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'Didier Pironi' (26 March 1952, Villescresnes, Val-de-Marne - 23 August 1987, Southampton, UK) was a racing driver from France. During his career he competed in 72 Formula One Grands Prix, mostly driving for Tyrrell and Ferrari, and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978 driving a Renault Alpine A442B.

Contents

Career

Death

Complete Formula One results

External links

Career

Initially Pironi began studying as an engineer, but this fell by the wayside following his enrollment at the Paul Ricard driving school. He was awarded the Pilot Elf sponsorship bursary in 1972, with the French national oil company funding his early career, mostly in Renault-powered vehicles. Benefiting from this same Elf sponsorship, to promote young French motorsport talent, that bequeathed the likes of Patrick Tambay and Alain Prost to Formula One, Didier Pironi made his top-flight debut on January 15, 1978. This was with Ken Tyrrell's team which, despite being British, had a strong working relationship with Elf, dating back to the late 1960s. In the same year, Pironi was part of the massive Renault squad tasked with winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Partnering Jean-Pierre Jaussaud in the team's second car, the unusual "''bubble roof''" A442B, he won the race by four laps from the rival Porsche 936s.
Two seasons with the underfinanced Tyrrell team demonstrated enough promise for Guy Ligier to sign Pironi to his rather erratic eponymous French team in 1980, a season in which Didier recorded his first victory, in the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, as well as several podium finishes. Indeed, such were Pironi's performances that as early as the second race of the season, Enzo Ferrari expressed an interest in the Frenchman's services, which he secured for 1981.
Teamed with Gilles Villeneuve, Pironi was rather shaded in his first season with Ferrari; for someone so preoccupied with becoming the first French driver to win the Formula One title, the events of this year may have played a role in the turbulent and unhappy 1982 campaign. Establishing a fine rapport with the senior members of the team, Pironi arguably exploited this good relationship in the aftermath of the notorious San Marino race where he is widely thought to have duped Villeneuve into conceding victory by giving the impression that he would follow his Canadian team-mate through the final lap, only to unexpectedly power past him into the Tosa hairpin. Pironi's friendship with senior members in the team resulted in his dubious story of "engine problems" for both cars gaining widespread currency, much to Villeneuve's chagrin. The Canadian would be killed in qualifying at the following race, and his furious state of mind is often considered a contributory cause to his accident.
With a fast, reliable car, the title looked to be Pironi's for the taking, but the Frenchman's own state of mind underwent severe stress with the antipathy directed toward him in the wake of the Zolder tragedy, the breakdown of his marriage and observing at first hand the death of Riccardo Paletti in the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix, the young Italian ploughing into Pironi's stalled Ferrari on the starting grid. Some of these events may have resulted in the over-confidence and arrogance that team members are reported to have observed in Pironi's behaviour at subsequent events (including an absolute certainty that he would win the title), and in such a mindset he unnecessarily lapped a drenched Hockenheim in a practice session at the German Grand Prix at high speed. Passing Derek Daly's Williams, Pironi, unsighted, smashed into the back of Prost's Renault, triggering a violent accident which bore some similarity to that suffered by Villeneuve. Pironi survived, but injuries to his legs meant he never raced again that year. Despite the accident, he still finished runner-up in the 1982 championship.
In his Formula One career Didier Pironi won 3 races, achieved 13 podiums, and scored a total of 101 championship points. He also secured 4 pole positions.

Death

In 1986 it looked as if Pironi would make a comeback. He tested for the French AGS team, and proved that he was still fast enough to be competitive in Formula One. But when he could not find a seat in a good team in 1987 he turned to powerboat racing. On August 23, 1987, Pironi was killed in an accident near the Isle of Wight, that also took the life of his two crew members: journalist Bernard Giroux and his old friend Jean-Claude Guenard.
Some weeks after Pironi's death his girlfriend gave birth to twins. She decided to name them "Didier" and "Gilles".

Complete Formula One results

() (Races in 'bold' indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1978	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 008	Cosworth V8	ARG 14	BRA 6	RSA 6	USW Ret	MON 5	BEL 6	ESP 12	SWE Ret	FRA 10	GBR Ret	GER 5	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	USA 10	CAN 7	15th	7
1979	Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 009	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA 4	RSA Ret	USW DSQ	ESP 6												11th	14
	Candy Tyrrell Team								BEL 3	MON Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER 9	AUT 7	NED Ret	ITA 10	CAN 5	USA 3
1980	Equipe Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS11/15	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA 4	RSA 3	USW 6	BEL 1	'MON' Ret	FRA 2	'''GBR''' Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA 6	''CAN'' 3	USA 3			5th	32
1981	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 126CK	Ferrari V6	USW Ret	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	RSM 5	BEL 8	MON 4	ESP 15	FRA 5	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT 9	NED Ret	ITA 5	CAN Ret	''LVS'' 9		13th	9
1982	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 126C2	Ferrari V6	RSA 18	BRA 6	USW Ret	''RSM'' 1	BEL DNS	MON 2	USE 3	'''CAN''' 9	NED 1	GBR 2	FRA 3	'GER' DNS	AUT	SUI	ITA	LVS	'2nd'	'39'

External links

★ Didier Pironi Memorial