The underrated Jabouille

Jean-Pierre Jabouille (1942-2023) was a French racing driver. He raced in 55 Formula One Grand Prix, collecting two wins during the first years of Renault’s turbocharged programme that he helped initiate, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Frenchman also raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans 13 times, driving for Alpine, Matra, Sauber and Peugeot and collecting four third overall finishes in 1973, 1974, 1992 and 1993. Jabouille was one of the last breed of Formula One drivers who were also engineers.

“Jean-Pierre Jabouille, an underrated driver, in my humble opinion”, says Matt Bishop. “He was an F2 champion, started 49 Formula 1 Grand Prix, all but three in fast but unreliable turbo Renaults. Did not finish 36 times and won twice. The picture above was taken at Silverstone in 1977, with 2 Renaults, one more reliable than the other.”

Jabouille was signed up by Renault to develop their new 1.5L turbocharged engine for 1977. The RS01 debuted at the 1977 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but the engine was initially fragile and suffered severe turbo lag. It did not finish one race, that season. Jabouille is seen here-below at the wheel of the RS01 at the 1977 US Grand Prix.