Nève, a Williams driver

Patrick Nève (1949-2017) was a Belgian racing driver who shone in Formula 2 and then participated in 14 Formula One Grand Prix in 1976 and 1977. He was notable for being the first driver for Williams Grand Prix Engineering. His best result was seventh in the 1977 Italian Grand Prix, but at that time, only the first six scored points.

Picture above: Patrick Nève in his March 761-Ford makes his debut with Frank Williams’ team at the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix held at Jarama, where he finished in twelfth.

With some success in Formula Ford and Formula 3 in a Safir under his belt, Nève initially moved up to Formula One with the modest RAM team, driving a Brabham. After another one-off drive with Ensign at the French Grand Prix, he landed a drive for the 1977 season, thanks to sponsoring from the Belgian beer producer Belle-Vue, with newly formed Williams Grand Prix Engineering of Frank Williams and Patrick Head.

Driving an old March 761 – some say that after a minor crash it was discovered that the chassis had actually been used by Brambilla in 1975 and 1976, although Max Mosley (a March owner at the time), had promised Williams and his driver, a more recent chassis… – Nève tried hard, but in these conditions could do no better than 10th in Great-Britain, ninth in Austria and seventh in Italy (picture-below).