Clay Regazzoni

Gianclaudio Giuseppe "Clay" Regazzoni (born 5th September, 1939 in Mendrisio, Switzerland, died 15th December, 2006 in Fontevivo, Italy) was a Swiss racing driver known for his appearances in Formula One and winning the world championship in 1981. Throughout his career he was known for his hard charging driving style - which earned him great respect amongst his peers.

Formula One

1976-1977: Williams

By 1976, Regazzoni was out of a drive in Formula One - having to wait until the fifth round of the season, where he'd replace Patrick Nève at Wolf-Williams after an underwhelming start to the season. Williams' belief in Regazzoni paid off very quickly, taking a third place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix. Unfortunately, points finishes were few and far between after this podium and he'd finish the season in 13th overall.

1977 came around and Regazzoni was still at Williams and in a much better position than before. Being joined by talented Australian Alan Jones and campaigning an upgraded FW05B, he was able to easily score points throughout the season - his best result being a second place at the Dutch Grand Prix.

1978-: McLaren

The retirement of Carlos Reutemann at the end of 1977 saw an opening at Marlboro Team McLaren become available - and as such Regazzoni signed for the Woking team for the upcoming season. Joined by Tom Sneva in his third season with the team, Regazzoni and McLaren had begun to lose some of their usual prowess - with the M23B chassis now getting long in the tooth.

Regazzoni was able to salvage a handful of points from the season - finishing the year in 14th place.

Regazzoni's lacklustre season saw him frozen out of the team ahead of 1979 in favour of Jacky Ickx - although he'd later return to the team at the Austrian Grand Prix following an injury to Ickx. He'd score three podiums in the final four races along with a win in the non-championship Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy which would be enough to convince McLaren to take him on again in 1980.

Fortunes began to look up in 1981 - as a switch to Renault power saw Regazzoni get pole in the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix. Wins in Brazil, Lobg Beach, Belgium, Imola and Britain would follow, leaving Regazzoni in leading position for the championship in a close battle with rising star Keke Rosberg, whose Williams proved highly reliable. Another win at the Italian Grand Prix left Regazzoni able to clinch his first world title despite retirements from pole position in both Canada and Las Vegas.

Complete Formula 1 Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WDC
1976	Wolf-Williams Racing	Williams FW05	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL Ret	MON 3	SOV Ret	FRA 5	GBR 4	GER 7	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret	JPN 7		9	13th
1977	Williams Racing	Williams FW05B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG 5	RSA 6	USW 3	ESP 6	BEL 8	MON 6	FRA Ret	TUS 10†	SOV Ret	GBR Ret	NED 2	GER 4	AUT 11	ITA Ret	CAN 8	USA 3	JPN 7	22	8th
1978	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M23C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG 6	RSA 5	USW Ret	ESP 18†	BEL 12	MON 12	SUI 6	TUS 16	GBR Ret	FRA 8	NED 11	GER 13	AUT 10	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 7		4	14th
1979	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M28	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	EUR	SMR	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT 3	NED C	ITA 3	CAN 2	USA 6	15	8th
1980	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M28B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG 4	BRA Ret	USW Ret	ESP 9	BEL Ret	MON 5	MEX 4†	SMR Ret	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret						10	10th
		McLaren M28C	Nissan VRT30 3.0 V12													ITA 6	CAN Ret	CPL 7	DUB 9
1981	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren MP4/1	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6t	ARG Ret	RSA 2	BRA 1	USW 1	ESP Ret	BEL 1	MON Ret	SMR 1	MEX Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 1	GER Ret	AUT 3	SUI 6	ITA 1	CAN Ret	CPL Ret	65	1st
1982	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren MP4/1B	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6t	RSA Ret	BRA ENT	USW ENT	SMR ENT	BEL ENT	MON ENT	MEX ENT	DET ENT	FRA ENT	GBR ENT	GER ENT	AUT ENT	EUR ENT	ITA ENT	CAN ENT	CPA ENT		0	-

Sporting Accolades
Formula 1
Preceded by: Alan Jones	World Driver's Championship Champion 1981	Succeeded by: TBD