Williams Grand Prix’s very first driver, Belgian Patrick Nève, has passed away in his home country at the age of 67 years-old.
A pure product of the British junior category scene in the 1970’s, Nève made his Formula 1 debut in Belgium in 1976 with RAM Racing’s privately entered Brabham BT44B.
That year, the Belgian also drove for Ensign in France. In 1977, Nève secured the budget to race for Williams in the first year of its incredibly successful partnership between Frank Williams and engineer Patrick Head.
While Head started work on the team’s 1978 car, the Williams FW06 , it fielded Nève in a March 761 sponsored by Belgian brewery Belle-Vue.
What looked like a promising career at the outset for Nève did not pan out unfortunately, leaving the young man as one of Grand Prix racing’s many journeymen.
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