[3] In June he crashed his March 742 through a guard rail during time trials for a Formula Two race in Salzburgring.

Depailler was uninjured but qualifying was stopped so that workmen could replace a section of railing which was torn off in the accident.

The incident occurred on the second turn, slightly more than a mile after the beginning of a 180-mile (290 km) race at the Nürburgring.

So in December 1973 Depailler was chosen with Scheckter to drive for Tyrrell, to replace the deceased François Cevert and retired Jackie Stewart.

He negotiated the 2.49-mile (4.01 km) Anderstorp course in a time of 1 minute, 24.758 seconds, for an average speed of 105.8 miles per hour.

[13] On the first day of qualifying for the 1975 United States Grand Prix, Depailler crashed his Tyrrell into a catch fence at Watkins Glen.

[18] The Tyrrells of Scheckter and Depailler were the only cars able to stay on the same lap with Lauda's Ferrari, who won from pole position.

[24] In December 1977 Depailler was promoted to the number one driver for Tyrrell, when Ronnie Peterson left to drive for Lotus.

[26] Peterson passed Depailler on the last turn of the last lap at Kyalami, to claim the 1978 South African Grand Prix.

Depailler's car was running short of fuel, allowing Peterson to erase a 9-second gap to win.

[27] Depailler climbed from 12th starting place to end in 3rd position in the 1978 United States Grand Prix West.

The win enabled him to tie Gilles Villeneuve in the standings for the Formula One world championship at the end of April, with 20 points each.

[40] On 29 August, Depailler said that he was "resigned not to race again until next year", although he expected to leave his Paris hospital by the end of the week.

He had undergone a number of operations on his legs, but had hopes to attend both autumn North American rounds, at Montreal and the Watkins Glen, as a spectator.

[37] In 1980, Depailler joined the newly formed Alfa Romeo team, that was on a comeback trail: Depailler had worked his way back from his hang-gliding accident the previous year, and had equipped his car with special brakes designed to toughen his leg muscles, he was still driving in pain by the time of his fatal accident[38] and the car was fast (he qualified 3rd for the 1980 United States Grand Prix West) but not reliable enough to finish.

Depailler suffered a fatal accident whilst testing at Hockenheim ten days prior to the 1980 German Grand Prix when a suspension failure pitched his Alfa Romeo 179 into the Armco barrier at the high-speed Ostkurve, inflicting fatal head injuries when the vehicle overturned and vaulted the barrier.

The Mini Circuit Patrick Depailler is one of the oldest tracks in France and was used to host an International Federation of Model Auto Racing (IFMAR) meeting in 1999.

[41] As a result of his fatal accident, a new chicane was built into the Ostkurve at the Hockenheim circuit in order to slow the cars down - previously it had been a flat out curving right hander.