René Arnoux

René Arnoux

Nationality French
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1978 - 1989
Teams	Martini, Surtees, Renault, Ferrari, Ligier
Races	165 (149 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	7
Podiums	22
Career points	181
Pole positions	18
Fastest laps	12
First race	1978 South African Grand Prix
First win	1980 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last win	1983 Dutch Grand Prix
Last race	1989 Australian Grand Prix

René Alexandre Arnoux (born July 4, 1948, in Grenoble) is a retired French racing driver who is a veteran of 12 Formula One seasons (1978 to 1989). In 2006 he raced in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired F1 drivers.

Biography

European Formula Two champion in 1977, René Arnoux graduated to Formula One in 1978, with the small French Martini team of Tico Martini. In an organisation with insufficient means to figure in the highest echelon of the sport, Arnoux was unable to demonstrate his abilities. Martini abandoned Formula One during the season, having run short of money. Arnoux found refuge at the end of the season at the Surtees team, but once again found himself in a team on the edge of failure.

An ex-Jabouille Renault RS01 of 1979 being demonstrated by René Arnoux in 2007.

For the 1979 season, Arnoux joined the Renault team, which entered two cars for the first time since its debut in 1977. The team's only victory of the year was taken by Arnoux's teammate Jean-Pierre Jabouille at the French Grand Prix at the Dijon-Prenois circuit, but Arnoux took the headlines due to a fierce but good-natured wheel-banging battle with Gilles Villeneuve for second place.

In the 1980 season, Arnoux took his first two Formula One victories, but a lack of reliability prevented him from playing a part in the fight for the world title, although he took three pole positions. Arnoux's situation was complicated in 1981 by the arrival of Alain Prost at Renault. Inevitably their rivalry on track flared up off the track and relations between the two men deteriorated, dividing the small world of French sport. The conflict reached its peak at the 1982 French Grand Prix at Le Castellet. The drivers took the first one-two in Renault's history in Formula One, Arnoux finishing ahead of Prost. Prost was furious, considering that his teammate had not kept to the team orders agreed before the race, according to which he should have ceded the win to Prost, who was better placed in the championship. Arnoux replied that no orders had been given before the race and that he was free to drive his own race. He took one other win at the Italian Grand Prix at the end of the season. He was also lucky to walk away from a high speed crash after brake failure at the end of the long straight in the Dutch Grand Prix.

Arnoux started at the back of the field for the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, but climbed to second by the finish.

The pairing of Prost and Arnoux having become unsustainable, Arnoux left Renault at the end of 1982 to join Scuderia Ferrari. With three victories, at the Canadian, German, and Dutch Grands Prix, he was in contention for the world title for much of the season, but was left behind by his rivals Prost and Nelson Piquet in the championship run in. After a less successful second season at Ferrari, during which his new teammate Michele Alboreto progressively took the initiative from him, Arnoux was suddenly dismissed after the first Grand Prix of the 1985 championship, the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Without a drive for the majority of the 1985 season, Arnoux made his return to Formula One in 1986 for the Ligier team, where he delivered several good performances. However, despite maintaining his motivation, Ligier were not competitive and Arnoux went through three seasons at the back of the grid before leaving Formula One after the 1989 season. Towards the end of his career Arnoux attracted some controversy; he was frequently accused of blocking faster cars in qualifying and when being lapped. He finished his career with 181 World Championship points.

René Arnoux has since started an indoor karting business called Kart'in, consisting of four tracks in France, two in the Parisian area, one in the suburbs of Lyons and one near Marseille. He also owns and manages two factories, frequently appears and drives in historical events on behalf of Renault and resides in Paris.

Arnoux was one of the drivers invited to take part in the Grand Prix Masters championship in 2006 and 2007, restricted to former Formula One drivers. In 2007 and 2008 he drives for the Renault H&C Classic Team, e.g. presents and drives Alain Prost's F1 car from 1983 at World Series By Renault events.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1978	Automobiles Martini	Martini MK23	Ford Cosworth DFV	ARG	BRA	RSA DNQ	USW	MON DNPQ	BEL 9	ESP	SWE	FRA 14	GBR DNP	GER DNPQ	AUT 9	NED Ret	ITA			NC	0
	Durex Team Surtees	Surtees TS20																USA 9	CAN Ret
1979	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RS01	Renault V6 (t/c)	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW DNS	ESP 9	BEL Ret											8th	17
		Renault RS10								MON Ret	FRA 3	GBR 2	GER Ret	AUT 6	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 2
1980	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE20	Renault V6 (t/c)	ARG Ret	BRA 1	RSA 1	USW 9	BEL 4	MON Ret	FRA 5	GBR NC	GER Ret	AUT 9	NED 2	ITA 10	CAN Ret	USA 7			6th	29
1981	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE20B	Renault V6 (t/c)	USW 8	BRA Ret	ARG 5	SMR 8	BEL DNQ												9th	11
		Renault RE30							MON Ret	ESP 9	FRA 4	GBR 9	GER 13	AUT 2	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	CPL Ret
1982	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE30B	Renault V6 (t/c)	RSA 3	BRA Ret	USW Ret	SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON Ret	DET 10	CAN Ret	NED Ret	GBR Ret	FRA 1	GER 2	AUT Ret	SUI Ret	ITA 1	CPL Ret	6th	28
1983	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 126C2B	Ferrari V6 (t/c)	BRA 10	USW 3	FRA 7	SMR 3	MON Ret	BEL Ret	DET Ret	CAN 1	GBR 5								3rd	49
		Ferrari 126C3											GER 1	AUT 2	NED 1	ITA 2	EUR 9	RSA Ret
1984	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 126C4	Ferrari V6 (t/c)	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	BEL 3	SMR 2	FRA 4	MON 3	CAN 5	DET Ret	DAL 2	GBR 6	GER 6	AUT 7	NED 11	ITA Ret	EUR 5	POR 9	6th	27
1985	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156/85	Ferrari V6 (t/c)	BRA 4	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS	17th	3
1986	Equipe Ligier	Ligier JS27	Renault V6 (t/c)	BRA 4	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON 5	BEL Ret	CAN 6	DET Ret	FRA 5	GBR 4	GER 4	HUN Ret	AUT 10	ITA Ret	POR 7	MEX 15	AUS 7	10th	14
1987	Ligier Loto	Ligier JS29B	Megatron Straight-4 (t/c)	BRA	SMR DNS	BEL 6	MON 11	DET 10												19th	1
		Ligier JS29C							FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	AUT 10	ITA 10	POR Ret	ESP Ret	MEX Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret
1988	Ligier Loto	Ligier JS31	Judd V8	BRA Ret	SMR DNQ	MON Ret	MEX Ret	CAN Ret	DET Ret	FRA DNQ	GBR 18	GER 17	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 13	POR 10	ESP Ret	JPN 17	AUS Ret	NC	0
1989	Ligier Loto	Ligier JS33	Ford Cosworth DFR	BRA DNQ	SMR DNQ	MON 12	MEX 14	USA DNQ	CAN 5	FRA Ret	GBR DNQ	GER 11	HUN DNQ	BEL Ret	ITA 9	POR 13	ESP DNQ	JPN DNQ	AUS Ret	23rd	2

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jean-Pierre Jabouille	European Formula Two Champion 1977	Succeeded by Bruno Giacomelli