Home F1 Podcast: Patrese on rivals/teammates, Hunt’s comments, teams & more

Podcast: Patrese on rivals/teammates, Hunt’s comments, teams & more

13/06/2020

The new F1 Beyond The Grid podcast had Riccardo Patrese discussing about his career, rivals, teams and more from the golden days.

Discussions began with Patrese addressing the environment around him, and the property on which he spent lockdown.
Tom Clarkson then brought up the other sports he participated in before F1, before he asked what it was like to stay in Formula 1 for so long at the height of its danger.
When talking about the duration of his career, he also mentioned the teammates – like Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, and others – that challenged him the most.
He also spoke of his 1977 F1 season, in which he competed in numerous series’, and what the chaos was like. On the topic of this season, he also addressed what it was like to make his debut at one of the calendar’s toughest circuits – Monaco.
Patrese also made no attempt to deny that he and Prost both had an offer to go to Williams in 1978, this having been a long-standing rumor.
The Italian then went in-depth on partnering Nelson Piquet, after doing so with Alan Jones and Prost. He told an anecdote about when he hung his pants on a flag pole in his first test with the team.
The Italian denied that he was his fastest teammate, though, saying instead that this was Michael Schumacher – a driver he partnered in 1993 at Benetton.
Patrese covered whether or not Schumacher was favored in his time at the team, and while he didn’t say that it was a one-man team, he did say that there was a different environment with the German there.
As for the 1991 F1 season, the former Williams driver discussed how his teammate Nigel Mansell caught him up in the championship fight, and he spoke on the performance of that car.
After this, he discussed his complicated relationship with Bernie Ecclestone, and told some stories of this friendship. Talking further about relationships with figures of the sport, he told of his first time meeting Enzo Ferrari.
Patrese explained that he was in talks for the 1979 seat at Ferrari, where he would take Gilles Villeneuve’s seat; he also revealed that he had to turn down offers in hopes of joining the team at a later date – something that never happened, but he wishes had.
He was one of many Italians on the grid, which helped in Ferrari considering him; after this, he discussed the crop of Italian drivers on the grid in his time, as well as the lower quantity now.
He also reflected on Monza 1978, and the backlash he faced for ‘causing’ the Ronnie Peterson crash; here, he revealed that he never had a truly civilized conversation with James Hunt, who went on to criticize his every move, even as a commentator.
To demonstrate Hunt berating Patrese, clips of the Brit’s criticizing the Italian’s driving, and even his weight, were played. After this, he spoke on one of his career highlights – the win of the crazy 1982 Monaco GP.
He then reeled off some of his most enjoyable races, of which there were many. Switching topics, he revealed that he and Ayrton Senna were almost teammates at Ferrari, before he opined on Senna’s mettle.
Fittingly, the duo discussed his retirement in 1993, and why he chose not to pursue a drive in other series’.
Interestingly, he said that he tried to get a Williams drive in 1994, and was even offered the position after Senna’s passing, but turned it down, saying that if the Brazilian couldn’t tame it, it was too dangerous.
As the podcast wrapped up, he discussed his son’s progression through the lower formula, and explained how he got into racing.