René Arnoux

[x_dt]

René Arnoux seems to have had by and large a successful F1 career with 7 wins, 18 pole positions and the memory of his late race wheel to wheel dice with Gilles Villeneuve at Dijon in 1979 (the sort of racing we don't see nowadays).

However it is hard to believe that it was the same René Arnoux who gained an unenviable reputation for bad track manners in his last 3 years with Ligier (was he really that much more bad-mannered than other drivers when being lapped, at the time or since?).

A question particularly for those who were following F1 at the time when Arnoux was racing; how much was his reputation damaged by his last 3 years in F1? Is he remembered more for his successes and his battle with Gilles, or is he remembered more for the wrong reasons?

[ASCII Man]

Arnoux was quite funny actually, i remember Spa 1989 where he ran into the back of another guy... TWICE!

Correct me if i'm wrong though, have to watch the tape again...if i could find it...

[msps]

To tell you the thruth I hardly remeber his last yrs with Ligier. I do remember that fantastic duel with Villeneuve and some other of his races with Renault.
Back in 94 I´ve met him in Estoril (when I was chasing for autographs). He was in Laffite's house (the funniest driver I ever met) with Prost and Pironi and I can tell you he was really low profile, almost hidding in the sofa.
Great memories you´ve brought me...

[Lee Janotta]

I think by the time he was at Ligier, he was quite different in character... More frustrated over the direction his career had taken, when he felt like a legitimate contender during his Renault days. Maybe it was sheer pride that made him such a pain to lap.

[golem]

I personally loathe the whole: You HAVE to move over. I think the backmarkers should be allowed to play havoc with the front runners. Gives them something to do.

[Valve Bounce]

[Osella]

Arnoux still races in the FFSA GT (French GT series). He's good, too.
ex - F1 drivers with long sportscar careers have to be doing something right IMHO.

I think it should be perfectly acceptable to 'race for position' in order to stay on the lead lap, subsequently they should melt out of the way. They're racing drivers, after all, they'd soon get the hang of it.

[alesi95]

Arnoux should probably be mentioned in the wasted career thread.

He's one of those F1 drivers that missed thir era.
He was part of the push of Elf sponsored drivers in the late 70's like Prost.
Prost was the thinker and Arnoux was the out right speed, It's a shame that the Renault team let them down so many times in the early eighties.

However Arnoux was a little too brash and his ignorance of team orders and severel run ins with the team meant that he was dropped and a similar situation at Ferrai led to him being Fired after a coule races in 85.
It's starnge cus Prost was also Fired by Renault and Ferrari for similar reasons.

His defiance to move to an english based team meant keeping it french at Ligier and despite a slight resurgence in 1986 this also meant keeping near the back of the grid.
Not too disimlar to the career of Alesi.

[Maxmil]

Arnoux was racing during my years in the automobile business. I saw him race four times:

1980 Watkins Glen (Last time there ) He drove a Renault, qualified 6th and finished seventh. Undistinguished, but an OK performance.

1982 First Detroit GP, Arnoux's Last year with Renault, qualified 15th, improved to 10th. Not a bad performance in what was a difficult race because the track was so bad.

1983 Second Detroit GP, With Ferrari now. Took one of his poles here, but the electrics let him down DNF.

1984 Third Detroit GP, with Ferrari again. Qualified 15th and crashed. DNF

He was a pretty good driver in the seventies, but, with the exception of the pole, I never saw him at his best.

[R]

Originally posted by msps
Back in 94 I´ve met him in Estoril (when I was chasing for autographs). He was in Laffite's house (the funniest driver I ever met) with Prost and Pironi and I can tell you he was really low profile, almost hidding in the sofa.
Great memories you´ve brought me...

Do you mean 84? Seeing as Pironi died in 87, it couldn't have been 94.

[f1manoz]

Arnoux was a great driver on his day, unfortunately those days were few and far between. His best days were at Renault and Ferrari for sure, but even in 1986 alongside Jacques Laffite, both of them had fantastic seasons up until Laffite's unfortunate career ending accident.

However, many now seem to remember him as that driver who stayed with Ligier all those years at the end of his career who did more getting lapped than achieving anything.