate, but after Elio's tragic death in a Paul Ricard test session the week after Monaco, Derek Warwick was signed to partner Patrese.

In 1987 he stayed with Brabham and, using the promising BT56, finished fifth in Hungary and third behind the two Canon Williams cars at Mexico City. Mid-season he was invited to test a Williams at Imola when Mansell was unable to attend and opened negotiations with Frank Williams about the prospect of a contract for 1988. Eventually, after Nelson Piquet announced that he would be leaving the team, Riccardo was signed up and, thanks to Bernie Ecclestone's generosity, was released to drive for Williams in the final race of the year after Nigel Mansell's accident at Suzuka eliminated him from the last two Grands Prix of 1987.

Born on 17 April, 1954 in Padova, Italy, Riccardo is married to Susi. They have a son (Simone) and twin daughters (Beatrice and Maddalena) and have homes in Padova and Monte Carlo. He loves classical music, all sports and he has a much-prized collection of model trains.