Imola 1983 – We are such stuff as dreams are made on

The 1982 San Marino Grand Prix is infamous.  Didier Pironi’s apparent disregard of team orders, denying Gilles Villeneuve a win, might not have lived on so long in the memory had it not been for Villeneuve’s devasting fatal accident at the next Grand Prix.  Gilles Villeneuve died without fulfilling his potential as driver nor settling his argument with Pironi.

Patrick Tambay was hired to replace Villeneuve at Ferrari and took over the N. 27 car.

Patrick Tambay, Ferrari 126C2B, Grand Prix of Belgium, Spa-Francorchamps, 22 May 1983. Photo by Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images.

Tambay had been a talented junior, with good F1 experience and a lot of success racing in North America.

Gilles Villeneuve and Patrick Tambay.

The Frenchman had also been a close friend of Villeneuve.  Pironi was leading the championship at that point and it was no doubt hoped that the reliable Tambay could support him throughout the rest of the season.

Patrick Tambay, Rene Arnouch, Prince Metternich, GP of Germany, Hockenheimring, 08 August 1982. Patrick Tambay's first victory. Photo by Bernard Cahier/Getty Images).

Tambay took his first win for the team at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim the same weekend Pironi crashed and sustained career ending leg injuries.  

Patrick Tambay, Rene Arnoux and Mauro Forghieri.

Pironi was replaced with Tambay’s fellow Frenchman, Rene Arnoux for the remainder of that season and for the 1983 season.  

Patrick Tambay, Imola 1983.

The San Marino Grand Prix of 1983 was charged with emotion.  It was a year since Villeneuve’s passing and the Tifosi had a dream that Tambay could pay tribute to their great hero by bringing his Ferrari home to a win in his honour.  This dream was no doubt shared by a great many fans around the world.  Tambay, too, had the Canadian maple leaf on his car and still carried Villeneuve’s number: 27.

Tambay had a tough practice session, dealing with technical problems but managed to qualify 5th, with Arnoux taking pole in the other Ferrari with Nelson Piquet alongside, in second.  Piquet stalled at the start but his team mate in the Brabham, Ricardo Patrese, made a great getaway and stormed into the lead.

After the pit stops, Arnoux, who had stopped first, was down in fifth place.  Tambay emerged in the lead, as Patrese overshot his pit causing his team to move down the pitlane to service his car.  After an agonising 23 second pitstop, he emerged in second place.

Patrese was 10 seconds down on Tambay but ate into the Ferrari’s lead as an engine misfire left Tambay unable to respond.  With five laps to go, Patrese took the lead.  The disappointment of the crowd was obvious and not even an Italian winner would make up for it.  

To finish first, first you have to finish

The Gods of Formula One were with the Tifosi and Tambay that day.  On the final lap, Patrese lost control and went straight into the tyre barrier.

Tambay crossed the line in first place, taking Villeneuve’s 27 to the top step of the podium.  

Even on the grainy YouTube videos and photos of the day the collective joy is clear to see.  Patrick raises his arms in victory and the crowd explodes.

It’s almost incidental to note that Alain Prost was second with Arnoux bringing the other Ferrari home in third place.  

If someone had written this in a movie, no one would have made it.  It’s almost too good to be true.  The stars aligned for Patrick Tambay; it wasn’t just an epic win, it was a cosmic one.

 We are such stuff as dreams are made on.

It’s an interesting phrase from Shakespeare.  It implies that our dreams are not abstract or outside of ourselves but that we are the very foundation of them.  In a sense, who we are determines what we dream.  We live in a world where rugged individualism is promoted as a virtue.  Not an awards ceremony or sports presentation goes by without the winner stating something along the lines that they “have achieved all they dreamed of”.  Behind every win is a history of loss and for every winner there are those who through their own mistakes or sheer bad luck, lost that day.   They dreamed too.  Dreams are not just a bucket list of things to achieve.   

As we start to emerge from the Covid 19 pandemic, we have all become aware of how much our families, friendships and communities really mean to us. We are part of a fabric of life that connects us to our past and our futures and to our planet. We are united by a cosmic force that makes us human and, perhaps, it is better that we don’t really understand why.   When we are brought together by our dreams we can achieve amazing things.  

Ferrari knows this.  Ferrari emerged after the previous global crisis of World War 2.  It was more than a car brand that Enzo Ferrari built.  He built cars that evoke emotion.  Their beauty stops you in your tracks.  Their power takes your breath away.  The Ferrari is called the dream car.  All racing drivers dream of racing for Ferrari.  A Ferrari reminds you that you are alive.  It inspires you to look beyond the mundane and everyday to something special.  We build our dreams and Ferrari is a platform for building dreams upon.  

Patrick Tambay.

Patrick Tambay said in an interview for The Race website that the San Marino Grand Prix of 1983 was incredibly emotional. 

“Something strange was going on out there. ….. At one stage in the race, I was losing focus a little, then there was a loud bang and something pushed my helmet. I’ve no idea what it was but it woke me up. Maybe it was Gilles…”

Patrick Tambay driving his Ferrari at Imola in 1983.

On that day, in modern terms, we might say Tambay crowd sourced his dream with the Tifosi and their energy and the sheer strength of emotion took him to victory. It was the result they dreamed of and it was a race and a story for the ages.  

By Clare Topic