Carlos
Pace

José Carlos Pace was born in São Paulo in 1944. Encouraged by his friends Wilson and Emerson Fittipaldi, he took up karting and first raced a kart in 1960, before moving to cars in 1963. He raced in Brazil from the late 1960s, travelled to Europe in 1970 and won the Forward Trust Championship in British Formula 3 in a Lotus. In 1971 he drove in Formula Two for Frank Williams but failed to score in six races.

Pace made his Formula One debut in 1972 in a Williams-entered March, scored points twice and finished eighteenth in the championship. At the non-championship Victory Race he finished second. He joined Surtees for 1973, finishing fourth in Germany and third in Austria, his first championship podium, and setting the fastest lap in both races. He ended the year eleventh overall. Alongside this he drove for the works Ferrari team in the World Sportscar Championship. Sharing a 312PB with Arturo Merzario, he was second at the Nürburgring and at Le Mans, where he had started from pole, and third at Watkins Glen.

In 1974 Pace finished fourth in Brazil for Surtees but left the team during the season. At the French Grand Prix he failed to qualify a privately entered Brabham. He then joined the works team alongside Carlos Reutemann. He took fifth place and the fastest lap at Monza, and second behind Reutemann at Watkins Glen, giving Brabham a one-two finish. He ended the season twelfth.

The Brabham BT44B was competitive in 1975. Pace won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, his only Formula One victory, and took his first pole position at the next race in South Africa. He also stood on the podium at Monaco and Silverstone. He finished sixth in the championship, and Brabham were second in the Constructors' Championship behind Ferrari. For 1976 the team switched from Ford-Cosworth to Alfa Romeo engines, the car was less competitive, and Pace finished fourteenth. He took second place at the 1977 season opener in Argentina. On 18 March 1977 he was killed in a light aircraft accident, having contested only three races that year.

Pace made 72 Formula One starts, with one win, six podiums and one pole position. The Interlagos circuit was renamed the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in his honour, and since 2024 he has also been buried there.

Source: Wikipedia, “Carlos Pace”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.