Clay Regazzoni
| Clay Regazzoni | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Swiss
|
| Years | 1970-1980 |
| Team(s) | Ferrari (1970-72,74-76), BRM (1973), Ensign (1977,80), Shadow (1978), Williams (1979) |
| Races | 132 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 5 |
| Podiums | 28 |
| Poles | 5 |
| Fastest laps | 15 |
| First race | 1970 Dutch Grand Prix |
| First win | 1970 Italian Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1979 British Grand Prix |
| Last race | 1980 United States Grand Prix West |
Clay Regazzoni (born Gianclaudio Regazzoni, September 5, 1939 in Lugano, Switzerland) is a former Swiss Formula One racing car driver.
Having been raised in Switzerland's predominantly Italian-speaking area bordering Italy, he was effectively considered to be an Italian by Italians, which was a point of great pride during his years with Ferrari in the mid-1970s. However, he holds a Swiss passport and also the official Formula One records register Regazzoni as being Swiss. Regazzoni's first victory came during his first season in Formula 1, when he won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Although he only competed in eight of the 13 races that year, he finished third in the championship, behind team-mate Jacky Ickx and the late Jochen Rindt, who posthumously won the world championship that year.
After a couple of seasons at Ferrari Regazzoni moved to BRM, where he teamed-up with Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Niki Lauda. In 1974 Ferrari decided to call Regazzoni back. He promptly agreed and suggested to Enzo Ferrari to bring Niki Lauda along. Regazzoni and Lauda, together with team manager Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and technical director Mauro Forghieri, formed a very successful partnership that generated 15 wins, two constructors titles, and one drivers championship (Lauda in 1975).
Regazzoni's best season was 1974, when he lost the championship to Emerson Fittipaldi by only three points. In the second part of the 1970s Regazzoni participated in the Indianapolis 500 miles with McLaren and drove for mid-field Formula One teams like Ensign and Shadow, until Sir Frank Williams offered him a competitive seat again in one of his cars in 1979. Regazzoni paid him back by giving the team its maiden win at Silverstone, but he was replaced by Carlos Reutemann at the end of the season.
In 1980 he crashed during the United States Grand Prix West, held at Long Beach, when his brakes failed at the end of a long high-speed straight. His car crashed at unabated speed into a previously retired car that was parked in an escape road past a corner. The crash left Regazzoni paralyzed from the waist down and since then he's been very active in helping disable people getting equal opportunities.
A moving account of his life can be found in his autobiography "E' questione di cuore" ("It's a matter of heart") published in the mid-80s. Currently, Regazzoni shares his time between Monaco and Lugano, and he occasionally does commentaries for Swiss and Italian TV channels.
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