Didier Pironi

At 35 years old, Didier Pironi has this physical status:

Didier Joseph Pironi (26 March 1952 – August 1987) was a French racing driver.

He competed in 72 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, serving for Tyrrell (1978–1979), Ligier (1980) and Ferrari (1982–1982).

In 1978, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving a Renault Alpine A442B.

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Professional driving career (1972–1982)

Pironi was born in Villecresnes, Val-de-Marne. José Dolhem's halfbrother and first cousin (they shared the same father and their mothers were sisters). He began training as an engineer and obtained a degree in science, but after being accepted at the Paul Ricard driving school, he lost interest in the family building industry.

In 1972, he was granted pilot Elf sponsorship, which later led to the promotion of young French motorsport talent, which also included Alain Prost, René Arnoux, and Patrick Tambay in Formula One. Pironi made his Formula Renault debut in France in 1974, winning the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race in 1976 and winning the coveted Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race in 1977. This was with Ken Tyrrell's staff, who were based in the United Kingdom, who had a good working relationship with Elf dating back to the late 1960s. Pironi was a member of the Le Mans squad that was competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second year in a row. He won the race by four laps over partner Jean-Pierre Jaussaud in the team's second car, the rare "bubble roof" A442B.

Guy Ligier's underfunded Tyrrell team showed enough promise for Guy Ligier to bring Pironi to his eponymous French team in 1980, a season in which Pironi claimed his first victory, as well as many podium finishes, in the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. The Ligier JS11/15 was an excellent vehicle, but it was unable to perform to its full potential. Pironi was not going to win the championship with Ligier because of a combination of incompetence and Laffite's tight political control. Pironi's success piqued Enzo Ferrari's interest in the Frenchman's services, which he obtained for 1981. "As soon as Pironi arrived in Maranello, he gained everyone's respect and admiration, not only for his work as an actor, but also for his way of doing things - he was reserved while at the same time outgoing."

Pironi was slower in qualifying but faster in racing during his first season with Ferrari, contrasted with Gilles Villeneuve, who lauded the Frenchman and treated him as an equal. Despite the fact that the team had signaled to both drivers to slow down, Pironi arguably capitalized on this positive collaboration in the aftermath of the turbulent 1982 San Marino race, where Pironi is widely believed to have duped Villeneuve into conceding victory by promising to finish behind his teammate but then to unexpectedly power past him into the Tosa hairpin. Villeneuve was outraged by Pironi and vowed never to speak another word to him. Two weeks later, the Canadian was killed in qualifying at Zolder, Belgium, in the wake of Pironi's lap time. Many believe that this was the primary focus on Villeneuve's mind at the time of his deadly accident.

The co-designer of the 126C2), Harvey Postlethwaite, said the "drama" after San Marino was blown out of proportion by the media, was "very ill" because he felt he should have been given the race on a plate. They were fierce, and either one of them could have won."

During the San Marino race, he also referred to a scientific explanation as to why the two Ferraris were swapping locations so often. "The (Ferrari 126C) turbo pressure was extremely difficult to handle." The reason why they were able to pass one another so well was that one would go through a rocky patch and give the one a boost or 4.2, and the other would get a hefty burst of 4.5 inches, so it would have the legs of the other guy. It wasn't quite as spectacular as it seemed at the time.

According to Ferrari's chief mechanic Paolo Scaramelli, the team had agreed before the race that if the two Renaults were out, the drivers should have kept their positions. Although a deal was concluded, Pironi said the terms were more complicated, "We had a meeting before the race; Arnoux, Prost, Gilles and me in my motorhome" We decided to make a spectacle out of the first half of the race as long as our positions on the lap were the same as the grid. We got to the real race at half-distance and had plenty of fuel. Marco Piccinini and Gérard Larrousse (Renault F1's team manager) didn't know, only the mechanics knew, but Prost and Arnoux - they will tell you the same." "I went through Villeneuve for the first time because he had made a mistake and had taken off the track." The first slow sign we saw was just a few laps after that, but we knew we had a lot of gas left by then because of the way we drove the first half of the race."

Marco Piccinini, a 2002 interview with Motor Sport, agreed with Pironi's statement, "It was a genuine mistake caused by Gilles' mistake." He went off the circuit a little bit and Didier passed. We were 1-2, not because we favored one driver over the other. We didn't like either because it was early in the game. We just wanted to keep 1-2."

In 2007, former Marlboro marketing executive John Hogan (who was paid by Pironi during his time as a Ferrari racer) denied the argument that Pironi had gone back to a previous contract with Villeneuveneuve. "I believe Gilles was stunned someone out-driven him, and that it hadn't taken him so much by surprise," Gilles said.

Pironi seemed to be on target to be the 1982 World Champion due to several factors. Following the Zolder tragedy, widespread antipathy among many in the F1 fraternity was directed toward him. Within weeks of the wedding taking place, he witnessed the rapid breakdown of his marriage to longtime girlfriend Catherine Beynie. Riccardo Paletti's death in the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix was first hand recalled by the young Italian rookie ploughing into Pironi's stalled Ferrari on the starting grid.

Following Villeneuve's death, Ferrari staff members are said to have observed changes in Pironi's behavior throughout the summer. Pironi remarked, "I feel I am starting to touch the World Championship" just shy of the 1982 British Grand Prix.

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