Carlos
Reutemann

Carlos Reutemann was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, on 12 April 1942. He first raced in 1965, in a Fiat saloon car. After competing in touring cars and Formula 2 in Argentina, he moved to Europe in 1970 and drove a Brabham in European Formula 2 for the Argentine automobile club's team. In 1971 he finished second in that series behind Ronnie Peterson.

He joined Brabham in 1972. At his first Grand Prix, in Buenos Aires, he put the car on pole position and finished the race seventh. He also won the Interlagos race that year, which was not part of the World Championship. In 1973 he was seventh in the championship. In 1974 he took his first three Grand Prix wins, in South Africa, Austria and the United States, and ended the season sixth. In 1975 he won at the Nürburgring and finished third in the standings.

Brabham suffered reliability problems in 1976 with its Alfa Romeo engine. Reutemann switched to Ferrari during the season but started only one race for them, at Monza in a third car. In 1977 he replaced Clay Regazzoni at Ferrari, won in Brazil and finished fourth in the championship. In 1978 he won four races, in Brazil, Long Beach, Britain and Watkins Glen, and came third in the standings behind Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson. In 1979 he drove for Lotus and finished seventh.

He moved to Williams in 1980, won at Monaco and took third in the championship, the year in which the team won its first Constructors' title. In 1981 he won in Brazil and Belgium and went into the final round in Las Vegas leading the championship by a point. He started from pole position but finished eighth, and Nelson Piquet took the title, leaving Reutemann runner-up by a single point. In 1982 he was second in South Africa and ended his career after the Brazilian race. In total he started 146 Grands Prix, won 12, reached the podium 45 times and took six pole positions.

Away from Formula One, he finished third in Rally Argentina in both 1980, in a Fiat 131, and 1985, in a Peugeot 205 T16. In November 1983 he tested a Ligier at Paul Ricard, but he did not race in the 1984 season.

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