Ferrari retained Patrick Tambay, who had replaced Gilles Villeneuve after his death in Belgium, but Mario Andretti as a replacement for the injured Didier Pironi was never a permanent solution (in a 2012 Grand Prix Legends interview, Alan Jones revealed that Ferrari had initially contacted him to replace Pironi, but that he regretfully gave them the run around, remembering that Ferrari had gone back on an agreed contract back in 1977. Instead, Ferrari signed Andretti. As Jones was looking to make a full-time comeback to F1 in 1983 it is likely that as a former World Champion driver with 12 Grand Prix wins to his credit, Ferrari would have retained the Australian for the 1983 season had he signed in 1982). Instead, the second Ferrari seat was filled by Tambay's fellow Frenchman, the fast and talented René Arnoux who had defected from Renault.