Jacques Laffite

Jacques-Henri Laffite ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from Template:F1 to Template:F1. Laffite won six Formula One Grands Prix across 13 seasons.

Born and raised in Paris, Laffite trained as a racing driver with the Winfield Racing School at Magny-Cours in 1968. Laffite twice entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Ligier before making his Formula One debut at the 1974 German Grand Prix with Frank Williams. Laffite remained at Frank Williams through the Template:F1 season, scoring his maiden podium at the Template:F1GP and winning the European Formula Two Championship with Martini. He moved to Ligier in Template:F1, taking several podiums amongst his maiden pole position in Italy. Laffite retained his seat the following season, taking his maiden win at the Template:F1GP. After a winless season in Template:F1, Ligier constructed the highly-competitive JS11 in response to the ground effect era. Laffite won the opening two rounds of the Template:F1 season—including a grand slam at the Template:F1GP—but ultimately finished the championship in fourth after suffering eight retirements. Laffite again finished fourth in the Template:F1 and Template:F1 championships, losing out on the latter by six points to Nelson Piquet and taking several wins across both. Laffite failed to finish 11 of 15 Grands Prix in Template:F1, leaving for Williams at the end of the season. After two winless seasons with Williams, amongst further reliability issues, Laffite returned to Ligier in Template:F1, scoring several podiums. At the 1986 British Grand Prix, Laffite was seriously injured in a multi-car collision that broke both of his legs. He subsequently retired from Formula One, having achieved six wins, seven pole positions, seven fastest laps and 32 podiums.

Outside of Formula One, Laffite was a race-winner in the World Sportscar Championship with Kauhsen, as well as in the BMW M1 Procar Championship with BMW. He competed in the World Touring Car Championship in 1987 with Alfa Corse, and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft from 1990 to 1992. Laffite entered nine editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans from Template:24hLM to Template:24hLM across multiple classes. Upon retiring from motor racing, Laffite was a presenter for TF1 from 1997 to 2012.

Early years

Jacques-Henri Laffite was born in Paris on 21 November 1943. He attended the Cours Hattemer, a private school.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was trained as a racing driver in 1968 at Winfield Racing School in France.

Formula One career

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 second place in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.

File:Ligier JS11 2008 Goodwood.jpg

Laffite's Template:F1 Ligier JS11 being demonstrated at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed

File:Jacques Laffite 1982 Pau.jpg

Laffite demonstrating the Ligier JS19 chassis at the 1982 Pau Grand Prix

In Template:F1 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 fourth, with 36 points. The following two seasons were similar, with two more fourth places in the Championship and a further three victories. In 1982, however, Laffite finished only 17th in the final classification, with only 5 points scored.

During the early 1980s, Laffite also made three end of season trips to Australia to race in the non-championship Australian Grand Prix. He failed to finish his first race in 1981 (he was lucky to start after his car hit the wall on the outside of the last turn of the short (1.609 km (1.000 mi)) Calder Park Raceway in qualifying, but his local crew were able to repair it for the race). He finished second to fellow Frenchman Alain Prost in 1982, and third behind Brazilian Roberto Moreno and Australian John Smith in 1983. In all of his pre-Formula One AGP drives, Laffite drove a Formula Pacific or Formula Mondial Ralt RT4 powered by a 1.6-litre Ford I4 engine.

Results in the next two seasons were not 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 at the start of the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch and thereafter retired from Formula One, ending his career tied with Graham Hill for the most Grand Prix starts at 176. He was the most successful driver in Ligier's history, having taken six of their nine wins.

As a result of Laffite's injuries, new safety rules were enforced from the Template:F1 season that stated that in all cars the driver's feet must be behind the front axle line.

Post-Formula One career

Laffite recovered from his injuries and later raced in touring cars, finishing 17th in the inaugural World Touring Car Championship driving an Alfa Romeo 75 for Alfa Corse as well as racing three seasons in the German-based DTM series.

He is now a television commentator for the French network TF1, best known for his reaction to the incident at the 1997 European Grand Prix in which Michael Schumacher collided with Jacques Villeneuve, and Laffite reacted with curse words on live television.

Laffite made his 2007 FIA GT3 European Championship debut at the 2008 Bucharest City Challenge, driving for AutoGT Racing Team. <ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In October 2008, at the age of 64, he tested a Renault R27 F1 car at the Paul Ricard circuit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Laffite has two daughters: Camille and Margot, a sports journalist of Formula One on Canal+. He is also golf enthusiast, is a shareholder of Dijon-Bourgogne Golf.

Also deeply attached to the Creuse for Golf Fisheries and nature, he has a property in Creuse near Aubusson.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1972	24 Hours of Le Mans	Automobiles Ligier	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1973	24 Hours of Le Mans	Automobiles Ligier	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DSQ
1974	European Formula Two	BP Racing France	10	1	1	1	5	31	3rd
	Formula One	Frank Williams Racing Cars	5	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Automobiles Ligier	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	8th
1975	European Formula Two	Automobiles Martini	14	6	5	4	7	60	1st
	Formula One	Frank Williams Racing Cars Williams Ambrozium H7 Racing	10	0	0	0	1	6	12th
	World Sportscar Championship	Willi Kauhsen Racing Team	3	3	0	0	3	60	NC
1976	Formula One	Ligier Gitanes	16	0	1	1	3	20	7th
	World Sportscar Championship	Equipe Renault Elf	4	0	3	0	1	15	NC
	European Formula Two	Fred Opert Racing	2	0	0	1	2	0	NC‡
		Willi Kauhsen Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0
1977	Formula One	Ligier Gitanes	17	1	0	1	2	18	10th
	European Formula Two	Fred Opert Racing	3	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Renault Sport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1978	Formula One	Ligier Gitanes	16	0	0	0	2	19	8th
	European Formula Two	Maublanc Racing Services	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Grand Touring Cars Inc.	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	10th
1979	Formula One	Ligier Gitanes	15	2	4	2	6	36	4th
	BMW M1 Procar Championship	BMW Motorsport	4	1	1	0	2	35	7th
1980	Formula One	Équipe Ligier Gitanes	14	1	1	1	5	34	4th
	BMW M1 Procar Championship	BMW Motorsport	6	0	1	0	1	37	9th
1981	Formula One	Équipe Talbot Gitanes	15	2	1	1	7	44	4th
1982	Formula One	Équipe Talbot Gitanes	15	0	0	0	1	5	17th
1983	Formula One	TAG Williams Team	13	0	0	0	0	11	11th
1984	Formula One	Williams Grand Prix Engineering	16	0	0	0	0	5	14th
1985	Formula One	Équipe Ligier Équipe Ligier Gitanes	15	0	0	1	3	16	9th
1986	Formula One	Équipe Ligier	9	0	0	0	2	14	8th
1987	World Touring Car Championship	Alfa Corse	6	0	0	0	0	86	17th
1990	Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft	Bigazzi M Team	21	1	0	3	3	107	7th
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Joest Porsche Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	14th
1991	Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft	Snobeck S.A.	21	0	2	1	3	81	11th
1992	Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft	MS Racing	23	0	0	1	0	43	13th
1993	24 Hours of Le Mans	Jacadi Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1994	24 Hours of Le Mans	Larbre Compétition	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1996	24 Hours of Le Mans	Team Bigazzi SRL	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	11th
2007	FIA GT3 European Championship	AutoGT Racing	6	0	0	0	0	0	22nd
2008	FIA GT3 European Championship	AutoGT Racing	7	0	0	0	0	0	29th
2013	Eurocup Mégane Trophy	Oregon Team	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
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Template:Smallsup Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Automobiles Ligier	Template:Flagicon Pierre Maublanc	Ligier JS2-Maserati	S 3.0	195	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Automobiles Ligier	Template:Flagicon Guy Ligier	Ligier JS2-Maserati	S 3.0	24	DSQ	DSQ
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Automobiles Ligier	Template:Flagicon Alain Serpaggi	Ligier JS2-Maserati	S 3.0	310	8th	5th
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Renault Sport	Template:Flagicon Patrick Depailler	Renault Alpine A442	S +2.0	289	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Grand Touring Cars Inc.	Template:Flagicon Vern Schuppan Template:Flagicon Sam Posey	Mirage M9-Renault	S +2.0	293	10th	5th
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Joest Porsche Racing	Template:Flagicon Henri Pescarolo Template:Flagicon Jean-Louis Ricci	Porsche 962C	C1	328	14th	14th
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Jacadi Racing	Template:Flagicon Michel Maisonneuve Template:Flagicon Christophe Dechavanne	Venturi 500LM-Renault	GT	210	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Larbre Compétition	Template:Flagicon Jacques Alméras Template:Flagicon Jean-Marie Alméras	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	GT2	94	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Team Bigazzi SRL	Template:Flagicon Steve Soper Template:Flagicon Marc Duez	McLaren F1 GTR-BMW	GT1	318	11th	9th
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Complete European Formula Two 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	Template:Tooltip	Pts
Template:F2	BP Racing France	March 742	BMW M12	BAR Template:Small	HOC Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	SAL Template:Small	HOC Template:Small	MUG Template:Small	KAR Template:Tooltip	PER Template:Small	HOC Template:Small	VLL Template:Small					3rd	31
Template:F2	Automobiles Martini	Martini Mk 16	BMW M12	EST Template:Small	THR Template:Small	HOC Template:Small	NÜR Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	HOC Template:Small	SAL Template:Small	ROU Template:Small	MUG Template:Small	PER Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	ZOL Template:Small	NOG Template:Small	VLL Template:Small	1st	60
Template:F2	Fred Opert Racing	Chevron B35	BMW	HOC	THR	VLL	SAL	PAU Template:Small	HOC	ROU	MUG	PER	EST	NOG Template:Small				NC	0Template:Smallsup
	Willi Kauhsen Racing Team	March 762	Hart												HOC Template:Small
Template:F2	Fred Opert Racing	Chevron B40	Hart	SIL	THR	HOC Template:Small	NÜR	VLL	PAU Template:Small	MUG	ROU	NOG Template:Small	PER	MIS	EST	DON		NC	0
Template:F2	Maublanc Racing Services	March 782	BMW	THR	HOC	NÜR	PAU Template:Small	MUG	VLL	ROU	DON	NOG Template:Small	PER	MIS	HOC			NC	0
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Template:Smallsup Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

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	Template:Tooltip	Pts
Template:F1	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Iso–Marlboro FW	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small			NC	0
Template:F1	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Williams FW02	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	ESP														12th	6
	Williams Ambrozium H7 Racing	Williams FW04						MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	SWE	NED Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	USA Template:Small
Template:F1	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS5	Matra MS73 3.0 V12	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	SWE Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small	JPN Template:Small		7th	20
Template:F1	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS7	Matra MS76 3.0 V12	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	SWE Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	USA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	JPN Template:Small	10th	18
Template:F1	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS7	Matra MS76 3.0 V12	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small		USW Template:Small														8th	19
		Ligier JS7/9	Matra MS78 3.0 V12			RSA Template:Small			BEL Template:Small		SWE Template:Small
		Ligier JS9						MON Template:Small		ESP Template:Small		FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	USA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small
Template:F1	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS11	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small			4th	36
Template:F1	Équipe Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS11/15	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small				4th	34
Template:F1	Équipe Talbot Gitanes	Talbot Ligier JS17	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	USW Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	ARG Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	CPL Template:Small			4th	44
Template:F1	Équipe Talbot Gitanes	Talbot Ligier JS17B	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	RSA Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	SMR	BEL Template:Small		DET Template:Small	CAN Template:Small										17th	5
		Talbot Ligier JS19							MON Template:Small			NED Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	SUI Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CPL Template:Small
Template:F1	TAG Williams Team	Williams FW08C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	BRA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	DET Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	EUR Template:Small				11th	11
		Williams FW09	Honda RA163-E 1.5 V6 t															RSA Template:Small
Template:F1	Williams Grand Prix Engineering	Williams FW09	Honda RA163E 1.5 V6 t	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	MON Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	DET Template:Small	DAL Template:Small									14th	5
		Williams FW09B	Honda RA164E 1.5 V6 t										GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	EUR Template:Small	POR Template:Small
Template:F1	Équipe Ligier	Ligier JS25	Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 t	BRA Template:Small	POR Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small														9th	16
	Équipe Ligier Gitanes							CAN Template:Small	DET Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	EUR Template:Small	RSA	AUS Template:Small
Template:F1	Équipe Ligier	Ligier JS27	Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 t	BRA Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	DET Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS		8th	14
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Complete World Touring Car Championship results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Alfa Corse	Alfa Romeo 75	MNZ	JAR Template:Small	DIJ ovr:9 cls:5	NUR ovr:9 cls:7	SPA ovr:12 cls:9	BNO ovr:10 cls:8	SIL ovr:10 cls:8	BAT	CAL	WEL	FJI	17th	86
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* Overall race position shown. Registered WTCC points paying position may differ.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1990	Bigazzi M Team	BMW M3 Sport Evo	ZOL 1 Template:Small	ZOL 2 Template:Small	HOC 1 Template:Small	HOC 2 Template:Small	NÜR 1 Template:Small	NÜR 2 Template:Small	AVU 1 Template:Small	AVU 2 Template:Small	MFA 1 Template:Small	MFA 2 Template:Small	WUN 1 Template:Small	WUN 2 Template:Small	NÜR 1 Template:Small	NÜR 2 Template:Small	NOR 1 Template:Small	NOR 2 Template:Small	DIE 1 Template:Small	DIE 2 Template:Small	NÜR 1 Template:Small	NÜR 2 Template:Small	HOC 1 Template:Small	HOC 2 Template:Small			7th	107
1991	Snobeck S.A.	Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2	ZOL 1 Template:Small	ZOL 2 Template:Small	HOC 1 Template:Small	HOC 2 Template:Small	NÜR 1 Template:Small	NÜR 2 Template:Small	AVU 1 Template:Small	AVU 2 Template:Small	WUN 1 Template:Small	WUN 2 Template:Small	NOR 1 Template:Small	NOR 2 Template:Small	DIE 1 Template:Small	DIE 2 Template:Small	NÜR 1 Template:Small	NÜR 2 Template:Small	ALE 1 Template:Small	ALE 2 Template:Small	HOC 1 Template:Small	HOC 2 Template:Small	BRN 1 Template:Small	BRN 2 Template:Small	DON 1 Template:Small	DON 2 Template:Small	11th	81
1992	MS Racing	Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2	ZOL 1 Template:Small	ZOL 2 Template:Small	NÜR 1 Template:Small	NÜR 2 Template:Small	WUN 1 Template:Small	WUN 2 Template:Small	AVU 1 Template:Small	AVU 2 Template:Small	HOC 1 Template:Small	HOC 2 Template:Small	NÜR 1 Template:Small	NÜR 2 Template:Small	NOR 1 Template:Small	NOR 2 Template:Small	BRN 1 Template:Small	BRN 2 Template:Small	DIE 1 Template:Small	DIE 2 Template:Small	ALE 1 Template:Small	ALE 2 Template:Small	NÜR 1 Template:Small	NÜR 2 Template:Small	HOC 1 Template:Small	HOC 2 Template:Small	13th	43
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Complete Grand Prix Masters results

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

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1
2005	Team GMF	Delta Motorsport GPM	Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8	RSA Template:Small
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Other results

• 800 km of Dijon: 1st, 1975
• 1000 km of Monza: 1st, 1975
• 1000 km of Nürburgring: 1st, 1975
• 500 km of Monza: 1st, 1988 (class win)
• 500 km of Nürburgring: 1st, 1988 (class win)
• 3 hours of Zhuhai: 1st, 1994

See also

• Formula One drivers from France