Olivier Grouillard
Olivier Grouillard ( born September 2, 1958 in Fenouillet ) is a French former racing driver. In the years 1989 to 1992 he was a Formula 1 driver, where he participated in 62 Grands Prix, however, qualified for only 41 races and achieved a championship point.
Racing starts
1984 Grouillard won the championship in the French Formula 3, after which he could obtain a cockpit in the International Formula 3000. There he ran from 1985 to 1987, first in non- competitive vehicles, until he in a Lola racing cars for some races decided in the 1988 season and was runner-up.
Formula 1
1989: Ligier
In 1989, he was with at least 30 years of his Formula 1 debut in the Ligier and received the Grand Prix of France in sixth place and thus a championship point. His first Formula 1 season was also his most successful, because in the following years it was no longer possible for him to go into the points.
1990/1991: Osella and Fondmetal
The 1990 season played for the team Grouillard Osella. His car, the Osella FA1M -E was fast but not reliable, so Grouillard only four times saw the checkered flag in the season. Championship points he did not reach.
In 1991 he was committed to the team Fondmetal, Osella Squadra Corse of the successor. Again, the cars were not competitive; Grouillard qualified for four races. The best result was the tenth starting place at the Grand Prix of Mexico, in which Grouillard a qualifying time achieved, which is higher than the pole time of Riccardo Patrese just 1.8 seconds. This positioning was the best qualifying result in the history of the Italian team. However, Fondmetal has the good result in the race not apply: Due to a mechanical failure on his car Grouillard had to start from the pit lane and drove behind the field. After 14 rounds stopped a re- engineering defect the ride.
Grouillards last bet for Fondmetal was the Grand Prix of Portugal in 1991. Due to a gearbox failure on the race car Grouillard was instructed to deny the pre-qualification with the replacement car. Grouillard refused and instead drove the regular car. After he missed the pre-qualification as a result of the defect, he was fired from the rear Metals team boss Gabriele Rumi.
1991: AGS
For the Grand Prix of Spain, the last race of the European season, Grouillard joined the French team Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (AGS ). Here he replaced Gabriele Tarquini, who Grouillards place at Fondmetal occupied. AGS was at that time already nearing insolvency. Grouillard took part in the pre-qualification, however, drove the new AGS JH27 by far the slowest time. After this World Cup run AGS hired racing. Grouillard was not a new cockpit for the rest of the season.
1992 Tyrrell
For his final season in 1992 obliged him Tyrrell thanks to his sponsor Elf Aquitaine. Here he drove alongside Andrea de Cesaris, which, like Grouillard, had a reputation as a ruthless operator. Grouillard the weaker of the two Tyrrell driver was. He qualified Although for each race, but had a high failure rate. In 16 World Cup races, he was only four times the finish. His best finish was eighth place in San Marino.
After his time as a Formula 1 driver to Grouillard tried without significant success in the American Champ Car series.
Incidents
Often Grouillard was because of his unfair driving behavior in the criticism, as it blocked the passage in qualifying and the race faster vehicles frequently.
This behavior went so far that he Grand Prix of Belgium 1989 persisted in qualifying at the finish line and the approaching propelled Nelson Piquet forced to brake, so this could not qualify for the race.
Another example was to qualify for the Grand Prix of San Marino, where Grouillard ruined a quick round of Nigel Mansell in Osella, who then herfuhr next to him and angrily protested. Such a procedure was repeated in the same year at the Grand Prix of Australia.
In qualifying for the Grand Prix of France in 1991 burst into Grouillards car engine. However, he was on a fast lap, which he wanted to go to the end, and distributed oil spills over the entire distance. Ayrton Senna, who was on a fast lap also, thus came into the slides and missed as claims to the pole position.