Jean-Pierre Jarier

Interesting facts

In 1973 Jarier crushed the European Formula Two title with eight wins, a run so dominant it nearly earned him a Ferrari drive, until Clay Regazzoni talked the team into signing the young Niki Lauda instead. 1975 brought back-to-back pole-position heartbreak: a warm-up lap failure kept him off the Argentine grid entirely, and in Brazil he was running away with the race until a fuel metering fault ended it. At ATS in 1977, Jarier clashed openly with team boss Gunter Schmid after failing to qualify at Monaco and then missing the grid again at the German Grand Prix, a fallout that cost him his seat. Driving for Lotus in 1978, he set the fastest lap at the US Grand Prix while running third before running dry, then dominated from pole at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal only to lose it all to an oil leak. After teammate Riccardo Paletti was killed at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix, Jarier helped hold Osella together and later delivered the team's best-ever finish, fourth at San Marino. By 1983 at Ligier he had become a backmarker known for blocking, most notably holding up Ferrari's Patrick Tambay for two corners at the Austrian Grand Prix so teammate Rene Arnoux could pass, drawing an angry fist wave from Tambay. After leaving F1, Jarier worked as a stunt driver on the 1998 film Ronin and went on to win the French GT Championship in both 1998 and 1999. Jean-Pierre Jarier made his Formula 1 debut in 1971 and raced until 1983, 12 seasons in total as a French driver. He scored a total of 31.5 championship points over his career.