Jabouille and the first turbo victory

Jean Pierre Jabouille, an engineer as well as a driver, developed Renault's turbo car and gave it the first Formula 1 win for a turbocharged engine.

Jean Pierre Jabouille was born in Paris on 1 October 1942. He studied fine arts briefly before turning to motor sport and qualified as an engineer. In French Formula Three he finished runner up to François Cevert in 1968, maintaining his own car, and he then became a development driver for Alpine. He won the European Formula Two title in 1976 in a chassis he had built himself with Elf backing.

His first Formula 1 entries came in 1974, when he failed to qualify an Iso Marlboro at the French Grand Prix and a Surtees in Austria. He made his race debut a year later in a works Tyrrell at the French Grand Prix, finishing 12th. In 1977 Renault chose him to develop its new 1.5 liter turbocharged car, which made its debut at the British Grand Prix that July and was fragile at first.

Jabouille stayed with the project as it improved. In 1979 he took pole position in South Africa and then won the French Grand Prix at Dijon, the first victory for a turbocharged car in Formula 1, and on home soil for a French team. In 1980 he added two more poles and won the Austrian Grand Prix. He moved to Ligier for 1981, and his final entry came in Spain that June.

His record shows 49 starts, 2 wins, 6 pole positions and 2 podiums. He also raced at Le Mans across three decades and finished third overall four times, in 1973, 1974, 1992 and 1993. He later managed teams for Ligier. Jabouille died on 2 February 2023.

0 world titles, 2 wins, 6 pole positions, 49 starts.

Teams

• Renault
• Surtees

Victories

• Austrian Grand Prix 1980
• French Grand Prix 1979