Pironi and his BB

Scuderia Ferrari driver Didier Pironi receives a Ferrari BB 512i from his team in Maranello, after months of convalescence and rehabilitation, following his terrible accident at the German Grand Prix, in August 1982.

With the track wet because of persistant showers, Pironi was on a quick lap at Hockenheim, when his Ferrari hit the back of Alain Prost’s slow moving Renault at high speed (the driver had been blinded by the spray projected by the Renault) vaulting over the top of it. Pironi survived but suffered severe leg injuries that sidelined him for the rest of the season.

He never managed to return to Formula One, even after an inconclusive test in an AGS, and sadly perished in a race boat accident in 1987. Pironi’s accident also had a profound effect on Prost who never forgot the sight of the Ferrari flying over his car, the crash firming his views on the danger of driving Formula One cars in the wet, where visibility was virtually zero when following behind another car.