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Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Laffite won six Formula One Grands Prix across 13 seasons.
Born and raised in Paris, Laffite trained as a racing driver with the Winfield Racing School at Magny-Cours in 1968. Laffite twice entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Ligier before making his Formula One debut at the 1974 German Grand Prix with Frank Williams. Laffite remained at Frank Williams through the season, scoring his maiden podium at the and winning the European Formula Two Championship with Martini. He moved to Ligier in , taking several podiums amongst his maiden pole position in Italy. Laffite retained his seat the following season, taking his maiden win at the . After a winless season in , Ligier constructed the highly-competitive JS11 in response to the ground effect era. Laffite won the opening two rounds of the season—including a grand chelem at the —but ultimately finished the championship in fourth after suffering eight retirements. Laffite again finished fourth in the and championships, losing out on the latter by six points to Nelson Piquet and taking several wins across both. Laffite failed to finish 11 of 15 Grands Prix in , leaving for Williams Racing at the end of the season. After two winless seasons with Williams, amongst further reliability issues, Laffite returned to Ligier in , scoring several podiums. At the 1986 British Grand Prix, Laffite was seriously injured in a multi-car collision that broke both of his legs. He subsequently retired from Formula One, having achieved six wins, seven pole positions, seven fastest laps and 32 podiums.
Outside of Formula One, Laffite was a race-winner in the World Sportscar Championship with Kauhsen, as well as in the BMW M1 Procar Championship with BMW. He competed in the World Touring Car Championship in 1987 with Alfa Corse, and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft from 1990 to 1992. Laffite entered nine editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans from to across multiple classes. Upon retiring from motor racing, Laffite was a presenter for TF1 from 1997 to 2012.
In Laffite moved to the French Equipe Ligier team, scoring 20 points and a pole position at the Italian Grand Prix. The next two seasons were transitional, although he managed to win his first Grand Prix at Anderstorp in the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix.
The 1979 season opened with Laffite winning the first two races. He fought for the World Championship title until the last races, but eventually placed only fourth, with 36 points. The following two seasons were similar, with two more fourth places in the Championship and a further three victories. In 1982, however, Laffite finished only 17th in the final classification, with only 5 points scored.
During the early 1980s, Laffite also made three end of season trips to Australia to race in the non-championship Australian Grand Prix. He failed to finish his first race in 1981 (he was lucky to start after his car hit the wall on the outside of the last turn of the short (1.609 km (1.000 mi)) Calder Park Raceway in qualifying, but his local crew were able to repair it for the race). He finished second to fellow Frenchman Alain Prost in 1982, and third behind Brazilian Roberto Moreno and Australian John Smith in 1983. In all of his pre-Formula One AGP drives, Laffite drove a Formula Pacific or Formula Mondial Ralt powered by a 1.6-litre Ford I4 engine.
Results in the next two seasons were not much better, when he moved back to England, again to race for Williams (11 and 5 points, respectively). Now in his forties, Laffite returned to Ligier in 1985: in that season he was on the podium three times (Great Britain, Germany and Australia), for a total of 16 points. In 1986 he scored 14 points including two more podium finishes in the first half of the season, but he broke both legs in a crash at the start of the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch and thereafter retired from Formula One, ending his career tied with Graham Hill for the most Grand Prix starts at 176. He was the most successful driver in Ligier's history, having taken six of their nine wins.
As a result of Laffite's injuries, new safety rules were enforced from the season that stated that in all cars the driver's feet must be behind the front axle line.
He is now a television commentator for the French network TF1, best known for his reaction to the incident at the 1997 European Grand Prix in which Michael Schumacher collided with Jacques Villeneuve, and Laffite reacted with curse words on live television.
Laffite made his 2007 FIA GT3 European Championship debut at the 2008 Bucharest City Challenge, driving for AutoGT Racing Team.
In October 2008, at the age of 64, he tested a Renault R27 F1 car at the Paul Ricard circuit.
Laffite has two daughters: Camille and Margot Laffite, a sports journalist of Formula One on Canal+. He is also golf enthusiast, is a shareholder of Dijon-Bourgogne Golf.
Also deeply attached to the Creuse for Golf Fisheries and nature, he has a property in Creuse near Aubusson.
| Formula One | Frank Williams Racing Cars | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Ligier | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 8th |
| Formula One | Frank Williams Racing Cars Williams Ambrozium H7 Racing | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 12th |
| World Sportscar Championship | Kauhsen | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 60 | NC |
| World Sportscar Championship | Equipe Renault Elf | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 15 | NC |
| European Formula Two | Fred Opert | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | NC‡ |
| Kauhsen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| European Formula Two | Fred Opert | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Renault Sport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF |
| European Formula Two | Maublanc Racing Services | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Grand Touring Cars Inc. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 10th |
| BMW M1 Procar Championship | BMW Motorsport | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 35 | 7th |
| BMW M1 Procar Championship | BMW Motorsport | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 9th |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Joest Racing Porsche Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 14th |
Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points
| ! nowrap BP Racing France ! nowrap | March 742 ! nowrap | BMW M12 | BAR | Hockenheimring | PAU | Salzburgring | Hockenheimring | Mugello Circuit | KAR | PER | Hockenheimring | VLL | 3rd | 31 | ||||
| ! nowrap Automobiles Martini ! nowrap | Martini Mk 16 ! nowrap | BMW M12 | EST | Thruxton Circuit | Hockenheimring | Eifelrennen | PAU | Hockenheimring | Salzburgring | ROU | Mugello Circuit | PER | SIL | Zolder | NOG | VLL | 1st | 60 |
| ! nowrap Fred Opert Racing ! nowrap | Chevron B35 ! nowrap | BMW | Hockenheimring | Thruxton Circuit | VLL | Salzburgring | PAU | Hockenheimring | ROU | Mugello Circuit | PER | EST | NOG | !rowspan=2 NC !rowspan=2 | 0 | |||
| ! nowrap Fred Opert Racing ! nowrap | Chevron B40 ! nowrap | Hart | SIL | Thruxton Circuit | Hockenheimring | Eifelrennen | VLL | PAU | Mugello Circuit | ROU | NOG | PER | Misano Circuit | EST | Donington Park | ! NC ! 0 | ||
| ! nowrap Maublanc Racing Services ! nowrap | March 782 ! nowrap | BMW | Thruxton Circuit | Hockenheimring | Eifelrennen | PAU | Mugello Circuit | VLL | ROU | Donington Park | NOG | PER | MIS | Hockenheimring | ! NC ! 0 | |||
Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points
| ! nowrap Frank Williams Racing Cars ! nowrap | Iso–Marlboro FW ! nowrap | Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG | BRA | RSA | ESP | BEL | MON | SWE | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | ! NC ! 0 | |
| ! nowrap="" Frank Williams Racing Cars ! nowrap | Williams Williams FW !rowspan=2 nowrap | Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG | BRA | RSA | ESP | !rowspan=2 12th !rowspan=2 | 6 | |||||||||||
| ! nowrap Equipe Ligier Gitanes ! nowrap | Equipe Ligier JS5 ! nowrap | Matra MS73 3.0 V12 | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | BEL | MON | SWE | FRA | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | USA | JPN | ! 7th ! 20 | |
| ! nowrap Equipe Ligier Gitanes ! nowrap | Equipe Ligier JS7 ! nowrap | Matra MS76 3.0 V12 | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | MON | BEL | SWE | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | USA | CAN | JPN ! 10th ! 18 |
| !rowspan=3 nowrap Equipe Ligier Gitanes ! nowrap | Equipe Ligier JS7 ! nowrap | Matra MS76 3.0 V12 | ARG | BRA | USW | !rowspan=3 8th !rowspan=3 | 19 | ||||||||||||
| ! nowrap Ligier Gitanes ! nowrap | Equipe Ligier JS11 ! nowrap | Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | BEL | MON | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | USA | ! 4th ! 36 | |
| ! nowrap Équipe Ligier Gitanes ! nowrap | Equipe Ligier JS11/15 ! nowrap | Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | BEL | MON | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | USA | ! 4th ! 34 | ||
| ! nowrap Equipe Ligier Talbot Gitanes ! nowrap | Talbot Equipe Ligier JS17 ! nowrap | Matra MS81 3.0 V12 | USW | BRA | ARG | SMR | BEL | MON | ESP | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | CPL | ! 4th ! 44 | |
| !rowspan=2 nowrap Equipe Ligier Talbot Gitanes ! nowrap | Talbot Equipe Ligier JS17B !rowspan=2 nowrap | Matra MS81 3.0 V12 | RSA | BRA | USW | SMR | BEL | DET | CAN | !rowspan=2 17th !rowspan=2 | 5 | ||||||||
| !rowspan=2 nowrap TAG Williams Team ! nowrap | Williams FW08C ! nowrap | Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | BRA | USW | FRA | SMR | MON | BEL | DET | CAN | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | EUR | !rowspan=2 11th !rowspan=2 | 11 | |
| !rowspan=2 nowrap Williams Grand Prix Engineering ! nowrap | Williams FW09 ! nowrap | Honda RA163E 1.5 V6 Turbocharger | BRA | RSA | BEL | SMR | FRA | MON | CAN | DET | DAL | !rowspan=2 14th !rowspan=2 | 5 | ||||||
| ! nowrap Équipe Ligier !rowspan=2 nowrap | Equipe Ligier JS25 !rowspan=2 nowrap | Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 Turbocharger | BRA | POR | SMR | MON | !rowspan=2 9th !rowspan=2 | 16 | |||||||||||
| ! nowrap Équipe Ligier ! nowrap | Equipe Ligier JS27 ! nowrap | Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 Turbocharger | BRA | ESP | SMR | MON | BEL | CAN | DET | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | AUT | ITA | POR | MEX | AUS | ! 8th ! 14 |
| 1990 ! nowrap | Bigazzi M Team ! nowrap | BMW M3 Sport Evo | Circuit Zolder | Circuit Zolder | Hockenheimring | Hockenheimring | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | AVUS | AVUS | MFA 1 | MFA 2 | WUN 1 | WUN 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | Norisring | Norisring | DIE 1 | DIE 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | Hockenheimring | Hockenheimring | ! 7th ! 107 | |
| 1991 ! nowrap | Snobeck S.A. ! nowrap | Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2 | Circuit Zolder | Circuit Zolder | Hockenheimring | Hockenheimring | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | AVUS | AVUS | WUN 1 | WUN 2 | Norisring | Norisring | DIE 1 | DIE 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | Alemannenring | Alemannenring | Hockenheimring | Hockenheimring | Masaryk Circuit | Masaryk Circuit | Donington Park | Donington Park ! 11th ! 81 |
| 1992 ! nowrap | MS Racing ! nowrap | Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2 | Circuit Zolder | Circuit Zolder | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | WUN 1 | WUN 2 | AVUS | AVUS | Hockenheimring | Hockenheimring | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | Norisring | Norisring | BRN 1 | BRN 2 | DIE 1 | DIE 2 | Alemannenring | Alemannenring | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | Hockenheimring | Hockenheimring ! 13th ! 43 |
| 2005 ! nowrap | Team GMF ! nowrap | Delta Motorsport GPM ! nowrap | Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8 | Kyalami |
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