Although Jean-Pierre Jabouille was far from being the best-known member of an outstanding generation of French racing drivers, he could claim a unique distinction. At Dijon in 1979 he became the first driver to win a Formula One race in a turbocharged car, heralding a new era.
Even then Jabouille, who has died aged 80, found his victory overshadowed by the battle for second place. A handful of seconds behind his Renault, his teammate René Arnoux and the French-Canadian daredevil Gilles Villeneuve in a Ferrari were monopolising the attention of the television cameras – and, for British viewers, an equally turbocharged Murray Walker at the BBC microphone – as they raced side by side, banging wheels and sliding across the verges with an apparent disdain for personal safety before Arnoux gave best to his rival.
