René Arnoux

René Arnoux
Nationality	French
Years	1978 - 1989
Team(s)	Martini, Surtees, Renault, Ferrari, Ligier
Races	164 (149 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	7
Podiums	22
Points	181
Poles	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, Grenoble, France) is a retired French race car 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's 1983 Ferrari 126C3.

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 Grand Prix 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.

Complete Formula One Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Team	WDC	Points
1978	Martini	ARG	BRA	RSA DNQ	USW	MON DNPQ	BEL 9	ESP	SWE	FRA 14	GBR	GER DNPQ	AUT 9	NED Ret	ITA	USA 9	CAN Ret	Surtees	-	0
1979	Renault	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	USW DNS	ESP 9	BEL Ret	MON Ret	FRA 3	GBR 2	GER Ret	AUT 6	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 2		Renault	8th	17
1980	Renault	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			Renault	6th	29
1981	Renault	USW 8	BRA Ret	ARG 5	SMR 8	BEL DNQ	MON Ret	ESP 9	FRA 4	GBR 9	GER 13	AUT 2	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	LVS Ret		Renault	9th	11
1982	Renault	RSA 3	BRA Ret	USW Ret	SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON Ret	USE 10	CAN Ret	NED Ret	GBR Ret	FRA 1	GER 2	AUT Ret	SUI Ret	ITA 1	LVS Ret	Renault	6th	28
1983	Ferrari	BRA 10	USW 3	FRA 7	SMR 3	MON Ret	BEL Ret	USE Ret	CAN 1	GBR 5	GER 1	AUT 2	NED 1	ITA 2	EUR 9	RSA Ret		Ferrari	3rd	49
1984	Ferrari	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	BEL 3	SMR 2	FRA 4	MON 3	CAN 5	USE Ret	USA 2	GBR 6	GER 6	AUT 7	NED 11	ITA Ret	EUR 5	POR 9	Ferrari	6th	27
1985	Ferrari	BRA 4	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS	Ferrari	17th	3
1986	Ligier	BRA 4	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON 5	BEL Ret	CAN 6	USA Ret	FRA 5	GBR 4	GER 4	HUN Ret	AUT 10	ITA Ret	POR 7	MEX 15	AUS 7	Ligier	10th	14
1987	Ligier	BRA	SMR DNS	BEL 6	MON 11	USA 10	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	AUT 10	ITA 10	POR Ret	ESP Ret	MEX Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	Ligier	19th	1
1988	Ligier	BRA Ret	SMR DNQ	MON Ret	MEX Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret	FRA DNQ	GBR 18	GER 17	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 13	POR 10	ESP Ret	JPN 17	AUS Ret	Ligier	-	0
1989	Ligier	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	Ligier	23rd	2