René Arnoux, from Renault to Ferrari
René Arnoux was paired with Alain Prost at Renault for the 1981 and 1982 seasons. Two fast and ambitious French drivers in a French team, inevitably it would ignite sparkles. Their rivalry on track flared up off the track and relations between the two men deteriorated. Tensions in the team were exacerbated in the French media.
The conflict reached its peak at the 1982 French Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard Circuit, where Arnoux had not kept to the team orders agreed before the race, and won the race in front of a furious Prost. The situation was unsustainable, so Arnoux who had shown tremendous one lap speed, accepted the offer to join the Scuderia for 1983, joining another French driver, Patrick Tambay.
With three victories at the Canadian, German and Dutch Grand Prix, the little Frenchman was in contention for the 1983 world title for much of the season, but was left behind in the final standings by world champion Nelson Piquet (Brabham) and … Alain Prost (Renault).
Arnoux became a tifosi favorite thanks to his hard charging, no compromise style, and together with his smooth and elegant team mate Tambay, he clinched the 1983 Constructors’ Championship for Ferrari.
With the domination of the McLaren of Prost and Lauda in 1984, Arnoux had a less successful second season with Ferrari, only finishing 6th with 27 points, with his new teammate Michele Alboreto having gradually taken the upper hand. Arnoux failed to win or take a pole position in 1984 while Alboreto won the Belgian Grand Prix, and as the season progressed, seem to lose motivation and dedication.
After the season opener 1985 Brazilian Grand Prix (picture below) where the Frenchman took 4th place, an ‘amicable separation’ was agreed between him and Ferrari. His place in the team was taken by Swede Stefan Johansson. The sudden separation and the exact reasons of doing so after just one race in the season, was always a mystery and it remains so to this day…
I don’t remember if it was 1981 or 1982, but I was in Zolder, it was raining cats & dogs, all were in the stands, or Laffite & Depailler were playing cards in the control tower with some official (and drinking…:) )
The only one on the track was indeed René Arnoux “Néné”, he was driving is Renault turbo F1 almost drifting in every turns, I thought I saw him smile thru his helmet. Another time…
Thank you for sharing these great memories.
Indeed, René Arnoux was very fast and brave.
He loved his racing so much.
Si mes souvenirs sont exacts, René Arnoux avait subi une intervention chirurgicale et le Commendatore estimait que cela affectait ses qualités de pilote. Prétexte ou réalité ?
Hello. Je ne pense pas que ce soit la raison.
Beaucoup d’hypothèses, et le silence des deux parties ne fait qu’ajouter au mystère.
Merci de ta contribution,
Ziv