1. Jacques Laffite twice entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Ligier before making his Formula One debut at the 1974 German Grand Prix with Frank Williams.
26 Facts About Jacques Laffite
1. 2.
Jacques Laffite remained at Frank Williams through the 1975 season, scoring his maiden podium at the German Grand Prix and winning the European Formula Two Championship with Martini.
3.
Jacques Laffite moved to Ligier in 1976, taking several podiums amongst his maiden pole position in Italy.
4.
Jacques Laffite retained his seat the following season, taking his maiden win at the Swedish Grand Prix.
5.
Jacques Laffite again finished fourth in the 1980 and 1981 championships, losing out on the latter by six points to Nelson Piquet and taking several wins across both.
6.
Jacques Laffite failed to finish 11 of 15 Grands Prix in 1982, leaving for Williams at the end of the season.
7.
At the 1986 British Grand Prix, Jacques Laffite was seriously injured in a multi-car collision that broke both of his legs.
8.
Jacques Laffite subsequently retired from Formula One, having achieved six wins, seven pole positions, seven fastest laps and 32 podiums.
9.
Outside of Formula One, Jacques Laffite was a race-winner in the World Sportscar Championship with Kauhsen, as well as in the BMW M1 Procar Championship with BMW.
10.
Jacques Laffite competed in the World Touring Car Championship in 1987 with Alfa Corse, and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft from 1990 to 1992.
11.
Jacques Laffite entered nine editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1972 to 1996 across multiple classes.
12.
Jacques-Henri Laffite was born in Paris on 21 November 1943.
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Jacques Laffite was trained as a racing driver in 1968 at Winfield Racing School in France.
14.
In 1976 Jacques Laffite moved to the French Ligier team, scoring 20 points and a pole position at the Italian Grand Prix.
15.
The 1979 season opened with Jacques Laffite winning the first two races.
16.
Jacques Laffite fought for the World Championship title until the last races, but eventually placed only fourth, with 36 points.
17.
In 1982 Jacques Laffite finished only 17th in the final classification, with only 5 points scored.
18.
Jacques Laffite failed to finish his first race in 1981.
19.
Jacques Laffite finished second to fellow Frenchman Alain Prost in 1982, and third behind Brazilian Roberto Moreno and Australian John Smith in 1983.
20.
Now in his forties, Jacques Laffite returned to Ligier in 1985: in that season he was on the podium three times, for a total of 16 points.
21.
Jacques Laffite was the most successful driver in Ligier's history, having taken six of their nine wins.
22.
Jacques Laffite recovered from his injuries and later raced in touring cars, finishing 17th in the inaugural World Touring Car Championship driving an Alfa Romeo 75 for Alfa Corse as well as racing three seasons in the German-based DTM series.
23.
Jacques Laffite is a television commentator for the French network TF1, best known for his reaction to the incident at the 1997 European Grand Prix in which Michael Schumacher collided with Jacques Villeneuve, and Laffite reacted with curse words on live television.
24.
Jacques Laffite made his 2007 FIA GT3 European Championship debut at the 2008 Bucharest City Challenge, driving for AutoGT Racing Team.
25.
Jacques Laffite has two daughters: Camille and Margot, a sports journalist of Formula One on Canal+.
26.
Jacques Laffite is golf enthusiast, is a shareholder of Dijon-Bourgogne Golf.