Born on August 9, 1944 in Clermont-Ferrand, Patrick Depailler started by doing the motorcycle before taking an interest in car races. first in Formula 3, then in Formula 2, he climbed the ladder in races where we admire his audacity and his technique. He is thus spotted by the famous British manager Ken Tyrrell, who plans to have him pilot his third car in F1 in the last Grands Prix of 1973, in North America. Tyrrell is looking for a replacement for Jackie Stewart, the triple world champion, who will retire. Unfortunately, Depailler falls on a motorcycle and fractures a leg 10 days before playing his first race!
During the GP of the United States, which Troublel could have contested, François Cevert, the other Tyrrell driver who was Stewart’s dolphin, kills himself during the tests at Watkins Glen … If Depailler did not make his debut in F1 in 1973, he is nevertheless committed by Ken Tyrrell to be part of the team in 1974, as a South African pilot Jody Scheckter who will be pilot n ° 1.
For four seasons, Patrick Depailler harvested several podiums, but he failed to win a race: he finished 2nd on seven times (at the GP of Sweden in 1974, then in Brazil, Sweden, France and Japan in 1976, Canada in 1977 and South Africa in 1978). A real curse …
The Tyrrel 008 with which Patrick Depailler won the GP of Monaco in 1978. AFP
The start of the 1978 season is dominated by two stables, Lotus and Ferrari, which share the first four Grand Prix. The fifth, that of Monaco, which marks the beginning of the European season, is said to be favorable to Ferrari and Brabham, whose V12 engines, are very comfortable in the winding streets of the Principality. Logically therefore, the pole postal is won by Argentinian Carlos Reutemann, on Ferrari, ahead of Austrian Niki Lauda, on Brabham. Reutmann starts in a rush, but damages his car by touching that of Lauda at the first turn: punctured tires, it is the stop at the stand at the next round …
The peloton was then led by the Irishman John Watson, on the other Brabham. Fifth on the starting line, Patrick Depailler, at the controls of his Tyrrell 008 -Ford, managed to sneak in 2nd place thanks to the reutmann – Lauda, and follows Watson. Quickly, we realize that Depaille is the fastest but in Monaco, the overtaking is very difficult and it comes up against the Irish … Department really puts the pressure from the tenth lap, pushing Watson to get the most out of his Brabham … Too much because he performs, in the 38th round, a well-law at the chicane of the port, which allows to take first place.
A rhythm of hell and Lauda at the case
-But then, Niki Lauda, who had to stop as Reutmann at the start of the race to change his tires, performs a spectacular rise which brings him from the sixth to second place behind Depailler. The Austrian, world champion in 1975 and 1977, already fifteen times winner of a Grand Prix, is a real threat to the French, but Department keeps his rhythm of hell on the Monegasque circuit. It thus contains the ascent of Lauda.
And while the Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, on the other Ferrari, struck the rail at the exit of the tunnel at the 63rd round (he occupied fourth place), Depailler reaches the end of the 75 laps to win his first victory in F1, at 33, at the end of his 69th Grand Prix, without the bad luck that was often accompanied, as when he had fallen into the butt. from the South … of all the Pilots of Formula 1 in activity, he was the one that has run for the longest after a victory. He was finally able to demonstrate all his potential. Niki Lauda finished 2nd, 22 seconds, ahead of Scheckter (Wolf), Watson (Brabham), Pironi (Tyrrell) and Patrese (Arrows).
“A rogue thing …”
“From the fifteenth round, I found that Watson had difficulties with his braking system. I only had to wait until the right time to pass it ”, said Depaler after this race of which he was not one of the favorites. To win, the Tyrrell driver, trained in the curves of the Charade circuit, on the heights of Clermont-Ferrand, tried “A string, a thug thinghe said. Soft tires on the right and hard on the left… ”
With this victory in Monaco, Depailler becomes the leader of the world championship, after five Grands Prix. Unheard of for a French! The rest of the season will be less happy: Depailler will abandon during the following four GPs, then rank 4th at Brands Hatch in GP Great Britain, then in the midst of three new abandons, 2nd of the GP of Austria, 11th from the GP of Italy and 4th of the GP of Canada. He will finish 5th in the world championship won by the American Mario Andretti and his lotus.
Fatal road trip to Hockenheim
At the end of 1978, Patrick Depailler left Tyrrell and became the teammate of Jacques Laffite in the French team Ligier. He will win his second Grand Prix in Spain, but his happiness will be short -lived. A few weeks after this victory, Patrick DEPAILLER will smash his legs in a Deltaplane accident when a gust of wind will project him against a cliff … After multiple operations and months of rehabilitation, he will return to F1 with Alfa Romeo in early 1980. But he will tragically lose life on August 1 during private tests in Hockenheim, following a road trip to 280 km/h in 280 km/h The Ostkurve, a week before the GP of Germany. He was 34 years old.
