The first day of august 1980, Ostcurve Hockenheim. A private Alfa Romeo F1 test session on the old Hockenheim track came brutally to a stop. The barrier of the curve has ripped apart the Alfa 179 car. The car is upside down, the driver got stuck with his legs in the shattered car. The driver, Patrick Depailler 35 years, is dead when he arrived in the hospital. The newspaper, L’ Equipe wrote as a headline “Mort d’un homme”.
Patrick Depailler is born in the Auvergne near the Charade circuit. He loves to drive his motorcycle fast in the curbs on the public road. He made his race debut on a Norton Manx 500cc. It was his speed that got the attention of Jean-Pierre Beltoise. In 1964 he made his debut in car racing. An injured Beltoise let him drive in a Lotus Seven and let him take part in the ‘Operation Ford-Jeunesse’.
The start of his racing career
In 1966 he took part in the ‘volant Shell’ at Magny Cours and he was second behind Francois Cevert. For 1967 he became involved in the Alpine Racing team in Dieppe. Together with Mauro Bianchi and Jean-Pierre Jabouille, he was mechanic and driver. Together with his friends, they turn the Alpine F3 -1600 cc into an invincible racing machine. In the endurance racing, he had a DNF in the 24 heures du Mans with Gerard Larousse and in the 1000 km of Paris with Vinatier in the Alpine 1005/A210. In the 1968 season, he was third in the 1000 km Monza ( with De Cortanze) and sixth in the 1000 km Paris (Larousse) in a Alpine 3000/A220. Again no luck in Le Mans. In 1969, still member of the Alpine team, again a DNF in Le Mans, but a P06 in Monza. After three years, his contract was finished, so he started to race in Formula 2 in 1970 with a Pygmee MDB15. He was a member of the Matra team, driving the MS 650 #30 in Le Mans, where his race was over in the 7th hour.
Into F1
In 1971, he is called up again by Alpine. They decided to make a come-back in the Formula 3 and needed a driver next to JP Jabouille. At the end of the season with six wins, Depailler was the French F3 champion. He also drove a Tecno in the European F2 and was part of the Ligier Racing Team in the 24 heures du Mans. Together with the team boss, he finished the race ( not classified, insufficient distance) in the famous yellow BP sponsored JS3.
In 1972 he was full time employed by John Coombs to drive the Elf2 and the March 722. He won the Enna round. Patrick also dominated in the rain the F3 race at Monaco. He drove the Alpine-Renault A364(#80) and held off magistral the JPS73-Nova from Yony Trimmer. That got the attention of Francois Guitier from the Elf-company. He offered Patrick a drive in a third Tyrrell. So, at Clermond Ferrand, he made his F1 debut in a Tyrrell 004. He finished the race last, because of some extra pitstops for flat tyres issues. His second F1 race at Watkins Glenn ended in a P 07.
A Tyrrell team driver
In 1973, Depailler again had a DNF with the Matra in the 24 heures du Mans. When he was driving his Elf2 to a an overall third place in the European F2 in 1973, he broke a leg in a KTM motor accident and did have to spend two months in bed. Catastrophe ! Ken Tyrrell and Guitier were furious, because Tyrrell needed a driver for the last F1 races of the year. So bad luck for Patrick.But when Francois Cevert had his fatal crash and with Jacky Stewart retiring, he became the official French F1 driver in the Tyrrell team next to Jody Scheckter in 1974. He is a quasi-debutant and still has to learn the car and the tracks, in combination with the lack of experience and a language problem so the confidence of the team was not optimal in the beginning. However, he scored his first pole-position, his first fastest lap and a second place in the GP Sweden in the Tyrrell 005. Not bad for a car, which he found difficult to drive. In total he scored 14 points. During the year, Depailler also became the European F2 champion with the March 742-BMW beating his teammate Hans Stuck. He won four races and was P02 in two other races.
In 1975, Depailler was now really a full Tyrrell member. His team mate Scheckter was performing better. Patrick did some excellent races, like Monaco, Nürburgring (racing against Lauda for P01) and the European GP, but he only scored 12 points. He also raced (scoring no points),again with a March in the F2.
In 1976 Depailler understood quite quick how the new the Tyrrell 6-wheeler Project 34 performed at his best. The year started with the Tyrrell 007 for three races and from the European rounds the P34. Ken Tyrrell gave him now maximum confidence and he was better than Scheckter. He almost got to win the Japanese GP, when a wheel exploded. Overall, he was second on five occasions and ended 4th in the championship with 47 points. Jody Scheckter won the Swedish GP, with Patrick second. Maybe he was ‘le Poulidor de la F1’.
The next season was again a tough one, also for hew team member Ronnie Peterson. The 6 wheeler was not competitive anymore and was too heavy. A second place in Canada and third in South- Africa and at Fuji gave him more points than his teammate Ronnie Peterson.
The first victory
Depailler could go to another team ( there were connections with Brabham), but decided to stay with Elf and Tyrrell for 1978. The Tyrrell 008 had again four wheels and his new team mate was Didier Pironi. Most races were dominated by the wing-car Lotus 79. But in Monaco it was the day for Patrick Depailler. He took a splendid start from fifth on the grid and moved to second at the St.Devote corner after the start behind Watson in a Brabham and in front of Lauda. For 38 laps, he looked for an occasion to find a way past the Brabham. But then, Watson shot up the escape road with failing breaks. So Depailler and Lauda disappeared in the distance. He kept the lead and made no mistakes. Big win ! Overall, he was fifth in the championship.
Apart from the F1, Patrick Depailler was an official Alpine- Renault driver in the Endurance Racing in 1977 and 1978 with two DNF in the 24 hours of le Mans. In 1978 with the A443 and team mate Jabouille, he had a difficult first hour of the race, but then he scored the fastest lap and was in the lead on the Sunday morning. But a 9.35 he had to park the car in the Mulsanne corner.
Team Ligier - second victory
For the 1979 F1 season, Depailler joined Jacques Lafitte at Ligier. The JS 11 is a fabulous car and from the first race in Argentina it was a French blue car domination. Lafitte wins the first two races, with Patrick second in Brasil. After a fifth place at Long Beach, Depailler won the next round at the Jarama circuit. Both Ligiers were in front all the time with Lafitte trying to win. But when Lafitte missed a gearchange and overrevs the engine, Depailler crossed the finish line first. Second win and a third place in the championship.
The final
Then everything went wrong. On the Puy -de -Dome, Patrick got an accident with a delta wing. He was flying to close to the rocks and the turbulence smashed him against it at about 50km/h. He broke both his legs and is out for 6 months. According to the medical staff, he would be unable to race for the rest of the season. After several operations, he left the hospital four months for the start of the next season.
Guy Ligier offered him a contract for the next season with no extra sports outside F1 and a role as second driver. Patrick resused. He got contact with different teams, but he took his chance at Alfa Romeo. He liked their approach to motorracing. The 179 with a V12 engine in the back seemed the best option for 1980. In the first two races in South-America, Patrick found the car too heavy and he did not ended the races. He made up a list of possible improvements and by the South-Africa GP, the 179 was a totally different car with Patrick starting from P07.In Long Beach, he felt fully recovered and was running in sixth place for a long time before hitting the wall. The car, however, did let him down in the other races. But for the record. In the training sessions for the France GP, he got off track at the Signes corner at 250km/h. The reason for this was never found. A few days later in Brands Hatch, the same. He got off track and could not find any explanation. Maybe already a bad signing on the wall.
