Riccardo Patrese

[RoccoL]

Sulla Beta Montecarlo gruppo 5 al Giro d'Italia del 79...Monza,ingresso pista Junior.

 

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Montecarlo 79

 

[RoccoL]

Long Beach 80.

 

[RoccoL]

Montecarlo 78.

 

[61066]

Mirabeau bas 1988

 

[61066]

[DaniMotorSport]

1990

[RoccoL]

In Formula Italia 1975.

 

 

 

[61066]

Kyalami 79

 

[mur354n80]

It was the start of five fantastic years for me at Williams. All my years in Formula 1 were good, because I had strong relationships with many good people, and even in the bad times I liked to work with the team to bring the morale up. I think that is why I survived for 17 seasons. But Frank and Patrick [Head] are special. Frank

is an extraordinary manager, Patrick is an extraordinary engineer. The first year, 1988, we only had the Judd engine, but for 1989 the Renault V10 arrived. Nigel had gone to Ferrari, and Thierry Boutsen was my team-mate. A good driver, a nice person too. The McLarens were very strong that year, but I had some bad luck.

I led in Rio but the engine broke. Then in the rain in Canada my undertray came adrift and I lost downforce; I let Thierry past, he won, I was second. And Hungaroring: pole, led for 52 laps, then a stone through my radiator. But Imola 1990 was great after my error in 1983, and this time the tifosi were cheering for me. I chased Berger’s McLaren and took the lead with 10 laps to go, scored my first F1 win for seven years.

“In 1991 Nigel was back at Williams. To start with I was faster than him – I outqualified him for the first seven races, and took four pole positions. He was not happy with the handling of his car, and at one point he asked to try mine, but he found they were the same. By now we had telemetry, and it told us we were the same in fast corners, but my advantage was in the slow corners, I was getting more speed out of my car. After six races I was second in the championship to Senna. Then Nigel had four fine wins, and after that I helped him to try to beat Senna. In Portugal my car broke in qualifying, and I had to walk back to the pits. Patrick shouted to me to get in the T-car. I had never sat in it before, but I did one lap and set pole. I led the race, but then let Nigel by as I promised. But leaving the pits after his tyre stop a wheel came off, and after that he was black-flagged. So I won anyway.

“In 1992 we had the active suspension car, and Nigel was usually quicker than me. No power steering then, and because of the downforce loadings the steering became really heavy. He was stronger than me, more power in his arms. The car was much quicker in the fast corners, but with the heavy steering there was not so much feeling, and in the slow corners my advantage was gone, because now we had traction control to do the job for us.

“I always had a great relationship with Nigel – even though he was whingeing a lot! – and still now we are good friends. But I have just read the new book that Maurice Hamilton wrote about Williams. In there, Adrian Newey said that on the active car Nigel would get his cockpit settings correct in testing [the three knobs that adjusted the ride height front and rear, low speed and high speed] and then, on his in-lap, he would change the knobs so that when my engineer checked his settings we would get them wrong. David Brown, Nigel’s engineer, was in on the secret. I never knew. The active car was very complex, and everything I discovered in testing I put down on the table because we were a team. But it seems Nigel was doing something different.†As Adrian Newey says in the book, Mansell knew Patrese was a serious rival, and set about beating him any way he could.

“The active car suited Nigel better than me, and in that car he was quicker than I was. He deserved to win the championship. It is a shame he did not make his decision to leave Williams, and leave F1, until the Monza weekend. Because by then, believing there was no longer a place for me at Williams, I had signed for Benetton. Frank asked me to stay, but I had given my word to Alessandro Benetton. Flavio Briatore said he had to have me, he could not live without me, because of my knowledge of the active Williams. But after three or four races Mr Briatore was saying I was not quick enough, it was time for me to go to pension. There were a lot of problems with the car, but I wasn’t complaining publicly, I was just talking to the team and trying to solve them. And Michael Schumacher is very good in a bad car, that is where he can destroy his team-mate. I was talking inside the team about the faults the car had, but they said I was just making excuses, because Schumacher was quicker than me.

“In fact by mid-year they discovered a bad problem with the car, they realised I had been right, and suddenly it became much better†– whereupon Riccardo finished in the points five races running, with second in Hungary and third at Silverstone. “But Briatore still wanted me to go. With Michael I always got on well. As we know now, he was special. After me Verstappen, Lehto, Herbert, none of them found it easy racing with Schumacher.

“Right up to 1992 I was as motivated in F1 as I had been in 1977. But at the end of ’93 I was waiting to leave Benetton, because I did not like Briatore. After 17 years I was out of F1, and when the ’94 season started and I was at home watching it on TV it felt bad. I went to qualifying at Imola, to see old friends, and talk to Frank and Patrick about doing some testing for Williams, just to help with the car development. They said, ‘Good idea, Riccardo, we’ll organise it.’ I said goodbye to Ayrton and went home, watched the race next day on TV. And Ayrton died.

“I knew him well. We had a good friendship, spent holiday time together on an island between Japan and Australia. As a person he had a lot of charisma, always acted very still and quiet. Suddenly I realised there was maybe a possibility of racing again, but all I had was a big pain in my heart, because of Ayrton. Two weeks later I saw Frank and Patrick at Monaco, and they said to me: ‘If we offered it, would you come back to race?’ And I said, ‘Yes, if you want me, I will come back.’ When I got home all the Italian journalists were calling, saying they knew I was going to Williams in Ayrton’s place. They were pushing hard. Another journalist called and said, ‘It’s true, isn’t it? You are going to Williams.’ In that moment I decided. I said, ‘No. I am not. F1 is over for me.’ I called Frank straight away, and said, ‘Maybe you were not going to choose me. But in any case, I have decided to say no.’

I did drive a Williams again. In 1996 Frank and Patrick asked me to come to Silverstone to test the FW18, Damon’s and Jacques’ car which dominated that year. It was a gift from old friends. I hadn’t been in a single-seater for three years, but it was the most enjoyable test of my life. No pressure, no programme: just go out and enjoy myself. The first day I got myself settled in, the second day I put on a couple of new sets and pushed. My best lap would have put me on row two for the British GP. But that car was so good, you could get in and go well at once.

Riccardo Patrese.

chissà  se dopo questo test del 1996 da tre anni fermo non gli sono venuti dei rimpianti per avere rifiutato il ritorno in Williams nel 1994...

Modificato May 15, 2015 at 12:43 da Muresan80

[RoccoL]

Patrese (90) e Gabbiani (29)....74.

 

Modificato May 16, 2015 at 12:35 da RoccoL

[Kitt]

1982

 

[leopnd]

Monaco 1982...

 

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[61066]

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[61066]

[irron3]

Monaco 1982

Modificato March 17, 2020 at 19:28 da irron3

[irron3]

Spa 1983

[irron3]

1983 GP Olanda

[irron3]

1982 Brasile

Modificato March 17, 2020 at 19:28 da irron3

[driver29]

Brasile 1978 

[leopnd]

Le Mans, 1982...

[leopnd]

Test con la Brabham BT54 al Paul Ricard nel 1985...