Was Rene Arnoux the maddest driver in F1?
Discussion
I put together a little vid pointing out his 'issues' for the bored, fans or haters... maybe work looking at before YT disables the audio!
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8grEc6eab7E
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsqN4TxDAbI
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCphI49uXqo
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8grEc6eab7E
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsqN4TxDAbI
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCphI49uXqo
t" live on air. Classic.
Rene Arnoux was brilliant in a Turbo car & pretty shabby in a Ligier Cosworth in 89 by then he was aged 41, & that is what some armchair expert's tend to remember & not his 9 wins
Arguably his greatest race (for me) was Dallas in 84 where due to a car issue before the race he started from the back - 26th place....he finished 2nd on a track that made Monaco look spacious.
Arnoux was not mad at all just entertaining..!
Arguably his greatest race (for me) was Dallas in 84 where due to a car issue before the race he started from the back - 26th place....he finished 2nd on a track that made Monaco look spacious.
Arnoux was not mad at all just entertaining..!
^ Don't get too excited, it's not a cuss video, more of a fun video. I.e. 'mad' is not neccessarily a bad trait... 
The only driver I feel the need to cuss is Schumi and my reasons are mostly already discussed.
It could've been longer, but I didn't really get into F1 until 1982, so I don't have much pre-1982 footage and hunting through tonnes of 1986 - 1988 vids for midfield incidents were beyond my levels of free time!
James Hunt was such a great pundit though. I agreed with everything he had to say. It's funny watching his opinions of Arnoux evolve from someone who saw pace and promise to someone who lost his edge massively.
The only driver I feel the need to cuss is Schumi and my reasons are mostly already discussed.It could've been longer, but I didn't really get into F1 until 1982, so I don't have much pre-1982 footage and hunting through tonnes of 1986 - 1988 vids for midfield incidents were beyond my levels of free time!
James Hunt was such a great pundit though. I agreed with everything he had to say. It's funny watching his opinions of Arnoux evolve from someone who saw pace and promise to someone who lost his edge massively.
mattikake said:
^ Don't get too excited, it's not a cuss video, more of a fun video. I.e. 'mad' is not neccessarily a bad trait... The only driver I feel the need to cuss is Schumi and my reasons are mostly already discussed.
It could've been longer, but I didn't really get into F1 until 1982, so I don't have much pre-1982 footage and hunting through tonnes of 1986 - 1988 vids for midfield incidents were beyond my levels of free time!
James Hunt was such a great pundit though. I agreed with everything he had to say. It's funny watching his opinions of Arnoux evolve from someone who saw pace and promise to someone who lost his edge massively.
Did you even agree with everything Hunt had to say about Patrese as well , as he had a vendetta against him ..? The only driver I feel the need to cuss is Schumi and my reasons are mostly already discussed.It could've been longer, but I didn't really get into F1 until 1982, so I don't have much pre-1982 footage and hunting through tonnes of 1986 - 1988 vids for midfield incidents were beyond my levels of free time!
James Hunt was such a great pundit though. I agreed with everything he had to say. It's funny watching his opinions of Arnoux evolve from someone who saw pace and promise to someone who lost his edge massively.
Hunt blamed Patrese for the accident that ultimately killed Ronnie Peterson and I trust and value his interpretation of those events. He wasn't alone in this. I wasn't there and the coverage of the accident was almost non-existent so I couldn't possibly form an opinion.
Patrese did have an early habit of crashing having just got himself into the lead though, but I don't remember Hunt's comments on Patrese being all that bad (considering he could've gone to town on these mistakes), during race coverage at least, and pretty neutral in later years?
The TV cameras only picked him up for one pass on Lauda and he had to rely on Prost, Alboreto, Warwick, Tambay all retiring and Mansell and De Angelis having tyre issues and dropping back or pitting and Senna spinning in the first couple of laps. That's all the decent drivers pretty much.
Patrese did have an early habit of crashing having just got himself into the lead though, but I don't remember Hunt's comments on Patrese being all that bad (considering he could've gone to town on these mistakes), during race coverage at least, and pretty neutral in later years?
Stack said:
Arguably his greatest race (for me) was Dallas in 84 where due to a car issue before the race he started from the back - 26th place....he finished 2nd on a track that made Monaco look spacious.
Were you there then?The TV cameras only picked him up for one pass on Lauda and he had to rely on Prost, Alboreto, Warwick, Tambay all retiring and Mansell and De Angelis having tyre issues and dropping back or pitting and Senna spinning in the first couple of laps. That's all the decent drivers pretty much.
mattikake said:
Hunt blamed Patrese for the accident that ultimately killed Ronnie Peterson and I trust and value his interpretation of those events. He wasn't alone in this.
He did that because he was the other car, he was the one who moved across on Patrese (who was in the middle of the three) causing him to collect Peterson. Blame transference, he refused to accept he had any part in it and used Patrese as the scapegoat.
Slightly O/T, but there was an anecdote a while ago in MotorSport about how G Villeneuve used to put the minimum amount of fuel necessary in his helicopter to get him to where he was going. Someone remembered the time when he was landing near the paddock and ran out of gas whilst still four feet above the ground 
FourWheelDrift said:
mattikake said:
Hunt blamed Patrese for the accident that ultimately killed Ronnie Peterson and I trust and value his interpretation of those events. He wasn't alone in this.
He did that because he was the other car, he was the one who moved across on Patrese (who was in the middle of the three) causing him to collect Peterson. Blame transference, he refused to accept he had any part in it and used Patrese as the scapegoat.Seeing as Hunt
1) never spent undue commentary time reiterating this
2) didn't openly and repeatedly cuss RP for other moves/mistakes, when he easily has cause to do so, that I had seen
3) Several other drivers opinion of the accident also agreed with Hunt - Fittipaldi, Andretti, but don't ask me to try and dig any quotes out!
4) Hunt apeared to be right with many other evaluations and opinions of drivers/events/circuits/politics etc. so probability says he was right here too.
Other drivers initially did for the same reason as Hunt did, they wanted to blame someone and Patrese, the young rookie was there to blame. Anything you find will be of the time it happened, no one accuses Patrese today. Hunt continually commented negatively about Patrese when Hunt had retired and worked for the BBC. Hunt's nick name was "Hunt the Shunt" which he got due to his wheel banging antics in F3, quite a few times he tangled with other cars and he always blamed the other person even when he was the culprit.
The whole farce though really should be blamed on the starter he gave the green too early. The front few rows had only just come to a stop and lined up to go when the green was given, rows further back were still rolling and were up to speed quicker than those in front. This caused a jam of cars 3 or 4 wide going into the chicane and the inevitable crash.
The whole farce though really should be blamed on the starter he gave the green too early. The front few rows had only just come to a stop and lined up to go when the green was given, rows further back were still rolling and were up to speed quicker than those in front. This caused a jam of cars 3 or 4 wide going into the chicane and the inevitable crash.
mattikake said:
Hunt blamed Patrese for the accident that ultimately killed Ronnie Peterson and I trust and value his interpretation of those events. He wasn't alone in this. I wasn't there and the coverage of the accident was almost non-existent so I couldn't possibly form an opinion.
Patrese did have an early habit of crashing having just got himself into the lead though, but I don't remember Hunt's comments on Patrese being all that bad (considering he could've gone to town on these mistakes), during race coverage at least, and pretty neutral in later years?
The TV cameras only picked him up for one pass on Lauda and he had to rely on Prost, Alboreto, Warwick, Tambay all retiring and Mansell and De Angelis having tyre issues and dropping back or pitting and Senna spinning in the first couple of laps. That's all the decent drivers pretty much.
Yes there were many retirments but Arnoux drove brilliantly up to 10th by lap 10 ...he did not make a single mistake all weekend. Rene's car was so ill handling in the race he said it gave him advantage..Patrese did have an early habit of crashing having just got himself into the lead though, but I don't remember Hunt's comments on Patrese being all that bad (considering he could've gone to town on these mistakes), during race coverage at least, and pretty neutral in later years?
Stack said:
Arguably his greatest race (for me) was Dallas in 84 where due to a car issue before the race he started from the back - 26th place....he finished 2nd on a track that made Monaco look spacious.
Were you there then?The TV cameras only picked him up for one pass on Lauda and he had to rely on Prost, Alboreto, Warwick, Tambay all retiring and Mansell and De Angelis having tyre issues and dropping back or pitting and Senna spinning in the first couple of laps. That's all the decent drivers pretty much.
No I was not at the race but I still have a copy of GP International featuring the race review ...
Edited by Stack on Friday 13th March 21:02
Murray Walker responded to a question about James Hunt on ITV's website a while back. This was his response:
quote:
I worked in the com box with James, bless him, for 13 years. So 13 years times 16 Grands Prix a year times four days for each of them is a lot of time together (832 days according to my calculator) and I got to know him very well.
He was an absolutely unique person. A good looking eccentric who just didn't live or think like other people, enormous fun and with a fabulous personality who could charm the birds off the trees (and very frequently did!) but also a man with very strong opinions about absolutely everything.
The public loved him for his outspokenness on the air and he often got into hot water for what he said. Certainly not your modern politically correct chap and all the better for it, say I. Anyway I always knew that if it wasn't a very exciting race I only had to say how well Riccardo Patrese, was doing and James would gesture for the mike (we shared one between us in the BBC days to avoid both of us excitedly talking at the same time) and pour out a torrent of bile about him.
James detested Patrese although he is actually an extremely nice bloke. But James always blamed Patrese for the death of Ronnie Peterson at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1978 (unjustifiably as it happens) and never forgave him.
It was Hunt`s McLaren which had hit Peterson's Lotus and James said that Patrese, who was a bit of a wild driver in his early days, had moved over on him at the start to cause the horrifying multiple collision. Ronnie was trapped in his Lotus, which had burst into flames.
James and Clay Reggazoni bravely pulled him out of the blazing car and the charming Peterson was rushed to hospital where, sadly, he died of an embolism that night. Riccardo was blamed by his rivals for the collision and the drivers actually refused to start in the next race at Watkins Glen in America unless he was excluded - which he was.
James was very bitter about all this so whenever he got the chance he gave him a hard time on the air which poor Riccardo certainly didn't deserve for he was subsequently completely absolved of any blame. Unfair of James? Yes it most certainly was but, like I said, he was a dominant person with strong opinions and when the feelings of such a forceful and excitable man run high...............
quote:
I worked in the com box with James, bless him, for 13 years. So 13 years times 16 Grands Prix a year times four days for each of them is a lot of time together (832 days according to my calculator) and I got to know him very well.
He was an absolutely unique person. A good looking eccentric who just didn't live or think like other people, enormous fun and with a fabulous personality who could charm the birds off the trees (and very frequently did!) but also a man with very strong opinions about absolutely everything.
The public loved him for his outspokenness on the air and he often got into hot water for what he said. Certainly not your modern politically correct chap and all the better for it, say I. Anyway I always knew that if it wasn't a very exciting race I only had to say how well Riccardo Patrese, was doing and James would gesture for the mike (we shared one between us in the BBC days to avoid both of us excitedly talking at the same time) and pour out a torrent of bile about him.
James detested Patrese although he is actually an extremely nice bloke. But James always blamed Patrese for the death of Ronnie Peterson at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1978 (unjustifiably as it happens) and never forgave him.
It was Hunt`s McLaren which had hit Peterson's Lotus and James said that Patrese, who was a bit of a wild driver in his early days, had moved over on him at the start to cause the horrifying multiple collision. Ronnie was trapped in his Lotus, which had burst into flames.
James and Clay Reggazoni bravely pulled him out of the blazing car and the charming Peterson was rushed to hospital where, sadly, he died of an embolism that night. Riccardo was blamed by his rivals for the collision and the drivers actually refused to start in the next race at Watkins Glen in America unless he was excluded - which he was.
James was very bitter about all this so whenever he got the chance he gave him a hard time on the air which poor Riccardo certainly didn't deserve for he was subsequently completely absolved of any blame. Unfair of James? Yes it most certainly was but, like I said, he was a dominant person with strong opinions and when the feelings of such a forceful and excitable man run high...............
Edited by Stack on Friday 13th March 21:48
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