Ronnie Peterson

Swedish racing driver

The Superswede of the seventies

Ronnie Peterson won ten Grands Prix for Lotus and March and finished runner up twice, the second time in the season that cost him his life.

Ronnie Peterson was born in Örebro, Sweden, on February 14, 1944. He won a string of karting titles, including Swedish championships in 1963 and 1964, before moving into Formula Three. In 1969 he won the Formula Three support race at Monaco and then the European Formula Three championship, and the March factory team brought him into Formula 1 at the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix.

Peterson spent three seasons with March and collected six podiums, most of them in 1971, when he finished second in the championship. For 1973 he joined Colin Chapman's Lotus team alongside the reigning champion Emerson Fittipaldi. His first win came at the 1973 French Grand Prix and he added three more that year, then won three times in 1974.

Lotus had a difficult 1975, and Peterson returned to March, winning the 1976 Italian Grand Prix. He drove for Tyrrell in 1977 before going back to Lotus for 1978 as teammate to Mario Andretti. That year he won the South African and Austrian Grands Prix in the dominant Lotus cars.

At the 1978 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Peterson was involved in a crash on the opening lap and died the following day. He was still classified second in the 1978 championship. Our record shows 123 starts, 10 wins, 14 pole positions, 9 fastest laps and 26 podiums over nine seasons, with March, Lotus and Tyrrell.

0 world titles, 10 wins, 14 pole positions, 123 starts.

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