Obituary: Carlos Reutemann
“When Carlos was positive and ‘on it’ he was untouchable, but he was too emotionally involved”
‘Brooding’,‘enigmatic’,‘mysterious’. All of those adjectives have been applied to Carlos Reutemann, but they fail to do justice to a man who was one of the fastest, most talented drivers to grace Formula 1 in the 1970s and early 1980s. The Argentinian, who died last Wednesday following a long illness at the age of 79, was a true great of what was arguably the sport’s last heroic era, the finest driver of his time never to be crowned world champion.
In many minds, Las Vegas 1981 is the defining moment of Reutemann. He qualified his Williams on pole position at the ghastly Caesars Palace car-park track, and appeared to have the world title in his pocket. Yet, while team-mate Alan Jones romped to victory, Reutemann faded almost inexplicably to eighth, allowing an exhausted Nelson Piquet to emerge from his Brabham as champion.
“Carlos told us he had some problems with his gear selection,” recalls Williams co-founder Patrick Head.“when we stripped the gearbox, the engagement dogs were immaculate, we could find nothing wrong. It was a mystery to us, and now with
Carlos’s sad passing will remain a mystery.
“When Carlos was positive and‘on it’he was, in my opinion, untouchable, but he was too emotionally involved, his way was that he wanted all to be perfect, and if it was not, he didn’t really want to‘play’.
“Carlos was a deep thinker, but some of this was to little. He would remember every engine number, every gear ratio, minute details from previous years, but not necessarily apply his considerable analytical powers towards helping us solve the problems of the day.”
Yet in reality Reutemann was robbed of that 1981 title. He had beautifully won in tricky conditions the season-opening South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, a renegade race for a new breakaway series at the height of the FISA/FOCA war that briefly tore F1 apart – without FISA teams such as Renault, Ferrari, Ligier and Alfa Romeo. Once the uneasy truce had been declared, that race was consigned to the non-championship history books, and Reutemann was never awarded the points that would have won him the 1981 crown. Consider too that tyre company Goodyear was collateral damage from the politics, and pulled out of F1. When the American firm returned for the mid-season French GP, it did so with Williams and Brabham jumping ship from Michelin. It’s fair to say that Brabham got to grips with the rubber switching quicker than did Williams, aiding Piquet’s quest. But even amid this, Reutemann qualified on the front row at Monza, with the front wing removed from his Williams to aid straightline speed. It was an astonishing achievement against the turbo cars; he was 1.2 seconds quicker than Jones, the next fastest Ford/cosworth-engined runner.
These events were just months before the end of a career that had started in 1965 at the wheel of touring cars in Argentina. He took his single-seater bow in late 1968 in the country’s Formula 2 Temporada mini-series, and was able to impress against the visiting European-based stars, despite a lack of reliability from his Tecno. In 1970, Reutemann was part of the Automovil Club Argentina team that took on the fiercely competitive European F2 scene with Brabham machinery. He made a strong impression given his inexperience: he incurred the wrath of Jochen Rindt at
Hockenheim, yet scored a mid-season pole in a well-attended non-championship race at the same circuit.
Reutemann continued in the same ACA set-up in 1971, and finished runner-up in the standings to March star Ronnie Peterson. After a run of consistent scoring, his first maximum points finish came at Albi in France, storming through after an early puncture to finish second to Emerson Fittipaldi, who as a graded driver was ineligible to score. With two rounds to go, that gave him a shot at the title, but an overconservative tyre choice in tricky conditions next time out at Vallelunga gave Peterson the crown. Similarly, Reutemann was pipped on wins countback to the Brazilian F2 Torneio at the end of the season by Lotus driver Fittipaldi. The tone for his F1 career had been set…
An impressive F1 debut in the non-championship Argentinian GP had been made in January 1971 by Reutemann, who raced an elderly Ecurie Bonnier Mclaren M7C to third position. For 1972, he was signed up by new Brabham boss Bernie Ecclestone for an F1 campaign. His home race in Buenos Aires had now been given world championship status and was the season opener, and Reutemann stunned the elite by grabbing pole position. The decision to start the race on the same soft Goodyear tyres on which he’d qualified backfired; there were no points, but the point had been made.
Reutemann dovetailed his rookie F1 season with another crack at F2 glory and a switch to the Rondel Racing Brabham team of
Ron Dennis. But a few days after claiming his maiden F1 win in the non-championship Brazilian GP at Interlagos, an ankle-breaking F2 crash in practice at Thruxton ruled him out of the cockpit for several weeks. That really set back his season, but by summer he was a regular points contender. That continued in 1973, with Reutemann taking his first F1 podium in the French GP at the wheel of the BT42, the first F1 Brabham designed by Gordon Murray. He also teamed up with Tim Schenken in the beautiful Ferrari 312 PB for a handful of world sportscar rounds, finishing second at Vallelunga and Monza.
The Brabham BT44 for 1974 was a further step forward, and Reutemann broke his GP duck by winning in South Africa. Brabham’s form wasn’t as consistent as that of Mclaren, Ferrari or Tyrrell, so he never truly got into the world title fight, but further victories at the Osterreichring and Watkins Glen hinted that great things lay ahead. In 1975, consistency was gained but Reutemann won only one GP – at the Nurburgring – on his way to third in the points as Niki Lauda dominated for Ferrari.
“The combination of Carlos on the right day and the BT44 was pretty unbeatable on a fast circuit,”reckons Murray.“in terms of natural ability he was one of the top three or four drivers I’ve worked with. He had what I call a very smooth, flowing way of driving. I think he just loved those old-fashioned circuits.
“He was definitely world champion material, but he just had this funny quirk going on in his head where everything had to be lined up the way he wanted it before he could win something. It was there right from the beginning.
“He was the first driver who became what I would call a real Brabham family member. He was so into Brabham, the team and in particular the 44. He just loved the car. Back at the workshop, he’d sit in his car after we came back from a race while the mechanics dismantled it around him.”
Brabham’s switch to Alfa Romeo engines for 1976 led to a disastrous season. When Lauda was critically injured at the German GP, Reutemann bought his way out of his contract to join Ferrari in the Austrian’s place, only for Lauda to make a miraculous recovery. Instead, Clay Regazzoni was let go by the Prancing Horse for 1977. Reutemann started well, with victory in the Brazilian GP, but Lauda very much reimposed himself in the team over the more fragile South American, before walking out after clinching the title.
For 1978, therefore, Reutemann was joined by sensational newcomer Gilles Villeneuve. The Canadian was the F1 team-mate with whom he bonded the best, and Reutemann was on superb form: he won four races, including an exquisitely judged defeat of Lauda’s Brabham at Brands Hatch.
When Jody Scheckter took Reutemann aside and whispered that he’d signed for Ferrari as number one for 1979, Reutemann joined Lotus, whose ground-effect 79 had shifted the aerodynamic goalposts in 1978. As other teams cottoned on to the philosophy, Lotus became outclassed, yet Reutemann trounced reigning world champion team-mate Mario Andretti. But once again he was on the move: the car to have was now a Williams, and again he replaced Regazzoni.
Reutemann joined as number two to Williams favourite Alan Jones, who stormed to the 1980 crown, but the gloves were off in 1981 – especially after the Argentinian disobeyed team orders in
Rio to defeat Jones in the wet. As it happened, Reutemann would lead the team’s title charge anyway, until that anti-climax in Vegas. Like Jones, Reutemann decided to quit F1 at the end of 1981, only to reverse that and return for 1982. After a brilliant drive to second at Kyalami, and a crash in Rio, he then walked away for good.
“Carlos was greatly missed at Williams when he decided to retire when the Falklands War started in early 1982,”adds Head.“he could also see that his new team-mate, Keke Rosberg, was going to be hard to beat, but I am not sure that played a large part in his decision. I think that being a grand prix driver had lost its fascination for him.”
Reutemann was a supreme artist at the wheel, a man who admired the smooth dexterity of skiing superstar Ingemar Stenmark and rally king Walter Rohrl, so it’s perhaps little surprise that he twice finished third in Argentina’s World Rally Championship round: in 1980 with Fiat, and in 1985 with Peugeot. By the latter event, he was starting a political career, twice serving as governor of his home province of Santa Fe, and then joining the national senate. His party several times asked him to run for president, such was his popularity, but he declined. That, if anything, encapsulates a great man.