Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

from to . He achieved six Grand Prix wins, all while driving for the Ligier team. From 1997 to 2013, Laffite was a presenter for TF1.

Early years

Jacques-Henri Laffite was born in Paris on 21 November 1943. He attended the Cours Hattemer, a private school.

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. Jacques Laffite 1982 Pau

In Laffite moved to the French Ligier team, scoring 20 points and a pole position at the

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921. In 2013 it ...

. The next two seasons were transitional, although he managed to win his first Grand Prix at

Anderstorp Anderstorp () is a locality situated in Gislaved Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 4,965 inhabitants in 2010. Scandinavian Raceway, which hosted the Swedish Grand Prix Formula One races in 1973–1978, is situated here. Anderstorp a ...

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

to race in the non-championship

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...

. 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 l4 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 Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and

), 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 The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Cha ...

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

, 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 Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

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 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 Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mov ...

, 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 The 1997 European Grand Prix (formally the XLII European Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 October 1997 at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Spain. Originally scheduled as the Grand Prix of Portugal at the Estoril circuit, it ...

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. In October 2008, at the age of 64, he tested a

Renault R27 The Renault R27 is a Formula One racing car designed and produced by Renault F1, Renault for the 2007 Formula One season. The chassis was designed by Bob Bell (motorsport), Bob Bell, James Allison (motorsport), James Allison, Tim Densham and Dino ...

F1 car at the

Paul Ricard Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and t ...

circuit. 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

Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

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

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

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

Complete Grand Prix Masters results

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

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

Notes

* The fastest lap at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix was initially credited to

Masahiro Hasemi is a former racing driver and team owner from Japan. He started racing motocross when he was 15 years old. In 1964 he signed to drive for Nissan. After establishing himself in saloon car and GT races in Japan, he participated in his only Formula O ...

. This was a measurement mistake, and, several days later, the circuit issued a press release to correct the fastest lap holder of the race to Laffite. This press release was promptly made known in Japan, and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and Japanese media corrected the record. But this correction was not made well known outside Japan, thus, Hasemi is credited with the fastest lap of the race in many record books.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laffite, Jacques French racing drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers French Formula One drivers Ligier Formula One drivers Williams Formula One drivers Formula One race winners European Formula Two Championship drivers French Formula Three Championship drivers Racing drivers from Paris 1943 births Living people Grand Prix Masters drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Oreca drivers Team Joest drivers Larbre Compétition drivers BMW M drivers