Jacques Laffite

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This article is about the former racing driver. For other uses, see Jacques Lafitte.

Jacques Laffite
Nationality	French
World Championship Career
Active years	1974 - 1986
Team(s)	Iso Marlboro, Ligier, Williams
Races	180
Championships	0
Wins	6
Podium finishes	32

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 iso Marlboro, the team then directed by Frank Williams. The following year he raced for the same team, now christened Williams racing team, scoring only a 2nd place in the German Grand Prix at Nürburgring.

In 1976 Laffite moved to the French Ligier, totalling 20 points and a pole position in the GP of Italy. The next two season were transitional, although he managed to win his first GP at Anderstorp in 1977.

The 1979 season opened with two Laffite's victories in the first two GPs. He fought for the World Champion title until the last races, but place only 4th in the end, with 36 points. Similar were his following two seasons, with two 4th final places more with further 3 victories. In 1982, however, Laffite finished only 17th in the final classment, with only 5 points conquered.

Not far better were the results in the next two seasons, 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 three times on the podium (Great Britain, Germany and Australia), for a total of 16 points. In 1986 he obtained 14 points with three results in the first three, 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.

Laffite raced for 176 GPs, scoring 6 victories, 7 pole positions, 6 fastest laps and 228 total points.

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 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1974	Iso Marlboro	ARG	BRA	SAF	SPA	BEL	MON	SWE	DUT	FRA	GBR	DEU Ret	AUT NC	ITA Ret	CAN 15	USA Ret			Iso Marlboro	-	0
1975	Williams	ARG Ret	BRA 11	SAF NC	SPA	MON DNQ	BEL Ret	SWE	DUT Ret	FRA 11	GBR Ret	DEU 2	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret				Williams	13th	6
1976	Ligier	BRA Ret	SAF Ret	SAW 4	SPA 12	BEL 3	MON 12	SWE 4	FRA 14	GBR Ret	DEU Ret	AUT 2	DUT Ret	ITA 3	CAN Ret	USA Ret	JPN 7		Ligier	7th	20
1977	Ligier	ARG NC	BRA Ret	SAF Ret	SAW 9	SPA 7	MON 7	BEL Ret	SWE 1	FRA 8	GBR 6	DEU Ret	AUT Ret	DUT 2	ITA 8	USA 7	CAN Ret	JPN 5	Ligier	10th	18
1978	Ligier	ARG 16	BRA 9	SAF 5	SAW 5	MON Ret	BEL 5	SPA 3	SWE 7	FRA 7	GBR 10	DEU 3	AUT 5	DUT 8	ITA 4	USA 11	CAN Ret		Ligier	8th	19
1979	Ligier	ARG 1	BRA 1	SAF Ret	SAW Ret	SPA Ret	BEL 2	MON Ret	FRA 8	GBR Ret	DEU 3	AUT 3	DUT 3	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret			Ligier	4th	36
1980	Ligier	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	SAF 2	SAW Ret	BEL 11	MON 2	FRA 3	GBR Ret	DEU 1	AUT 4	DUT 3	ITA 9	CAN 8	USA 5				Ligier	4th	34
1981	Ligier	SAW Ret	BRA 6	ARG Ret	RSM Ret	BEL 2	MON 3	SPA 2	FRA Ret	GBR 3	DEU 3	AUT 1	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 1	LAS 6			Ligier	4th	44
1982	Ligier	SAF Ret	BRA Ret	SAW Ret	RSM	BEL 9	MON Ret	SAE 6	CAN Ret	DUT Ret	GBR Ret	FRA 14	DEU Ret	AUT 3	SWI Ret	ITA Ret	LAS Ret		Ligier	17th	5
1983	Williams	BRA 4	SAW 4	FRA 6	SMR 7	MON Ret	BEL 6	SAE 5	CAN Ret	GBR 12	DEU 6	AUT Ret	DUT Ret	ITA DNQ	EUR DNQ	SAF Ret			Williams	11th	11
1984	Williams	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	BEL Ret	SMR Ret	FRA 8	MON 8	CAN Ret	USE 5	USA 4	GBR Ret	DEU Ret	AUT Ret	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR 14		Williams	14th	5
1985	Ligier	BRA 6	POR Ret	SMR Ret	MON 6	CAN 8	USA 12	FRA Ret	GBR 3	DEU 3	AUT Ret	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	BEL 11	EUR Ret	RSA	AUS 2		Ligier	9th	16
1986	Ligier	BRA 3	SPA Ret	SMR Ret	MON 6	BEL 5	CAN 7	USA 2	FRA 6	GBR Ret	DEU	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS		Ligier	8th	14

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