A pointless drive to sixth for Patrick Gaillard
Today at 08:15 AM
French driver Patrick Gaillard celebrates his 73rd birthday on this day, so it's only appropriate we remember his single F1 claim to fame.
Gaillard competed in two Grands Prix with Mo Nunn's Ensign team in 1979, without anything to show for it.
However, he was called back to the team a year later for the 1980 Spanish GP in Jarama. The Frenchman put in a good effort to finish 6th at the wheel of Ensign's pretty N180 in a race won by Williams' Alan Jones.
But the world championship point he deserved eluded Gaillard.
Why? Because the race had gone ahead without the Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo manufacturer teams following a dispute between FOCA and FISA, the sport's governing body at the time.
The event was therefore declared a non-championship race. And Gaillard remains therefore out of F1's official statistics, unfortunately.
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