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6 of the greatest French F1 drivers of all time
As Formula One returns to France for the first time in a decade, here are the greatest French drivers to race at the pinnacle of world motorsport.
The last time F1 visited French soil was in 2008, and it's back with a bang in 2018, returning to the legendary Circuit Paul Ricard with French drivers Romain Grosjean, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly keen to star at their home grand prix.
The legendary Alain Prost is the most successful French F1 driver of all time with four world titles, and amazingly remains the only Frenchman to have won the F1 World Championship.
Despite this, there have been loads of super-quick, dashing, fearless, Gallic legends who've wowed the F1 history books.
Here are six of the best…
1. François Cevert
- Wins: One
- Teams: Tyrrell
Jackie Stewart and François Cevert
© Sutton Images
“François Cevert, who lived as fast as he drove, was killed today on the circuit where he scored his first major victory in automobile racing”, is how The New York Times reported his untimely death during qualifying for the 1973 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen
With his car control, movie star looks and patience with his adoring public, Cevert, the son of a Paris jeweller, was tipped to take over from Tyrrell team-mate and mentor Jackie Stewart as a future world champion in 1974, but his death in qualifying at Watkins Glen robbed the sport of an icon.
He only won the one Grand Prix, but left a colourful legacy and a quick internet search will reveal an endless stream of photos showcasing Cevert’s catwalk good looks and style, preserving his legacy as the embodiment of old-school racing glamour.
2. Didier Pironi
- Wins: Three
- Teams: Tyrrell, Ligier, Ferrari
Didier Pironi at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track
© Ferrari
By the late 1970s the baby-faced Didier Pironi emerged from a pack of ultra-talented French drivers to become a Ferrari driver and finally earn a shot at the world championship.
Pironi had proved his mettle by winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1978 in a French car, and after notching up his first win with Ligier in 1980, Enzo Ferrari came calling for his signature.
The 1982 season should have been Pironi’s year. After his closest rival and team-mate Gilles Villeneuve was killed in circumstances many still believe were triggered by Pironi’s ignorance of team orders, all the Frenchman had to do was clock up the points in his Ferrari 126C and he would be France’s first world champion.
It wasn’t to be. A needless airborne smash in qualifying for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim nearly cost him his legs, and in many ways the inexplicable accident that ended his career underlines the tragedy of Pironi as quick, fearless and cursed.
3. Jean Behra
- Wins: Zero
- Teams: Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Porsche and Ferrari
He never won a race, but French drivers and fans of a certain vintage always mention one name when it comes to the greatest.
Jean Behra was born in Nice in 1921 and the outbreak of the Second World War robbed him of his best years, but he soon carved out an eye-catching career with the plucky, underpowered French manufacturer Gordini, before driving for racing royalty like Maserati, BRM, Porsche and Ferrari.
A series of huge crashes in the 1950s while dicing with the likes of Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio led to smashed bones, a lost ear and a partially severed nose. This do-or-die attitude, combined with courageous drives and an ability to throw it all away when it mattered, paved the way for a very French legend.
4. Alain Prost
Alain Prost and Niki Lauda 1984
© GPTotal
- Wins: 51
- Teams: McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, Williams
OK, so with more wins than any other French F1 driver combined, Alain Prost aka ‘The Professor’ is statistically the greatest.
Behind the blinding stats of 51 victories and four world titles, the diminutive Prost raced in a period blessed with some of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen, such as Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell.
He beat them all, and with Renault in the early 1980s he tamed deadly ground-effect cars (cars with specific aerodynamics to create downforce) and later with McLaren and Williams, mastered new hi-tech computerised driver aids to sign off in 1993 as champion. This sealed his place as the most successful French F1 driver with a record that is unlikely to be beaten by any compatriot.
5. René Arnoux
- Wins: Seven
- Teams: Martini, Surtees, Renault, Ferrari, Ligier
René Arnoux was part of France’s golden generation, coming to F1 prominence alongside the likes of Patrick Depailler, Jacques Lafitte, Didier Pironi, Alain Prost and Patrick Tambay with support from Elf fuels – funder of many a French motorsport dream.
After an inauspicious start to his F1 career, Arnoux caught the eyes of the world at the French Grand Prix in 1979 when he starred in one of the sport’s most iconic duels ever, bashing wheels at over 180mph (290kph) with the Ferrari of Gilles Villeneuve for lap after lap around the Dijon-Prenois circuit.
Always there or thereabouts when the car allowed, his first season with Ferrari in 1983 was his most successful with three wins and four podiums resulting in a solid third place in the standings.
6. Jean Alesi
Jean Alesi
© Getty Images
- Wins: One
- Teams: Tyrrell, Ferrari, Benetton, Sauber, Prost, Jordan
Jean Alesi would become one of the Tifosi’s all time favourite drivers and certainly deserved more than the solitary grand prix victory.
Alesi wowed the F1 world back in 1990 at Phoenix where he led for 25 laps in his underpowered Tyrrell, doggedly holding off the McLaren of Ayrton Senna. This drive caught the eye of Ferrari, Alesi signed for the 1991 season and with the iconic number 27 slapped on his scarlet machine he would emerge as one of the most exciting drivers of his era.
Stunning in the wet and untouchable on his day, Alesi was blighted by mechanical unreliability and emotional over-heating that would sometimes cloud his racing judgment.
His only win, at Canada in 1995, was scant return for such a great driver, but with 32 podiums he remains one of the best talents to race under the tricolour of France.
