Profile

Riccardo Gabriele Patrese was born in Padova, Italy, in April 17th 1954. Since his childhood he was involved with sports and his first sport was the Ski. He started to practice this sport too early, when he was a little boy and followed it until he was 20 years old. He was a top skier and even won championships like the Coca – Cola Ski Championship in the early seventies.

The cars always were part of Riccardo’s life and with 9 years old he had his first experience in motorsport driving a Kart. At the start he drove Karts only during summers just for fun. During winters the young Riccardo used to participate of swimming competitions. Yes, Riccardo was a swimmer, too. He followed this sport until he was 15 years old. Riccardo was a free style swimmer and for the relay a back-stroke swimmer. He left the swimming competitions when his team broke up…

Riccardo continued to do Kart races and since that time he impressed everyone with his talent. In 1974, with 20 years old, he won the world title and received an offer to drive for the Nettuno Racing Team in Formula Italia where he had a brilliant participation finishing the championship in the second place.

In 1976 he went to European Formula 3 where he won the title in his rookie year!! In 1977 he went to Formula 2 and in that same year he made his debut in Formula 1 in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Patrese stayed in Formula 1 for 17 seasons, he had ups and downs but ended his career being one of the most respected and loved Formula 1 drivers. He won 6 races and got 8 pole positions in 256 Grand Prix and held the record of Grand Prix starts until 2008. Riccardo’s best position in the World Championship was the second place in 1992, a year where his team, Williams, had the best car and dominated the championship. He retired from F1 at the end of the 1993 season after a bad year in Benetton. After retiring from Formula 1, Riccardo participated of the German Super Touring Championship in 1995 and of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997.

He also participated of Horse Jumping contests until 2014 and won some titles. He is the president of Associazione Mondiale Piloti per la Solidarietà and plays soccer in the Associazione’s team, the Nazionale Piloti, in charity games. He also participates of charity soccer games playing in the Star Team for Children created by Prince Albert of Monaco. Riccardo plays a lot of Tennis and Golf, too and sometimes we can see him again in the motorsport scene going to watch some F1 races in the Paddock and participating of the traditional Goodwood Festival of Speed in England (his last appearance there was in 2019).

In 2005 and 2006 Riccardo returned to compete as a racing driver and took part in the Grand Prix Masters Series, a Racing Series for former Formula 1 Drivers with more than 45 years old, and in his debut race in Kyalami he finished in third showing that still was very competitive.

In 2018 he raced the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps driving a Honda NSX GT3 and finished in 7th place. He also raced the 24 Hours of Adria back in 2019 driving a Seat Leon and finished in 3rd place! Now, Riccardo can be seen on some tracks in Italy and Europe following the racing career of his son Lorenzo.

→ Full Name: Riccardo Gabriele Patrese

→ Date of Birth: April 17 1954

→ Place of Birth: Padova (Italy)

→ Star Sign: Aries

→ Height: 1.76m

→ Marital Status: Married (wife: Francesca Accordi)

→ Children: 5 – Sons: Simone (1977) and Lorenzo (2005). Daughters: Beatrice, Maddalena (twins, 1985) and Elena (2014)

→ F1 Seasons: 17

→ Grand Prix Starts: 256

→ Poles: 8

→ Victories: 6

→ Second Places: 17

→ Third Places: 14

→ Fourth Places: 8

→ Fifth Places: 15

→ Sixth Places: 13

→ Fastest Laps: 13

→ Podiums: 37

→ Best Position in F1: 2nd (1992)

→ Retirements: 131

→ Leading: Led 33 times in 30 GPs

→ First F1 Season: 1977

→ Last F1 Season: 1993

→ Total Points: 281

→ Parents: Mario Patrese and Elena Zorzati

→ Brother: Alberto Patrese

→ Hobbies: Horse Riding, Swimming, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Ski, Jet Skis, Collecting Model Trains and Watches

→ Biggest Hates: Liars, Fireworks/Firecrackers

→ Eyes Colour: Green

→ Nicknames: Rick, Papi

→ Best Subject at School: History

→ Left/Right Handed: Right Handed

→ First Car: Fiat 127

→ Favourite Food: Bread

→ Least Favourite Food: Liver

→ Favourite Race Track: Imola

→ Least Favourite Race Track: Magny Cours

→ Favourite Colour: Blue

→ Favourite Actor: Sean Connery

→ Favourite Film: Indiana Jones

→ Favourite Type of Music: He likes most types of music, specially classical music

→ Least Favourite Type of Music: Heavy Metal

1965

→ Starts to race with go-karts

1971

→ Italian Karting Champion (3rd category)

1972

→ Italian Karting Champion (2nd category)

→ Pilota d’oro Karting Winner

→ 4th place in the Karting World Championship at Kalmar (Sweden)

1973

→ European Team Karting Champion

→ 10th place at the “Coppa dei Campioni” with Jesolo

→ 9th place in the Karting World Championship at Nivelles (Belgium)

→ Medaglia d’argento al valore atletico for winning the European Team Karting Championship

1974

→ Karting World Champion (class 100)

→ European Team Karting Champion

→ Medaglia d’oro given by Autosprint

→ Medaglia d’oro al valore atletico for winning the World Karting Championship

1975

→ Debuts in Formula Italia finishing the championship in 2nd place

1976

→ Italian Formula 3 Champion

→ European Formula 3 Champion

→ Monza Lottery Winner

→ Casco d’oro Trophy by Autosprint

→ Premio Ascari, Castellotti, Musso

→ Premio Rocca Pendice

1977

→ Italian Formula 2 Champion

→ 4th Place in European F2 Championship

→ Debuts in Formula 1 at the Monaco GP by Team Shadow

→ First Formula 1 points at the Japanese GP

→ First (and last) Formula 2 victory in Suzuka

→ Macau Grand Prix Winner

→ Premio Chevron per l’automobilismo

1978

→ Macau Grand Prix Winner

→ Leads a Formula 1 race for the first time

→ First Formula 1 podium (Swedish Grand Prix)

→ Giro d’Italia Winner

1979

→ Debuts in Sportscars racing with Team Lancia, getting his first pole position and victory at Sportscars in this same year

→ Debuts in Touring Cars Championship, getting the pole position in his first race

→ Second Place in Macau Grand Prix

→ Premio nazionale La Torretta per lo sport.

1980

→ 50th Formula 1 Grand Prix – Canadian GP

→ Wins 4 Sportscars races with Team Lancia

→ Giro d’Italia Winner

→ Best Italian driver of the year

→ Premio Ascari, Castellotti, Musso

→ Campione italiano assoluto di velocità

1981

→ First Pole Position in F1 at the USA West GP

→ Two podium finishes in Formula 1

→ Wins the Watkins Glens Grand Prix for Lancia in Sportscars

→ Triveneto Champion elected by Gazzetta dello Sport readers

1982

→ First Formula 1 Victory – Monaco Grand Prix

→ Wins 5 World Endurance Championship races with Team Lancia

1983

→ Second Pole Position in F1 at the Italian GP

→ Second victory in F 1 at the South African GP

1984

→ 100th Formula 1 Grand Prix – Italian GP

→ Podium finish in the Italian GP

→ Pole Position in Silverstone and victory in South Africa for Lancia in the World Endurance Championship

1985

→ 4 Pole Positions and 1 victory for Lancia in the World Endurance Championship

1987

→ 150th Formula 1 Grand Prix – French GP

→ Podium finish in the Mexican GP

→ Debuts at Williams in Australia

1988

→ Pole Position and victory for Alfa Romeo at the Magione Grand Prix in Italian Super Touring Car Championship

→ Giro d’Italia Winner

1989

→ Becomes the driver with most Grand Prix Starts in Formula 1

→ Third Pole Position in Formula 1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix

→ Premio Il Gattamelata by the readers of the Sportivo Padovano

→ Trofeo d’eccellenza dell’Associazione Nazionale Corridori Automobilisti

→ Trofeo Ludovico Scarfiotti

→ Best Italian driver of the year

→ Medaglia d’argento al valore atletico for finishing the Formula 1 World Championship in 3rd place

→ Medaglia di bronzo al valore atletico for winning the Campionato italiano assoluto di velocità

1990

→ Wins the San Marino Grand Prix

→ 200th F1 Grand Prix – British GP

→ Campione italiano assoluto di velocità

1991

→ Two victories in Mexico and Portugal

→ 4 Poles Positions (Canada, Mexico, France and Portugal)

→ 8 podiums finishes (Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and Japan)

→ Campione italiano assoluto di velocità

1992

→ Wins the Japanese Grand Prix

→ 9 podium finishes (South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, San Marino, Monaco, France, Great Britain, Belgium and Japan)

→ Pole Position in the Hungarian Grand Prix

→ 2nd place in the FIA F1 Drivers Championship

→ Campione italiano assoluto di velocità

1993

→ 250th Formula 1 Grand Prix – German GP

→ Two podiums finishes (Great Britain and Hungary)

→ Last Formula 1 Grand Prix at Australia

→ Campione italiano assoluto di velocità

1995

→ Takes part in the German Super Touring Cars Championship driving a Ford Mondeo

1996

→ Tests the 1996 Williams Formula 1 car in Silverstone and gets a time that would be sufficient for put him in the 4th place on the grid for that year’s British Grand Prix

1997

→ Takes Part in Le Mans 24 Hours with Nissan

2005

→ Returns to racing, debuting in Grand Prix Masters Series

→ First podium finish in GP Masters in his first race (South African Grand Prix)

2008

→ Tests the Team Honda F1 car

2011

→ Fair Play Ambassador as a recognition to his social activities with the Nazionale Piloti

2018

→ Raced the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps driving a Honda NSX GT3 finishing in 8th place (Pro-Am Cup)

2019

→ Raced the 24 Hours of Adria with a Seat Leon finishing in 3rd place