Jacques Laffite Born In Paris, France - November 21, 1943

November 21, 1943

Jacques Laffite

(Photo; retrosport.org)
Born in Paris, France.
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.

Now in his forties, Laffite returned to Ligier in 1985: in that season he was on the podium three times, 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. The race was stopped and restarted without Laffite, who was thus classified as a non-starter and ended his career tied with Graham Hill for the most Grand Prix starts. 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 1988 season that stated that in all cars the driver's feet must be behind the front axle line.

Laffite recovered from his injuries and later raced in touring cars. 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.

(Photo: gillfoto via photopin cc)