About Ronnie Peterson....

[Baby Spice]

Does anyone knows anything about Ronnie Peterson? If so please tell me, I would like to know about anything of him, thank you very much.

[Wrex]

Ronnie Peterson Sweden (Örebro)

Born: 14 Feb 1944
Died: 11 Sep 1978 at the age of 34

GP started :123

Wins : 10
Podium places : 26
Pole positions : 14
Front row : 25
Fastest laps : 9
Points : 206

Best Championship finish : 2nd (1971+1978)

Career

1963 - Swedish kart champion
1964 - Swedish kart champion
1965 - Swedish kart champion
1966 - Swedish kart champion
1967 - F3 (own built Special)
1968 - Swedish F3 (Tecno) champion
1969 - European F3 (Tecno). Won Monaco F3 race
1970 - 9 F1 GP (2 Antique Automobile Racing (March), 7 Colin Crabbe Racing (March)), 0 points. ret=3. F2 (March Cos), 3rd Hockenheim
1971 - 11 F1 GP (March), 33 points, 2nd. (2nd Monaco, Britain, Italy, Canada, 3rd US, 4th Holland, 5th Germany). F2 (March Cos) champion. 4 wins: Rouen, Mantorp, Langenlebarn, Vallelunga. 54 points
1972 - 12 F1 GP (March), 12 points, J9th. (3rd Germany, 4th US, 5th France, S.Africa, 6th Argentina). Limited F2 program (March). won at Thruxton Sportscars: Won at Buenos Aires and Nurburgring (Ferrari) with Schenken. 2nd at Daytona, Sebring, Brands Hatch, Watkins Glen. 3rd at Monza, Osterreichring
1973 - 15 F1 GP (Lotus), 52 points, 3rd. 4 wins (France, Austria, Italy, US) (2nd Sweden, Britain, 3rd Monaco)
1974 - 15 F1 GP (Lotus), 35 points, 5th. 3 wins (Monaco, France, Italy) (3rd Canada, 4th Germany, 6th Brazil)
1975 - 14 F1 GP (Lotus), 6 points, J12th. (4th Monaco, 5th Austria, 5th US)
1976 - 16 F1 GP (1 Lotus, 1 Theodore, 14 March), 10 points, J11th. 1 win (Italy). (6th Austria)
1977 - 17 F1 GP (Tyrrell), 7 points, 14th. (3rd Belgium, 5th Austria, 6th Italy)
1978 - 14 F1 GP (Lotus), 51 points, 2nd. 2 wins (S.Africa, Austria) (2nd Belgium, Spain, France, Holland, 3rd Sweden, 4th US West, 5th Argentina). Involved in first lap accident at Monza, leading to severe leg injuries. Once in hospital, complications set in. Slipped into coma, died hours later.


All this info (and more) can be found at Forix Motorsport.com

Hope this helps

[EERO]

I had the pleasure of seeing him win the USGP at Watkins Glen that sad wekend Cevert died. Peterson and James Hunt salvaged whatever good will could be had by treating the fans to a battle Royale for the duration of the race. Hunt as you may recall, was in a privateer March entered by Lord Hesketh, a car that was a backmarker in the hands of its works drivers. Peterson led start to finish in a masterful display. It was one of the best races I have seen and it went along way toward improving the mood of that tragic weekend.
In 1978, as Peterson returned to Lotus as Andretti's teammate, the Swede was the American's sole compettion for the title. Many have argued that Peterson was the faster of the two, but that he was bound by honor to respect the agreement between himself and Andretti to let Mario take the title. I would argu, that Ronnie, for all his speed, was notorious for driving through the problems of a car and had no idea how to do a set up. Andretti was the master technician and it was his effort, as much as Colin Chapman's that got Lotus back into a position where they could win races, which was very different from the team Ronnie left in despair after the first race of the 1976 season. At Monza, the close ties between the Andretti and Peterson Families were strained by the gentleman's agreement, provoked by Chapman's favoritism of Andretti and the fact that Lotus brought only one spare 79 for Andretti's use. Peterson's spare was the previous season's 78 which had a very fragile front bulkhead. As Peterson was forced to race his spare, this unfortunate set of decisions led to his death. All of this is documented in a recent issue of Formula 1 Magazine.

Peterson was lucid following the accident but slipped into a coma due to a fat embollism from his shattered legs.

The final irony was that Andretti clinched the WDC with the death of his teamate following and accident on September 10th at the Italian GP. The only other American to win the WDC, Phil Hill, clinched his title on September 10th at Monza following a fatal accident involving his teammate, Wolfgang von Trips, the only other man inrunning for the title. Its a strange world.

Peterson had magnificent car control and was famous for his tail out style. Today, I suspect, he would be over shadowed by the techinicians and the computers.

I'd rather watch the Petersons.

[freud]

To me, he was the best driver of the 70s after Gilles Villeneuve and one of my favorite drivers of all time.

[mariov]

Here you go Baby Spice access these web site for more info on Ronnie Peterson.

http://www.algonet.se/~alfisti/RonniePS.html

or you can search the drivers history in the www.fia.com site or the www.granprix.com sites

I had the pleasure of seing race a few time, and that was always a joy...the car control he had.

[Dr. Austin]

Great post, Erro.


Andretti and Peterson had first become friends driving the Ferrari 312pb sportscars as teammates. Ronnie did pretty well in those cars too.

[strad]

Ditto Freud.............................')