33 Facts About Riccardo Patrese

Riccardo Gabriele Patrese was born on 17 April 1954 and is an Italian former racing driver, who raced in Formula One from 1977 to 1993.

Riccardo Patrese became the first Formula One driver to achieve 200 Grand Prix starts when he appeared at the 1990 British Grand Prix, and then became the first to achieve 250 starts at the 1993 German Grand Prix.

Riccardo Patrese received an offer to drive in Formula Italia the following year, finishing second in the championship to another future F1 racer, Bruno Giacomelli.

Riccardo Patrese made his debut at the 1977 Monaco Grand Prix with the Shadow racing team sponsored by Italian businessman Franco Ambrosio, replacing Renzo Zorzi.

Riccardo Patrese took his first point at the Japanese Grand Prix later that year.

Riccardo Patrese subsequently took second at the Swedish Grand Prix behind Niki Lauda's Brabham BT46B "fan car", in its only appearance before being withdrawn.

The race organizers agreed to this: although Riccardo Patrese later stated that he obtained a ruling from a local judge in Watkins Glen stating that the ban was a violation of his right to work, Arrows decided to withdraw his entry due to pressure from the organizers and the FIA.

Riccardo Patrese returned to competition at the following race, the Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished fourth.

For years after the crash which caused Peterson's death, Hunt blamed Riccardo Patrese for starting the accident, and viewers of Hunt's commentaries of Formula One races from 1980 to 1993 on BBC Television were regularly treated to bitter diatribes against Riccardo Patrese when the Italian appeared on screen.

Hunt believed that it was Riccardo Patrese's muscling past that caused the McLaren driven by Hunt and the Lotus driven by Peterson to touch, but Riccardo Patrese argued that he was already well ahead of the pair before the accident took place.

In 1982 Riccardo Patrese moved to Brabham and gained his maiden win at that year's Monaco Grand Prix in rather sensational circumstances.

Riccardo Patrese took the lead when Alain Prost crashed out, only to spin in dampening conditions on the next lap.

Riccardo Patrese finished the season tenth, just ahead of his teammate Nelson Piquet.

Riccardo Patrese crashed out late in the race while leading at San Marino - to the cheers of the tifosi, as his shunt meant that he handed the race win to Ferrari driver Patrick Tambay.

Riccardo Patrese took pole on home ground at the Italian Grand Prix, before his engine blew up in the early stages of the race: in a 2010 interview he said he suspected that his engine had been left in its qualifying trim, rendering it extremely powerful but fragile, as he had not been offered a new contract for the following year, and had been reluctant to sacrifice his chances of winning his home Grand Prix for teammate Nelson Piquet, who was fighting for the World Championship.

The cars made contact, and Riccardo Patrese went into a spin while Piquet lost his suspension.

Riccardo Patrese then bounced off the wall and back into Piquet, and both drivers were out of the race.

In 1986 Riccardo Patrese returned to Brabham alongside fellow Italian Elio de Angelis, but by now the team was a spent force and would never again take a driver to victory in a grand prix.

Toward the end of the 1987 season, Riccardo Patrese was given the chance to revitalise what seemed to be a declining career when the Williams driver Nigel Mansell was injured whilst qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Riccardo Patrese had already been signed by Williams management to be Nelson Piquet's replacement for the 1988 season as the 1987 and triple World Champion was off to Lotus to replace Ayrton Senna who had signed with McLaren.

At the 1988 Spanish Grand Prix, Riccardo Patrese was fined US$10,000 for 'brake testing' the Tyrrell of F1 rookie Julian Bailey during qualifying which caused the Tyrrell 017 to launch its front wheels in the air when Bailey ran into the back of the Williams.

In 1990, Riccardo Patrese finally won his third Grand Prix at the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix, though the competitiveness of the Renault powered FW13B with what many felt were two "number two" drivers waned in the second half of the year as McLaren, Ferrari and later Benetton with their Ford V8 engines took the ascendancy and he finished the 1990 Drivers' Championship in 7th place.

Williams dominated F1 in 1992 and Riccardo Patrese continued to deliver in his role of second driver to Nigel Mansell, moving out of the way for Mansell while leading comfortably at that year's French Grand Prix.

Again Riccardo Patrese handled the delicate situation about team orders diplomatically, repeatedly offering a "No comment" to questions about the team orders that had been imposed on him at the red flag period of the French race.

Riccardo Patrese took a single win at the Japanese Grand Prix and had eight other podium finishes, including six second-place results.

Riccardo Patrese would describe the Benetton B193 with its Ford HBA8 V8 as a step down in quality compared to the much more sophisticated Williams cars he had been driving for the previous five years.

Ligier made Riccardo Patrese an offer for 1994 but seeing it as a further step down in his career, he decided against it.

Riccardo Patrese was invited to rejoin Williams in 1994 to fill the seat of Ayrton Senna after his fatal accident at Imola, but ultimately decided against returning to Formula One.

Riccardo Patrese drove a Nissan R390 GT1 for the Nissan factory team; the car was third fastest in qualifying but was forced to retire with gearbox problems.

Riccardo Patrese won an Italian national amateur title before retiring from equestrianism in 2014.

Riccardo Patrese finished third behind his former teammate Nigel Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi in the sole 2005 race at Kyalami, South Africa.

Rubens Barrichello finally surpassed Riccardo Patrese's total, recording his 258th Grand Prix entry at the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix.

In July 2018 it was announced that Riccardo Patrese would come out of retirement to compete at the Spa 24 Hours that month, competing in the pro-am category in a JAS Motorsport-run Honda NSX GT3 with Loic Depailler, Bertrand Baguette and Esteban Guerrieri.