Initially, Jean-Pierre Jabouille made his mark in France’s national Formula Three racing in 1968. Not only did he race, but he also maintained his own car and earned enough money to move continually forward to the next meetings. At the time, a certain François Cevert was dominating the French F3 scene. Alpine offered Jabouille a berth for the 1969 season as teammate to Patrick Depailler and he stayed with the team for some years, supported by the involvement of Elf…

The efforts Jabouille invested in testing all came to fruition with the debut of Renaut’s turbocharged RS 01 F1 car at Silverstone in the summer of 1977..
Photo: BRDC Archive