Jean-Pierre Jarier
Jean-Pierre Jacques Jarier is a French former Grand Prix racing driver. He drove for Formula One teams including Shadow, Team Lotus, Ligier, Osella and Tyrrell Racing. His best finish was third and he also took three pole positions.
Early career
Jarier was born at Charenton-le-Pont, near Paris. After competing in Formula France, he moved up to French Formula Three, finishing 3rd overall in 1970, before moving on to the Shell Arnold European Formula Two team in 1971. He peaked with two 3rd places, and also made his Grand Prix debut at Monza when the team rented a March Engineering 701. However, the team dropped him midway through 1972 for financial reasons. For 1973 he signed to the March Engineering Formula Two team, and was also given a Formula One seat by the outfit. Formula One was difficult in the uncompetitive 721G, but Jarier stormed to the Formula Two title with eight wins.Formula One
After his good form in the 1973 F2 European series, Jarier nearly signed for Ferrari, but their established driver Clay Regazzoni insisted on having the young Austrian Niki Lauda as his teammate. In 1974 Jarier drove a full season of Formula One, signing with the Shadow Racing Cars team. He became team leader following the death of Peter Revson, and finished 3rd at the Monaco Grand Prix on his way to 14th overall. As a sports car driver. Jarier led Matra's successful defense of its world sports car title, and proved himself the fastest driver of all on the classic road circuits, being faster than Ickx at Nürburgring and the old Spa road circuit and winning three other rounds on GP circuits at Brands Hatch, Watkins Glen and Paul Ricard.1975 began Jarier putting his Shadow DN5 on pole position for the Argentine Grand Prix, only for a component to break in the warm-up, preventing Jarier from taking the start. He repeated the feat at the Brazilian Grand Prix, and then dominated the race until a fuel metering unit failed, ending his race. Bad luck and poor reliability would curse his season, though the Shadow team fell from the pace as well. His only points-scoring finish was for 4th place in the shortened Spanish Grand Prix.
Jarier spent 1976 with Shadow Racing Cars, qualifying 3rd in an updated version of the previous year's car, the DN5B and setting fastest lap at the opening Brazilian Grand Prix, before spinning off and crashing on James Hunt's oil whilst running second a few seconds behind Niki Lauda in a Ferrari. Subsequently, the car became uncompetitive, and Jarier failed to score any points.
After this, his career slowed. He switched to the ATS team in 1977, driving a Penske. He scored a point in his first race for the team, and then had one-off drives for Shadow and Equipe Ligier when the German team elected to miss the final races of the year. He also dabbled in sports cars, winning two races in an Alfa Romeo T33 with Arturo Merzario, and coming second at the Le Mans 24 Hours with Vern Schuppan in a Mirage.
His second year at ATS in the in-house HS1, was less successful, and he was fired after an argument with team principal Günter Schmid after failing to qualify the car for the Monaco Grand Prix. He was briefly re-hired for the German Grand Prix, only to miss the grid again, and again argued with Schmidt, leaving once more. However, at the end of the year he was signed by Team Lotus to take the seat left by Ronnie Peterson's death. He set fastest lap at the United States Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen, running 3rd before he ran out of fuel, and then took pole and dominated at the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal before an oil leak ended his race.
These showings saw him signed by Tyrrell Racing. He was a regular points-scorer over two seasons with the team, with his best results being two 3rd places, achieved at the 1979 South African Grand Prix and the 1979 British Grand Prix.
He began 1981 with a temporary assignment for Ligier, standing in while Jean-Pierre Jabouille returned to fitness, for two races at Long Beach and Rio de Janeiro. He then drove with Osella beginning midway through the season.
1982 saw a full season with Osella, with Jarier securing the team's best-ever finish with 4th at the San Marino Grand Prix. While the rest of the year would be difficult, Jarier was instrumental in keeping the team's morale up following the death of Riccardo Paletti at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The following year saw a full season with Equipe Ligier, but after a good run at Long Beach ended with a collision with Keke Rosberg, he finished the season without points. At the Austrian Grand Prix that year he made many drivers angry because of his blocking tactics as a back marker. On lap 22, Ferrari driver Patrick Tambay, who had led the race from the start, was held up by Jarier for two corners. As he was being held up, Tambay's team-mate René Arnoux was able to pass Tambay on the approach to the Texaco-Schikane by boxing Tambay in behind Jarier. This also allowed Brabham driver Nelson Piquet to come from 3rd to 2nd by nipping past Tambay into the second of the two left-handers, which dropped Tambay to 3rd and denied him the lead he had been preparing to re-take from Arnoux. A furious Tambay waved his fist at Jarier when he finally did pass him. BBC commentators Murray Walker and James Hunt were appalled at Jarier's driving. In his characteristically inflammatory style Hunt commented:
Walker also made scathing comments on Jarier's driving, he said "In all my years as a commentator, but certainly no driver, I have to admit, that was an awful and crass piece of driving by Jarier."
Later life
Following this, Jarier retired from motorsport, but was tempted back to drive in the Porsche Supercup in 1994. This led to several sports car drives, winning the 1998 and 1999 French GT Championships. Jarier contributed major stunt work to the film Ronin, directed by John Frankenheimer, who also directed the 1966 Grand Prix.Racing record
Complete European Formula Two Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pts | |
| Shell-Arnold Team | March 712M | Ford | HOC | THR Ret | NÜR | JAR Ret | PAL Ret | ROU DNS | MAN Ret | TUL | ALB | VAL DNQ | VAL 3 | 8th | 10 | |||||||
| Shell-Arnold Team | March 722 | Ford | MAL | THR Ret | HOC Ret | PAU | PAL | HOC | ROU | ÖST | IMO | MAN | PER | SAL | ALB | HOC | NC | 0 | ||||
| STP March Racing Team | March 732 | BMW | MAL 1 | HOC 1 | THR Ret | NÜR Ret | PAU | KIN | NIV 1 | HOC | ROU 1 | MNZ | MAN 1 | KAR 1 | PER 1 | SAL | NOR Ret | ALB 2 | VAL | 1st | 78 | |
| Fred Opert Racing | Chevron B35 | Hart | HOC | THR | VAL | SAL | PAU 4 | HOC | ROU | MUG | PER | EST | NOG Ret | HOC | NC | 0 | ||||||
| Maublanc Racing Services | March 782 | BMW | THR Ret | HOC 3 | NÜR | PAU | MUG | VAL Ret | ROU 8 | DON | NOG | PER | MIS | HOC | NC | 0 |
Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points
Complete Formula One World Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pts | |
| 1971 | Shell Arnold Team | March 701 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | RSA | ESP | MON | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA NC | CAN | USA | NC | 0 | ||||||
| 1973 | STP March Racing Team | March 721G | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG Ret | BRA Ret | RSA NC | ESP | NC | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 1973 | STP March Racing Team | March 731 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | BEL Ret | MON Ret | SWE Ret | FRA Ret | GBR | NED | GER | AUT Ret | ITA | NC | 0 | ||||||||
| 1973 | March Racing Team | March 731 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | CAN NC | USA 11 | NC | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| 1974 | UOP Shadow Racing Team | Shadow DN1 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG Ret | BRA Ret | RSA | 14th | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| 1974 | UOP Shadow Racing Team | Shadow DN3 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ESP Ret | BEL 13 | MON 3 | SWE 5 | NED Ret | FRA 12 | GBR Ret | GER 8 | AUT 8 | ITA Ret | CAN Ret | USA 10 | 14th | 6 | |||||
| 1975 | UOP Shadow Racing Team | Shadow DN5 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG DNS | BRA Ret | RSA Ret | ESP 4 | MON Ret | BEL Ret | SWE Ret | NED Ret | FRA 8 | GBR 14 | GER Ret | USA Ret | 18th | 1.5 | |||||
| 1975 | UOP Shadow Racing Team | Shadow DN7 | Matra MS73 3.0 V12 | AUT Ret | ITA Ret | 18th | 1.5 | |||||||||||||||
| 1976 | Shadow Racing Team | Shadow DN5B | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | BRA Ret | RSA Ret | USW 7 | ESP Ret | BEL 9 | MON 8 | SWE 12 | FRA 12 | GBR 9 | GER 11 | AUT Ret | NED 10 | ITA 19 | CAN 18 | USA 10 | JPN 10 | NC | 0 | |
| 1977 | ATS Racing Team | Penske PC4 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW 6 | ESP DNQ | MON 11 | BEL 11 | SWE 8 | FRA Ret | GBR 9 | GER Ret | AUT 14 | NED Ret | ITA Ret | 19th | 1 | |||
| 1977 | Shadow Racing Team | Shadow DN8 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | USA 9 | CAN | 19th | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| 1977 | Ligier Gitanes | Ligier JS7 | Matra MS76 3.0 V12 | JPN Ret | 19th | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1978 | ATS Racing Team | ATS HS1 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG 12 | BRA DNS | RSA 8 | USW 11 | MON DNQ | BEL | ESP | SWE | FRA | GBR | GER DNQ | AUT | NED | ITA | NC | 0 | |||
| 1978 | John Player Team Lotus | Lotus 79 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | USA 15 | CAN Ret | NC | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| 1979 | Team Tyrrell | Tyrrell 009 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG Ret | BRA Ret | RSA 3 | USW 6 | ESP 5 | 11th | 14 | ||||||||||||
| 1979 | Candy Team Tyrrell | Tyrrell 009 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | BEL 11 | MON Ret | FRA 5 | GBR 3 | GER | AUT | NED Ret | ITA 6 | CAN Ret | USA Ret | 11th | 14 | |||||||
| 1980 | Candy Team Tyrrell | Tyrrell 009 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ARG Ret | BRA 12 | 13th | 6 | |||||||||||||||
| 1980 | Candy Team Tyrrell | Tyrrell 010 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | RSA 7 | USW Ret | BEL 5 | MON Ret | FRA Ret | GBR 5 | GER 15 | AUT Ret | NED 5 | ITA 13 | CAN 7 | USA NC | 13th | 6 | |||||
| 1981 | Equipe Talbot Gitanes | Ligier JS17 | Matra MS81 3.0 V12 | USW Ret | BRA 7 | ARG | SMR | BEL | MON | ESP | FRA | NC | 0 | |||||||||
| 1981 | Osella Squadra Corse | Osella FA1B | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | GBR 8 | GER 8 | AUT 10 | NED Ret | NC | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 1981 | Osella Squadra Corse | Osella FA1C | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | ITA 9 | CAN Ret | CPL Ret | NC | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 1982 | Osella Squadra Corse | Osella FA1C | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | RSA Ret | BRA 9 | USW Ret | SMR 4 | BEL Ret | MON DNQ | DET Ret | CAN Ret | NED 14 | GBR Ret | FRA Ret | 20th | 3 | ||||||
| 1982 | Osella Squadra Corse | Osella FA1D | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | GER Ret | AUT DNQ | SUI Ret | ITA Ret | CPL DNS | 20th | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 1983 | Equipe Ligier Gitanes | Ligier JS21 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | BRA Ret | USW Ret | FRA 9 | SMR Ret | MON Ret | BEL Ret | DET Ret | CAN Ret | NC | 0 | |||||||||
| 1983 | Equipe Ligier Gitanes | Ligier JS21 | Ford Cosworth DFY 3.0 V8 | GBR 10 | GER 8 | AUT 7 | NED Ret | ITA 9 | EUR Ret | RSA 10 | NC | 0 |
For the 1976 German and Austrian Grands Prix Shadow was sponsored by the Villiger Söhne "Tabatip" cigar brand.