The French driver who raced in the Circus between 1975 and 1981, conquering the first success for the French company with Renault in the ’79 Dijon GP and also for a supercharged engine in the Formula 1 World Championship, died at the age of 80
– Milano
Farewell to Jean Pierre Jabouille, mister turbo. In fact, the French driver who raced in F1 between 1975 and 1981, collecting 6 pole positions and 2 victories, including one that made motorsport history, died at the age of 80. It is to Jabouille, in fact, that we owe the first success of a turbo engine in F1, in the legendary ’79 Dijon GP.
first time for the turbo and the renault
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Jabouille prevailed in the race made famous by the famous wheel-to-wheel duel between Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari and René Arnoux’s Renault, which saw the Canadian take second place between red-hot braking, breathtaking overtaking and prodigious manoeuvres. With the other Renault, nicknamed yellow tea pot (yellow teapot) due to the frequent and showy fumes produced by their powerful but unreliable engine, Jabouille won the race: confident conduct from pole and success with a 14″5 lead over Villeneuve. First victory for a turbo engine in Formula 1, but also the first success for the French company in the Circus: a triumph for the driver born in Paris on 1 October 1942.
even 24 hours
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Jabouille, who won the European F2 title in 1976 in his career, competed in F1 with Tyrrell (a GP, the first, in France in 1975), Renault and Ligier (only three races). Many mechanical problems and a broken leg, remedied in a Canadian GP, held back a career in which he boasts numerous participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans where he conquered four podiums. After the activity on the track he was head of Peugeot Sport, then continuing to devote himself to minor motorsport competitions in France.
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