MOTORSPORT GREATS

DIDIER PIRONI

This dashing French star of the 1970s and early ’80s codrove the winning Renaultalpine A442B at Le Mans in 1978 but is best known for his speed and controversy in F1. Didier Pironi made his debut for Tyrrell, switched to Ligier in 1980, won in Belgium and then joined Ferrari as team-mate to Gilles Villeneuve. The pair became close friends, but Pironi had panache to rival the great Canadian. At Imola in 1982, he infamously broke a pact between the pair and won, enraging Villeneuve, who crashed fatally at the next event. Pironi’s F1 career ended in a leg-smashing accident at Hockenheim later that season, before he died while racing a powerboat in 1987.