Pironi, Arnoux Ignored Team Orders
Won San Marino GP and French GP, Respectively, in 1982 F1 Season
Didier Pironi disobeyed team orders en route to winning the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix. Rene Arnoux did the same en route to winning the 1982 French Grand Prix.
This is the third article in a four-part series on a group of drivers who have disobeyed an order from the team. It is on Didier Peroni and Rene Arnoux. They along with Carlos Reutemann and Manfred von Brauchitsch, a grand prix driver in the 1930s, disobeyed “team orders” during a race.
The fifth driver, Lewis Hamilton, is unique in the group for disobeying an order from the team during qualifying.
For an overview of the series, please see the Suite101 article, “F1 Drivers Who Vetoed Team Orders.” For more information on Hamilton disobeying an order from McLaren during qualifying for the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix, please see the Suite101 article, “Hamilton Nixed Order in F1 Qualy 3.” For more information on Reutemann and von Brauchitsch disobeying team orders during a race, please see the Suite101 article, "Reutemann, von Brauchitsch Disobeyed."
For close to a century, grand prix and then Formula 1 teams could issue “team orders” to a driver to allow his teammate to pass in a race. The main reason was to try to maximize the points score by the driver in better position in the driver championship.
In October 2002, team orders were outlawed in F1. The ban stemmed from Rubens Barrichello obeying the order from Ferrari to gift the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix to Michael Schumacher, who was in better position in the driver standings. Schumacher went on to win his third straight driver championship for Ferrari and fifth overall.
Didier Pironi, 1982 San Marino Grand Prix
The Ferraris driven by Gilles Villeneuve of Canada and Didier Pironi of France qualified third and fourth, respectively, for the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix. The Renaults of Rene Arnoux and Alain Prost qualified 1-2.
Prost retired after six laps (engine). After Arnoux retired (lap 44, turbo), Villeneuve and Pironi were running 1-2, far ahead of the remaining cars.
Ferrari instructed the drivers to slow down to minimize the risk of mechanical failure or running out of fuel. Cars did not make pit stops for fuel in those days.
According to the Web site Wikipedia, “Villeneuve believed this order also meant that the cars were to maintain position on the track, with Villeneuve first ahead of Pironi. However, Pironi believed that the cars were free to race.”
The thinking here is that Pironi’s logic was flawed since the drivers were ordered to slow down. For Pironi to race and possibly pass Villeneuve, he would have to speed up.
Late in the race, Pironi and Villeneuve exchanged passes. The following also is from Wikipedia: “Villeneuve believed that Pironi was simply trying to spice up an otherwise dull race and duly re-passed his teammate, assuming that he would then hold station for the remainder of the race.
“Thus, Villeneuve failed to protect the inside line going into the Tosa corner on the final lap, and Pironi passed him to take the win.”
An irate Villeneuve vowed to never speak to Pironi again. Less than two weeks later, Villeneuve died from injuries suffered in an accident in qualifying for the next race – the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. At the time, Villeneuve was second and was trying to dislodge Pironi from pole. His anger toward Pironi is believed to have contributed to the fatal accident.
As it turned out, Pironi didn’t have much time remaining in F1. The Canadian Grand Prix was on the schedule three races after Pironi disobeyed team orders and two races after Villeneuve perished.
Prior to the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix, the track was renamed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in honor of the late driver, who was a native of the Canadian province of Quebec.
Pironi, a native of France, qualified on pole and dedicated the race to Villeneuve. At the start, Pironi’s car stalled. The March-Ford driven by Raul Boesel clipped the stationary Ferrari, but managed to continue. Seconds later, though, the Osella-Ford driven by young Italian Riccardo Paletti slammed into Pironi’s car. Paletti died shortly thereafter at a hospital.
Following three straight podium finishes (first in the Dutch Grand Prix, second in the British Grand Prix and third in the French Grand Prix), Pironi suffered serious injuries to his legs in an accident at Hockenheim in qualifying for the German Grand Prix that ended his F1 career.
Pironi attempted a comeback in F1 in 1986 and proved in testing that he could be competitive. But when he could not find a race seat with a strong team, Pironi turned to powerboat racing. In August 1987, he and his two crew members were killed during a powerboat race off the Isle of Wight.
The final twist to the story is that Pironi’s girlfriend gave birth to twins weeks after his death. She named the boys “Didier” and “Gilles.”
Rene Arnoux, 1982 French Grand Prix
Rene Arnoux of France is probably best known to F1 fans for his thrilling duel for second place with Gilles Villeneuve in the closing laps of the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon. Villeneuve ultimately finished second in the race.
However, Arnoux disobeyed team orders in winning the 1982 French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard. He was driving for a French team – Renault. And he deprived his teammate Alain Prost, also a French driver, of the victory.
Arnoux inherited the lead when Nelson Piquet retired (lap 23, engine) and spent the rest of the race ignoring the message on the pit board to let Prost pass. Arnoux ended up winning the race by more than 17 seconds over Prost.
What was Arnoux thinking? Entering the race, he had scored only four points in the first 10 races. He had retired from eight races.
Meanwhile, Prost had 19 points entering the French Grand Prix and was competing for the driver championship.
The three points Prost lost due to Arnoux disobeying team orders did not cost him the driver championship. Prost finished fourth with 34 points, 10 behind the champion -- Keke Rosberg.
The decision by Arnoux to ignore team orders likely was a factor in ending his time at Renault at the end of the 1982 season. In 1983, he drove for Ferrari.
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