Jacques Laffite

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Jacques Laffite
Nationality  French
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1974 - 1986
Teams	Iso Marlboro, Ligier, Williams
Races	180 (176 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	6
Podium finishes	32
Career points	228
Pole positions	7
Fastest laps	6
First race	1974 German Grand Prix
First win	1977 Swedish Grand Prix
Last win	1981 Canadian Grand Prix
Last race	1986 British Grand Prix

Jacques-Henri Laffite (born November 21, 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1974 to 1986.

[edit] Career

Born in Paris, Laffite debuted in Formula One in 1974 for Frank Williams' Iso Marlboro team. The following year he raced for the same team, now named Williams, scoring a 2nd place in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.

In 1976 Laffite moved to the French Ligier team, scoring 20 points and a pole position at the Italian Grand Prix. The next two seasons were transitional, although he managed to win his first Grand Prix at Anderstorp in the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix.

The 1979 season opened with Laffite winning the first two races. He fought for the World Championship title until the last races, but eventually placed only 4th, with 36 points. The following two seasons were similar, with two more 4th places in the Championship and a further 3 victories. In 1982, however, Laffite finished only 17th in the final classification, with only 5 points scored.

Results in the next two seasons weren't much better, when he moved back to England, again to race for Williams (11 and 5 points, respectively). Now in his forties, Laffite returned to Ligier in 1985: in that season he was on the podium three times (Great Britain, Germany and Australia), for a total of 16 points. In 1986 he scored 14 points including two more podium finishes in the first half of the season, but he broke both legs in a crash during the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, and therefore retired from Formula One.

Laffite recovered from his injuries and later raced in touring cars. He is now a television commentator.

Jacques Laffite was one of the three people (along with Jacky Ickx and Johnny Servoz-Gavin) believed most likely to be the unidentified driver in director Claude Lelouch's classic 1976 short film C'était un rendez-vous. It has since emerged that the driver was in fact Lelouch himself.

[edit] Victories

• 1977: Sweden
• 1979: Argentina, Brazil
• 1980: Germany
• 1981: Austria, Canadian

[edit] Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts.
1974	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Williams FW02	Ford Cosworth DFV V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER Ret	AUT NC	ITA Ret	CAN 15	USA Ret			44th	0
1975	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Williams FW02	Ford Cosworth DFV V8	ARG Ret	BRA 11	RSA NC	ESP														13th	6
		Williams FW04						MON DNQ	BEL Ret	SWE	NED Ret	FRA 11	GBR Ret	GER 2	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	USA DNS
1976	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS5	Matra V12	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW 4	ESP 12	BEL 3	MON 12	SWE 4	FRA 14	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT 2	NED Ret	ITA 3	CAN Ret	USA Ret	JPN 7		7th	20
1977	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS7	Matra V12	ARG NC	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW 9	ESP 7	MON 7	BEL Ret	SWE 1	FRA 8	GBR 6	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 2	ITA 8	USA 7	CAN Ret	JPN 5	10th	18
1978	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS7	Matra V12	ARG 16	BRA 9	RSA 5	USW 5		BEL 5												8th	19
		Ligier JS9						MON Ret		ESP 3	SWE 7	FRA 7	GBR 10	GER 3	AUT 5	NED 8	ITA 4	USA 11	CAN Ret
1979	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS11	Ford Cosworth DFV V8	ARG 1	BRA 1	RSA Ret	USW Ret	ESP Ret	BEL 2	MON Ret	FRA 8	GBR Ret	GER 3	AUT 3	NED 3	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret			4th	36
1980	Equipe Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS11/15	Ford Cosworth DFV V8	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA 2	USW Ret	BEL 11	MON 2	FRA 3	GBR Ret	GER 1	AUT 4	NED 3	ITA 9	CAN 8	USA 5				4th	34
1981	Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Ligier JS17	Matra V12	USW Ret	BRA 6	ARG Ret	RSM Ret	BEL 2	MON 3	ESP 2	FRA Ret	GBR 3	GER 3	AUT 1	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 1	LVS 6			4th	44
1982	Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Ligier JS17	Matra V12	RSA Ret	BRA Ret	USW Ret	RSM	BEL 9		USE 6	CAN Ret										17th	5
		Ligier JS19							MON Ret			NED Ret	GBR Ret	FRA 14	GER Ret	AUT 3	SUI Ret	ITA Ret	LVS Ret
1983	TAG Williams	Williams FW08C	Ford Cosworth DFY V8	BRA 4	USW 4	FRA 6	SMR 7	MON Ret	BEL 6	USE 5	CAN Ret	GBR 12	GER 6	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA DNQ	EUR DNQ				11th	11
		Williams FW09	Honda V6 (t/c)															RSA Ret
1984	Saudia Williams Honda	Williams FW09	Honda V6 (t/c)	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	BEL Ret	SMR Ret	FRA 8	MON 8	CAN Ret	USE 5	USA 4									14th	5
		Williams FW09B											GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR 14
1985	Equipe Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS25	Renault V6 (t/c)	BRA 6	POR Ret	SMR Ret	MON 6	CAN 8	USA 12	FRA Ret	GBR 3	GER 3	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	BEL 11	EUR Ret	RSA	AUS 2		9th	16
1986	Equipe Ligier	Ligier JS27	Renault V6 (t/c)	BRA 3	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON 6	BEL 5	CAN 7	USA 2	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS		8th	14

Sporting positions
Preceded by Michel Leclère	French Formula Three Championship Champion 1973	Succeeded by Alain Prost (1979)
Preceded by Patrick Depailler	European Formula Two Champion 1975	Succeeded by Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Records
Preceded by Graham Hill 179 entries, 176 starts (1958 - 1975)	Most Grand Prix entries 180 entries, 176 starts (1974 - 1986), 180th entry at the 1986 British GP	Succeeded by Riccardo Patrese 257 entries (256 starts), 181st at the 1989 Mexican GP