Ronnie Peterson
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| Ronnie Peterson | |
|---|---|
Nationality  Swedish |
|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Active years | 1970 - 1978 |
| Teams | March inc. non-works, Tyrrell, Lotus |
| Races | 123 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 10 |
| Podium finishes | 26 |
| Career points | 206 |
| Pole positions | 14 |
| Fastest laps | 9 |
| First race | 1970 Monaco Grand Prix |
| First win | 1973 French Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1978 Austrian Grand Prix |
| Last race | 1978 Italian Grand Prix |
Bengt Ronnie Peterson, (IPA: [rɔniə petɛʂon], February 14, 1944 - September 11, 1978) was a Swedish racing driver. Affectionately nicknamed 'Super Swede' by F1 fans for his attacking driving style, along with Stirling Moss and Gilles Villeneuve, he was regarded as one of the greatest drivers never to have won the Formula One World Championship.
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[edit] Early life
Peterson was born in Örebro, in the neighbourhood of Almby, Sweden. He developed his driving style at a young age while competing in karting, and rapidly worked his way up to the pinnacle of European karting before switching to cars.
[edit] Formulas Three and Two
After his karting years, Peterson entered Formula Three racing in the Svebe, a 1L, Brabham-derived Formula car he co-designed with his father Bengt (who by day made his living as a baker) and Sven Andersson.
Superb results from the outset quickly attracted the attention of the ambitious Tecno company from Italy, and he signed to race with them starting in 1968. The pairing produced some fine results, and he won the 1969 Formula Three Championship.
Even after his elevation to F1 status Peterson still drove in lesser racing series ( which was common at the time), winning the 1971 European Formula Two Championship driving for March.
[edit] Formula One
[edit] Early years
Peterson made his Grand Prix debut in a March 701 for Colin Crabbe's works-supported Antique Automobiles Racing Team, at the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix. The limited budget of Crabbe's privateer team allowed only minimal testing but Peterson qualified 12th of the 16 cars in the race. He was 10 places behind Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon, both on the front row of the grid in their newer specification 701s, but only just behind the more experienced Jo Siffert in the second works March. Peterson was the only March driver to finish the race, in seventh place.[1] In 1971 Peterson moved up to the full March works team, and made an instant impression. Five Formula One Grand Prix second places earned him the position of runner-up to Jackie Stewart in that year's World Championship. Peterson stayed at March until 1973, when he signed for John Player Team Lotus to partner Emerson Fittipaldi.
[edit] 1973 - 1976
His first Grand Prix win was at the 1973 French Grand Prix, held at Paul Ricard, in a Lotus 72. There were three more wins that year, in Austria, Italy and the United States, but poor reliability restricted him to only third place in the World Championship at season's end.
1974 yielded three more victories: the French and Italian Grands Prix, as well as the Monaco Grand Prix, the premier event of Formula One.
1975 was a bad year for Lotus. The Lotus 76 proved a failure, and he reverted to driving the 72F.
Peterson drove the first two races of 1976 in the Lotus 77 before rejoining March Engineering. Driving the March 761, he won the Italian Grand Prix.
[edit] 1977 - 1978
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This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007) |
In 1977, he raced for Tyrrell, driving the six-wheel Tyrrell P34B. His only podium finish was a third place at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Peterson surprised many by leaving Tyrrell to return to John Player Team Lotus for 1978. He won the South African Grand Prix, with a last-lap victory over Patrick Depailler, as well as the Austrian Grand Prix, in the innovative 'ground effects' Lotus 79. His teammate Mario Andretti won the Driver's Championship with Peterson acting effectively as the Team "No. 2" with the pair scoring four 1-2 wins, all with Mario at the lead. Both of Petersons wins were when Andretti encountered troubles, with Mario winning once when Peterson failed to finish (not including the Italian Grand Prix). Many times Peterson followed Andretti closely home, with Andretti unable (or perhaps unwilling) to pull away from the Swede who himself was always either unable or unwilling to pass his American team leader.
Throughout the 1970s Peterson had the reputation of being the fastest driver in F1 in terms of raw speed. During the 1978 season Andretti would frequently post the faster qualifying time. Perhaps refusing to believe the American could best Peterson in a head to head contest, many came to believe that team orders extended even to qualifying. To his credit, Peterson refused to contribute to any controversy, and on numerous occasions dismissed the speculation by stating that Andretti had simply turned the faster time.[citation needed]
[edit] Death
The 1978 Italian Grand Prix at Monza started badly for Peterson. In practice he damaged his Lotus 79 race car beyond immediate repair and bruised his legs in the process. Team Lotus possessed a spare 79, but it had been constructed for Mario Andretti, and the taller Peterson was unable to fit comfortably inside. The team's only other car was a type 78, the previous year's car, which had been dragged around the F1 circuit that season with minimal maintenance.
At the start of the race, the race starter threw the green light before the field was ready to start. Several cars in the middle of the field got a jump on those at the front, and the result was an accordion effect of the cars as they approached the chicane, bunching the cars tightly together. James Hunt collided with Peterson, with Riccardo Patrese, Vittorio Brambilla, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Patrick Depailler, Didier Pironi, Derek Daly, Clay Regazzoni and Brett Lunger all involved in the ensuing melee.
Peterson's Lotus went into the barriers hard and caught fire. He was trapped, but Hunt, Regazzoni and Depailler managed to free him from the wreck before he received more than minor burns. He was dragged free and laid in the middle of the track fully conscious, his severe leg injuries obvious to all. Hunt later said he stopped Peterson from looking at his legs to spare him further distress.
At the time there was more concern for Brambilla, who was hit on the head by a flying wheel and was slumped comatose in his car (he later recovered and drove on in F1 until 1980). Peterson's life was not seen to be in any danger. The injured drivers were taken to hospital in Milan and the race was restarted after the track was cleaned up.
At the hospital, Peterson's X-rays showed he had 7 fractures in one leg and 3 in the other. After discussion with Ronnie himself, the surgeons decided to operate to stabilize the bones. Unfortunately, during the night, bone marrow went into Peterson's bloodstream through the fractures, forming fat globules on his major organs including lungs, liver, and brain. By morning he was in full renal failure and was declared dead a few hours later. The cause of death was given as fat embolism.[citation needed]
Peterson's life would most likely have been saved had he received medical attention immediately after his accident. In violation of safety requirements, track officials waited more than 20 minutes before dispatching medical help to the scene.[citation needed]
Teammate and close friend Andretti clinched the championship at the race.[2] "It was so unfair to have a tragedy connected with probably what should have been the happiest day of my career," Andretti said. "I couldn't celebrate, but also, I knew that trophy would be with me forever. And I knew also that Ronnie would have been happy for me."[2]
After the crash, Hunt (along with other drivers) blamed Patrese for starting the accident, and viewers of Hunt's commentaries of Formula 1 races from 1980-1993 on BBC Television were regularly treated to bitter diatribes against Patrese when the Italian appeared on screen. Nigel Roebuck was another who initially blamed Patrese but recanted.
Peterson ran a total of 123 Grand Prix races during his career, winning ten of them. He is arguably the greatest driver, along with Stirling Moss and Gilles Villeneuve, never to have won the Formula One World Championship.
Peterson's widow, former top model Barbro Edwardsson, never got over his death and committed suicide on December 19, 1987. She was buried, alongside Ronnie, in the Peterson family grave in Örebro.[citation needed] She and Ronnie had a daughter named Nina who was born in November of 1975.[3] [4] There is a statue of Ronnie Peterson in Örebro, by Richard Brixel. The official Ronnie Peterson museum is scheduled to open in Örebro on 31st May 2008.
[edit] Complete World Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
[edit] References
- ^ Lawrence, Mike (1989) The Story of March ; Four guys and a telephone Aston Publishing Ltd. p.36 ISBN 0-946627-24-X
- ^ a b Larry Schwartz. Super Mario had speed to burn. ESPN. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ http://www.f1complete.com/content/view/418/510/
- ^ http://www.ronniepeterson.se/subc/eng/orframe.html
Nyberg, R. & Diepraam, M. 2000. Super Swede. 8W, January 2000.
[edit] External links
- Ronnie Peterson - Grand Prix
- The Official Ronnie Peterson Website
- Full GP results at gpracing.net
- Ronnie Peterson at Find A Grave
- Ronnie Peterson Video Tribute
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Reine Wisell |
Swedish Formula Three Champion 1968-1969 |
Succeeded by Torsten Palm |
| Preceded by Clay Regazzoni |
European Formula Two Champion 1971 |
Succeeded by Mike Hailwood |
| Preceded by Tom Pryce |
Formula One fatal accidents Sept. 10, 1978 |
Succeeded by Patrick Depailler |
