Patrick Tambay

Patrick Daniel Tambay (born 25th June, 1949 in Paris, France) is a French former Grand Prix racing driver.

Formula One

1976: John Player Team Lotus

Following the season-ending injuries suffered by Ronnie Peterson, Tambay was drafted in to drive the #6 Lotus for the latter stages of the 1976 season.

He took a pair of podiums in the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, followed by a shock first win in a Japanese Grand Prix struck by a rain storm.

1977: Martini Racing

Despite taking Lotus's only win in 1976, Tambay found himself ousted by the Norfolk-based team. Brabham would come calling for the Frenchman ahead of the second round, joining British racer James Hunt and replacing the hapless Italian Lella Lombardi. In his first four races for the team, Hunt would take his BT45B to three points finishes, including a trip to the podium in South Africa, whereas Tambay could only manage two 10th places. This would change at Monaco, as Tambay came home in fifth position, whereas Hunt was forced out of the race with engine issues. His next points finish would come at the Soviet Grand Prix with another fifth, before the updated Brabham BT45C was introduced for the British Grand Prix. Tambay would use the new machinery to score his best result of the season, following James Hunt home for a surprise yet popular Brabham 1-2. However, two races later, Tambay would be injured at the Dutch Grand Prix, but luckily he avoided serious injury and only missed the German Grand Prix. In his first race back at the Austrian Grand Prix Tambay would finish 7th - but this would prove to be his highest finish for the last 5 races, meaning Tambay would not improve on his tally of 10 points. This was enough for 11th in the WDC, but it wouldn't be enough for Brabham to renew his contract, the team instead opting to sign John Watson.

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	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 77	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SOV	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT Ret	NED 3	ITA 3	CAN 9	USA Ret	JPN 1		17	9th
1977	Martini Racing	Brabham BT45B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	RSA 13†	USW Ret	ESP 10	BEL 10	MON 5	FRA Ret	TUS 14†	SOV 5									10	11th
		Brabham BT45C											GBR 2	NED Ret	GER INJ	AUT 7	ITA 12	CAN Ret	USA 12†	JPN 11
1978	Hesketh Racing	Hesketh 308E	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	TUS	GBR DNPQ	SUI	NED DNPQ	GER						5	12th
	Martini Racing	Brabham BT46	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8													AUT 4	ITA 12
	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS7	Matra MS73 3.0 V12															CAN 10	USA 5