Jean-Pierre Jabouille

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Jean-Pierre Jabouille

Formula One Career
Nationality	French
Active years	1974 - 1975, 1977 - 1981
Team(s)	Williams, Surtees, Tyrrell, Renault, Ligier
Grands Prix	56
Championships	0
Wins	2
Podium finishes	2
Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	1974 French Grand Prix
First win	1979 French Grand Prix
Last win	1980 Austrian Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1981 Spanish Grand Prix

Jean-Pierre Jabouille (born October 1, 1942) is a former Formula 1 racing driver from France.

[edit] Biography

A native of Paris, Jabouille was one of the last of a breed of Formula One drivers who were also engineers.

He first made his mark in French Formula Three in 1967, and continued in 1968, maintaining the car himself on his way to the runner's up spot behind François Cevert. For 1969 he was contracted as a development driver by Alpine, having several disjointed runs in Formula Two and sports cars. In 1973 he co-drove a Matra to 3rd at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and repeated this feat in 1974, when he also won the Formula Two race at Hockenheim, and finished as runner-up in the European 2-litre series for Alpine. He also made his first appearances in Formula One, failing to qualify a Williams at the French Grand Prix, and a Surtees at the Austrian Grand Prix.

1975 saw Jabouille sever his ties with Alpine, and gain Elf backing to make his own Formula Two chassis. He finished runner-up to Jacques Laffite, but finally made his full Grand Prix debut, finishing 12th in a works Tyrrell at the French Grand Prix. For 1976 he concentrated on Formula Two, finally winning the title, and for 1977 was signed up by Renault to develop their new Formula One 1.5l turbocharged engine. The RS01 car debuted at the 1977 British Grand Prix, but initially the turbo engine (a first for Formula One) was fragile and suffered from severe turbo lag, making it difficult to drive on tight circuits. However, Jabouille persevered, recording several notable qualifying positions in 1978, and landed the marque's first points with 4th place at the United States East Grand Prix.

1979 saw Renault expand to run a second car for René Arnoux, and Jabouille was generally outpaced. However, he would secure Renault's first Formula One pole at the South African Grand Prix, and then won their first victory, fittingly at the French Grand Prix, and from pole to boot. He took a third pole at the Italian Grand Prix, but poor reliability meant the win was his only score.

Arnoux was very much team leader by 1980, but Jabouille took two more poles, and another win at the Austrian Grand Prix. However, a suspension failure in the Canadian Grand Prix left him with a broken leg, just after he had signed with Ligier for 1981.

His injuries saw him sit out the first two races of the 1981 season, but it soon became clear he wasn't fully fit, failing to qualify for two of his four attempts, at which point he decided to retire. He would return in the mid-1980s to drive in the French Supertourisme series, before joining Peugeot to help develop their sports car programme, culminating in a third place at the 1993 Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1994 he succeeded Jean Todt as director of Peugeot Sport, but unsuccessful seasons for the marque in association with McLaren and Jordan saw him sacked in 1995. Since then he has ran his own sports car team in the ISRS.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1974	Iso Marlboro	ARG	BRA	SAF	SPA	BEL	MON	SWE	DUT	FRA DNQ	GBR	DEU	AUT DNQ	ITA	CAN	USA			Surtees	-	0
1975	Tyrrell	ARG	BRA	SAF	SPA	MON	BEL	SWE	DUT	FRA 12	GBR	DEU	AUT	ITA	USA				Tyrrell	-	0
1977	Renault	ARG	BRA	SAF	SAW	SPA	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR Ret	DEU	AUT	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret	CAN DNQ	JPN	Renault	-	0
1978	Renault	ARG	BRA	SAF Ret	SAW Ret	MON 10	BEL NC	SPA 13	SWE Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	DEU Ret	AUT Ret	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	USA 4	CAN 12		Renault	17	3
1979	Renault	ARG Ret	BRA 10	SAF Ret	SAW DNS	SPA Ret	BEL Ret	MON NC	FRA 1	GBR Ret	DEU Ret	AUT Ret	DUT Ret	ITA 14	CAN Ret	USA Ret			Renault	13	9
1980	Renault	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	SAF Ret	SAW 10	BEL Ret	MON Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	DEU Ret	AUT 1	DUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA				Renault	8	9
1981	Ligier	SAW	BRA	ARG DNQ	RSM NC	BEL Ret	MON DNQ	SPA Ret	FRA	GBR	DEU	AUT	DUT	ITA	CAN	LAS			Ligier	-	0