Jean-Pierre Jabouille Obituary

The first F1 victory for Renault was won by Jean-Pierre Jabouille, a two-time Grand Prix champion, who passed away at the age of 80.

Frenchman Jabouille made 49 starts during his F1 career, which spanned from 1974 when he raced for Williams to 1981 when he finished with Ligier, thanks to stints with Surtees, Tyrrell, and the aforementioned Renault.

At the 1979 French Grand Prix, which was held in Dijon, two years after joining Renault, Jabouille led home Ferrari opponent Gilles Villeneuve and teammate Rene Arnoux, who were engaged in a dramatic and now legendary battle for the runner-up position.

Jean-Pierre Jabouille Obituary

French racing driver Jean-Pierre Alain Jabouille lived from 1 October 1942 to 2 February 2023. During the first two seasons of Renault’s turbocharged program in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he competed in 55 Formula One Grands Prix and won two victories.

Jabouille was engaged by the Formula One team Renault to develop their new 1.5l turbocharged engine for 1977. At the 1977 British Grand Prix, the RS01 car made its debut, although at first, the turbo engine—a first for Formula One—was fragile and had a lot of turbo lag, making it difficult to control on tight circuits.

Jabouille, who was trained as an engineer, persisted in his efforts to enhance the RS01 and secured several significant pole positions in 1978. With a fourth-place result at the United States Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen, a course infamous for its high fuel consumption, which was one of the Renault turbo’s biggest weaknesses, he also scored the brand’s first points.