|
|
Template:Former F1 driver René Arnoux (born July 4, 1948 in Grenoble, France) was a French Formula One driver who participated during seasons 1978 to 1989.
Arnoux joined the Renault factory team in 1979, where he stayed for three years. Highlights of his Renault years included a fierce but good-natured wheel-banging battle with Gilles Villeneuve for second place in the last few laps of the 1979 French Grand Prix, a fight so spectacular it overshadowed Renault earning its first Grand Prix victory as a constructor, by Arnoux's teammate Jean-Pierre Jabouille. Arnoux was clearly the number two driver to rising star teammate Alain Prost in 1982, but managed to take several victories, as well as luckily walk away from a high speed crash after brake failure at the end of the long straight in the Dutch Grand Prix. In 1983 he joined then-struggling Ferrari, and in that same year he won the Canadian, German, and Dutch grands prix. He stayed with Ferrari but was again eclipsed by a rising star teammate, this time Michele Alboreto, and continued to have some success until, by mysterious circumstances, he was replaced following the 1985 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Sitting out the rest of the 1985 season, he returned in 1986 for Ligier, where he continued to perform until his retirement in 1989. He finished his career with 181 Grand Prix points.fr:René Arnoux sv:René Arnoux