zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
F1 Icon Carlos Reutemann Dies, Age 79
F1 Icon Carlos Reutemann Dies, Age 79-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:57

Carlos Reutemann after winning the 1975 German Grand Prix.

Argentine Formula One icon Carlos “Lole” Reutemann died earlier this week at the age of 79 after battling the impact of intestinal hemorrhaging that started in May 2021.

Reutemann was born on April 12, 1942 in Santa Fe, Argentina, first showing off his skills in 1965 in a Fiat saloon car. He quickly ascended the ranks of racing before finding himself competing in Formula 2, first in his local Argentina and then in Europe. His performance wasn’t always stellar — his most infamous moment was wiping out eventual champion Jochen Rindt on the first lap of an F2 race at Hockenheim — but Bernie Ecclestone saw promise and signed Reutemann for his Brabham F1 team ahead of the 1972 season, where he raced alongside teammate Graham Hill.

Image for article titled F1 Icon Carlos Reutemann Dies, Age 79

At his home race in Buenos Aires that year — the first race of the season — Carlos Reutemann qualified on pole. That was a feat only previously achieved by Mario Andretti and would only be later achieved by Jacques Villeneueve.

Throughout his F1 career, Reutemann scored 12 wins, 45 podiums, and six fastest laps. He raced with Brabham, Ferrari, Lotus, and Williams. His best finish in the overall championship was his second place in 1981. However, as tensions began to rise over the Falklands War, Reutemann chose to retire and distance himself from his British team.

After that, he began to wend his way into the political world, where he ran for governor of the province of Santa Fe. During the 2001 recession, Reutemann adopted a conservative fiscal policy that applied discounts, froze worker salaries and pensions, and avoided issuing government bonds — which meant that his province was one of the few that emerged from the recession without massive amounts of debt.

An obituary from Formula One sums Reutemann up best, as it features quotes from those who worked closely with the man throughout his career:

So who was Carlos Reutemann? Why was it that on some days he could destroy even the greatest of his rivals, yet on others seem like an also-ran? What made him a lion one day, a lamb the next?

He was deeply interested in all matters technical, and would listen intently to everything that the likes of Gordon Murray or Patrick Head had to say about the cars they made for him. He could even recall the numbers of each Cosworth engine he ever raced, especially the best of them. And long before Ayrton Senna made it part of a driver’s role, he would indulge in lengthy debriefs with his engineers. More than most, he was a man who needed to understand his equipment.

Murray was a huge Reutemann fan, while Head said: “Carlos is often referred to as ‘enigmatic,’ probably an appropriate adjective. Sometimes we had clear sight of his brilliance, his speed, but overall the results did not fit with his potential.”

From his Williams days, design engineer Neil Oatley remembered: “I think Carlos always performed well when he felt loved, which was not perhaps what he perceived to be the case at Williams although this was far from the case. But Frank and Patrick were not by nature people who massaged the drivers; they expected them to stand on their own feet, irrespective of circumstances.”

[...]

Perhaps Murray got closest to the enigma of Carlos Reutemann, when he told writer Doug Nye: “If everything was right on the day he would be right there, a great racing driver, but then for the next couple of races he would seem to get preoccupied with some thoughts that things weren’t going to go his way, and he’d go off the boil. Suddenly he’d look glum and say, ‘No way, no way today, no way for the Championship,’ and that was the end of it. He kept his reasoning in himself, but then on his day he’d click and feel good and nobody could beat him...”

In May of 2021, Reutemann was hospitalized with internal hemorrhaging. As his condition worsened, he suffered from anemia, dehydration, low levels of albumin in the blood, blood flow instability, and COVID-19. While he was able to leave the hospital, he returned there on July 7, where he later died. His daughter confirmed the news.

Reutemann may not have been a legend in the same sense as some of his competitors, like Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost, but his consistent speed often saw him battling with the greats. He will be missed.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
The partially North Carolina-based squad has determined that after , it needs to mix things up a little. The team’s firebrand has been following an abysmal 2023 season which saw the team score just four points-paying finishes. The team’s , where scored a fourth-place finish, but that season too...
Jul 10, 2025
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
If you listen to Formula 1 or local officials from Las Vegas and Clark County, you’d probably think November’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was a success. Some sources estimated that the city of Las Vegas made over $1 billion in revenue from the event — but there were...
Jul 10, 2025
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Fellow nerds, get ready to open your wallets, because I’ve found what may be the greatest store of all time. With designs from Formula 1 teams like , you’re sure to find something that fits your particular nostalgic niche. I’d like to introduce you to Racing Retro. I first...
Jul 10, 2025
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
If you follow racing in the U.S., you probably already know about the . Most of the episodes are too much of a distraction to put on as background noise while you work, but a couple of recent entries in his series have been working incredibly well for me....
Jul 10, 2025
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
Name a car from the early 1960s built by a famed racing driver with curvy, lightweight aluminum bodywork, a big American engine, and a reputation for being unruly and fast as all hell. Your first thought was probably the famed Shelby Cobra, did you know there was a who...
Jul 10, 2025
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
In another unsurprising example of motorsport’s inhospitable mindset toward hiring competent women, the Racing team has announced a new partnership with Ava Rose, a literal , who will... engage with fans? Share knowledge about technology? “Navigate the cutting edge of innovation to create positive change” (whatever that means)? I...
Jul 10, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved