In 1983 the Brabham BT52, driven by Piquet and Italian Riccardo Patrese, was powered by the BMW M12 Straight-4 engine, and powered Brabham to four of the team's 35 Grand Prix victories.

Patrese was born in Padua, Veneto.

Later that year, Patrese was involved in a pile-up when he came together with James Hunt and other drivers ' cars at the start of the Italian Grand Prix.

An injuction was filed by the Grand Prix Driver's Association to ban Patrese from the next race, the United States Grand Prix.

Hunt believed that it was Patrese's muscling past that caused the McLaren and Lotus to touch, but Patrese argues that he was already well ahead of the pair before the accident took place.

In 1986 Patrese returned to Brabham alongside fellow Italian Elio de Angelis, but by now the team was a spent force and would never again take a driver to victory in a grand prix.

Toward the end of the 1987 season, Patrese was given the chance to revitalise what seemed to be a declining career when the Williams driver Nigel Mansell was injured whilst qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.

With the help of Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone, Patrese was drafted in to replace Mansell for the season's finale in Australia.

However, 1988 saw Williams struggling with an uncompetitive car powered by non-turbocharged Judd engines and it was not until the following year and the arrival of Renault engines that Patrese and his team-mate Thierry Boutsen were able to challenge for race points.

Ironically, only Prost was able to agree terms with Williams for 1993, leaving a seat free for Patrese had he remained with the team.

While Williams continued to dominate F1 in 1993, Patrese found it difficult to live with his new team-mate Michael Schumacher and before the end of the season Benetton informed Patrese that he was " free to seek an alternate drive ".

In 2002, as thanks for his years of service to Williams, Patrese was invited to test the team's latest F1 car.

As part of the " handover ", Patrese tested a Honda RA107 at Jerez on 9 September ( Barrichello was driving for Honda at the time ).

As the relationship between Brabham, BMW and Parmalat became strained, Ecclestone was forced to compromise, with Piquet continuing development of the BT50 whilst Patrese raced with the Cosworth chassis.

At the Monaco Grand Prix, Patrese won, whilst Piquet was more than two seconds slower in qualifying and retired from the race.

In the space of 200m Berger was passed by Nelson Piquet ( Lotus ), Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever ( Arrows ) and Riccardo Patrese ( Williams ).

During the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix, Berger was involved in terrifying incident with the Williams of Patrese.

Patrese not realizing that Berger was heading towards the pitlane touched the McLaren's rear wheel and went airborne, narrowly missing a bridge, before coming to a halt in front of the armco of the pitlane.

While Scheckter's Wolf was able to rejoin the track well ahead of the bunching pack, Patrese moved back in just ahead of James Hunt, who feinted left and collided with Peterson, with Vittorio Brambilla, Carlos Reutemann, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Patrick Depailler, Didier Pironi, Derek Daly, Clay Regazzoni and Brett Lunger all involved in the ensuing melee.

At one point during the season, Ecclestone informed the Beatrice / Haas / Lola team that " his driver " ( Patrese ) would be in the car at the next meeting ; Ecclestone was primarily interested in acquiring the Ford engines as a replacement for the BMW units in his Brabhams but the manufacturer vetoed this, offering the engines to Benetton instead.

At the start Andretti retained the first place, while Lauda got ahead of Watson ; on the second lap he was passed by a fast Riccardo Patrese in the Arrows, and on the third he was passed by the other Lotus of Ronnie Peterson too ; the Swede also passed Patrese, but had later to back off due to a tyre puncture.

In the second half of 1996, Williams invited Patrese to test their latest car at Silverstone, with the Italian setting a time that would have placed him on the second row of the grid for that year's British Grand Prix.

Patrese driving for WilliamsF1 | Williams at the 1988 Canadian Grand Prix.

Patrese impressed the Williams management sufficiently to be signed by them as Nelson Piquet's replacement for the 1988 season.

Patrese driving for WilliamsF1 | Williams at the 1991 Monaco Grand Prix.

In 1991 Nigel Mansell returned to Williams and, together with Patrese, the team became genuine contenders for both the Drivers ' and Constructors ' Championships.

Williams dominated F1 in 1992 and Patrese continued to deliver in his role of second driver to Nigel Mansell, moving out of the way for Mansell while leading comfortably at that year's French Grand Prix. Again Patrese handled the delicate situation about team orders diplomatically, repeatedly offering a " No comment " to questions about the team orders that had been imposed on him at the red flag period of the French race.

He made amends at the next race in Canada, finishing third behind Williams drivers Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese in a rain-soaked race.

At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Berger tangled with Senna at the very first corner as the Brazilian found himself in a Williams and Ferrari sandwich with Patrese to Senna's left with the three drivers dicing for the lead.

Standing in for Mansell at Williams was Italian veteran Riccardo Patrese, who was given special dispensation from Bernie Ecclestone of the Brabham team.

Both Williams drivers were suffering from continuing problems with the FW12's reactive suspension leaving Mansell and Riccardo Patrese in 9th and 11th respectively with Mansell, 3. 2 seconds slower than Senna's pole time and 0. 8 slower than his own 1986 pole time set in the Williams-Honda.

With Mansell only 13th in Friday Qualifying and Riccardo Patrese 30th and seemingly set to fail to qualify, some 14 seconds from 26th place, Williams ' designer Patrick Head made a snap decision to dump the system until the end of the season.

Following the McLaren and Williams on the grid were Thierry Boutsen ( Benetton-Ford ), Ivan Capelli ( March-Judd ), Alessandro Nannini ( Benetton ) and Riccardo Patrese ( Williams ) before Prost in the 2nd Mclaren.

On lap 12, Mansell lost downforce and spun down to 4th place, leaving Senna to fend off the attacks of the other Williams, that of Patrese.

Piquet was maintaining third ahead of the Williams of Riccardo Patrese and Mansell.

As most teams already had drivers signed for 1994, Patrese opted for retirement and brought the longest F1 career in history to a conclusion.

Taking the second seat at Benetton was the most experienced driver in Formula One, Italian veteran Riccardo Patrese, who was released by Williams after just over five seasons with the team, despite having finished runner up to Mansell in the Drivers ' Championship in 1992.

Italian brothers Teo and Corrado Fabi replaced Riccardo Patrese and shared the # 2 seat allowing older brother Teo to honour commitments in the US based CART World Series.

Two wins in Mexico and Portugal gave Patrese his most competitive F1 season thus far and a respectable third place behind Championship contenders Mansell and Ayrton Senna.

Ayrton Senna took pole position in qualifying ahead of Riccardo Patrese, making a record-breaking 177th appearance at a Grand Prix, and Gerhard Berger in the new Ferrari 640, which featured the first semi-automatic gearbox in Formula One.

Riccardo Patrese took pole position in his Williams, his first of the season, with usual pole-sitter Ayrton Senna alongside him on the front row.

At the front of the grid there was a bit of a surprise with Gerhard Berger taking pole from Riccardo Patrese, qualifying ace Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Thierry Boutsen, Jean Alesi, Pierluigi Martini, Nelson Piquet, Satoru Nakajima, and Stefano Modena, with championship contender Alain Prost a disappointing 13th.

Nigel Mansell took pole position from Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna being followed by Alain Prost, Alessandro Nannini fifth, Riccardo Patrese sixth, Ivan Capelli seventh followed by Thierry Boutsen in eighth, Nelson Piquet in ninth and Mauricio Gugelmin tenth.

Ayrton Senna made a perfect start to lead from Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese, Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger and Alain Prost, building up a lead of some 3 seconds by lap 8.

Ayrton Senna claimed his 55th pole position from Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger.

Ayrton Senna shocked no-one by taking pole position, but second place was a surprise with Stefano Modena taking full advantage of the superior Pirelli qualifying tyres to be second followed by Patrese, Piquet, a disappointed Mansell, Berger, Prost, Moreno, Alesi, and de Cesaris.

Riccardo Patrese took his second consecutive pole position from team-mate Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Stefano Modena, Roberto Moreno, and a surprising Olivier Grouillard in his Fondmetal, the first time the team had qualified for a race this season.

The sunny Estoril was a popular venue among the drivers and qualifying saw a bit of a role reversal with the top teams ' second drivers beating the championship contenders with Riccardo Patrese on pole alongside Gerhard Berger, with Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell third and fourth respectively.

Qualifying saw Gerhard Berger do a favor to teammate Ayrton Senna by taking pole position from Mansell, Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Ivan Capelli, Emanuele Pirro and Nelson Piquet.

As in the three previous races, Mansell qualified in pole position, ahead of Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Ivan Capelli and Martin Brundle.

Nigel Mansell won the race, ahead of Williams team-mate Riccardo Patrese and McLaren driver Ayrton Senna.

Both Williams cars qualified ahead of the McLarens with Nigel Mansell in pole position ahead of his teammate Riccardo Patrese, Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger, Michael Schumacher and Frenchman Jean Alesi.

Nigel Mansell qualified on pole position, ahead of Riccardo Patrese and Ayrton Senna.

On the last lap, Riccardo Patrese spun off whilst trying to pass Ayrton Senna for second position.

Patrese led comfortably until 6 laps from the end he suffered a hydraulic problem, forcing him to slow down and concede the lead to Ayrton Senna.

Qualifying had a few surprises, with Riccardo Patrese scoring a front row position next to the home favorite, world champion Ayrton Senna.