- Olivier Grouillard
-
Olivier Grouillard Born 2 September 1958 Formula One World Championship career Nationality French
Active years 1989 - 1992 Teams Ligier, Osella, Fondmetal, AGS, Tyrrell Races 62 (41 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 1 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix Last race 1992 Australian Grand Prix Olivier Grouillard (born 2 September 1958 in Fenouillet) is a racing driver from France. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 1992, participating in 62 Grands Prix, scoring 1 championship point.
Grouillard won the French Formula 3 championship in 1984, from which he progressed to Formula 3000 where he competed from 1985 to 1988. He was not competitive for the first few seasons, but improved in the 1988 championship.
The following year Grouillard made his debut in Formula One for Ligier in the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix. The high point in his Grand Prix career was soon after with a sixth place in the 1989 French Grand Prix. He subsequently drove for Osella and its successor Fondmetal as well as AGS and Tyrrell in Formula One before attempting to establish himself in IndyCar in the U.S., but with little success.
Grouillard was often criticised by other drivers for blocking tactics when he was being approached by faster cars in qualifying and races.
Some of these incidents were at the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix when he stayed on the racing line whilst he was approached by the Lotus of Nelson Piquet in qualifying, Piquet spun off trying to overtake the Frenchman meaning Piquet did not qualify. Piquet furiously shook his fist at Groulliard when the Ligier passed.
In qualifying for the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix, Groulliard now driving for Osella blocked and ruined a quick lap for Nigel Mansell. Mansell pulled up alongside Groulliard and remonstrated furiously with him. This was apparently repeated in the Australian Grand Prix. Grouillard was 5 laps behind Mansell (who was one of the race leaders) and Grouillard blocked him for a quarter of the lap for no apparent reason. Mansell was furious and waved his fist at Grouillard at 180 mph (290 km/h) down the long Brabham straight on the Adelaide circuit, where the Australian GP was being held that year. While still being a back marker, he blocked many other drivers, including Gabriele Tarquini and race leader Ayrton Senna. During the race, BBC race commentator James Hunt referred to Grouillard as "a problem".
Although not a block as such in the 1991 French Grand Prix Groulliard made a last gasp effort to qualify his Fondmetal (aka Osella) but his engine blew, and rather than pull off Groulliard continued to the pits with oil spluttering everywhere. Ayrton Senna trying for pole position lost control of his McLaren as he crossed the line and missed a chance to qualify on pole. Senna referred to this as one reason why he did not qualify 1st.
At the same track one year on Groulliard (now driving for Tyrrell) blatantly jumped the second start and later on in the race blocked Johnny Herbert's Lotus much to the anger of Herbert and Lotus boss Peter Collins.
Groulliard's reputuation apparently saw him sacked by Fondmetal at the end of 1991 when he decided to use his race car in pre qualifying at the Portuguese Grand Prix despite a damaged gearbox. Groulliard decided not to use the spare car and when this did not pay off he was apparently sacked the following Monday by fax.
In 1993 Grouillard went to the US-based CART series with the Indy Regency Racing. His first race was to be the Indianapolis 500 but he failed to qualify. He made 11 starts scoring 4 points (good enough for 28th in the championship) with a best finish of 11th at the Cleveland Grand Prix.
He later raced sports cars somewhat successfully in the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT, and the American Le Mans Series.
Contents
Racing record
Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points 1985 Oreca Motorsport SIL THR
8EST
6VAL
4PAU
4SPA
RetDIJ
7PER
8ZEL
8ZAN DON 12th 7 1986 Hotz-Formula Team Ltd. SIL VAL PAU SPA IMO MUG
4PER ZEL
6BIR
RetBUG JAR
816th 4 1987 Oreca Motorsport SIL
7VAL
RetSPA
DNQPAU
4DON
12PER
RetBRH
15BIR
6IMO
RetBUG
RetJAR
Ret17th 4 1988 GBDA Motorsport JER
5VAL
3PAU
RetSIL
RetMNZ
RetPER
2BRH
RetBIR
DNSBUG
1ZOL
1DIJ
32nd 34 Complete Formula One results
(key)
Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 1989 Ligier Loto Ligier JS33 Cosworth V8 BRA
9SMR
DSQMON
RetMEX
8USA
DNQCAN
DNQFRA
6GBR
7GER
RetHUN
DNQBEL
13ITA
RetPOR
DNQESP
RetJPN
RetAUS
Ret26th 1 1990 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1M Cosworth V8 USA
RetBRA
RetNC 0 Osella FA1ME SMR
RetMON
DNQCAN
13MEX
19FRA
DNPQGBR
DNQGER
DNQHUN
DNPQBEL
16ITA
RetPOR
DNQESP
RetJPN
DNQAUS
131991 Fondmetal F1 SpA Fomet FA1M-E90 Cosworth V8 USA
DNPQBRA
DNPQNC 0 Fomet F1 SMR
DNPQMON
DNPQCAN
DNPQMEX
RetFRA
RetGBR
DNPQGER
DNPQHUN
DNQBEL
10ITA
RetPOR
DNPQAutomobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives AGS JH27 ESP
DNPQJPN AUS 1992 Tyrrell Racing Organisation Tyrrell 020B Ilmor V10 RSA
RetMEX
RetBRA
RetESP
RetSMR
8MON
RetCAN
12FRA
11GBR
11GER
RetHUN
RetBEL
RetITA
RetPOR
RetJPN
RetAUS
RetNC 0 American Open Wheel
(key)
CART
Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points 1993 Indy Regency
SRF
PHX
LBH
IND
DNQ
MIL
12
DET
Ret
POR
13
CLE
11
TOR
DNS
MIC
Ret
NHA
12
ROA
16
VAN
Ret
MDO
16
NAZ
18
LS
2028th 4 Sources
Sporting positions Preceded by
Michel FertéFrench Formula Three
Champion
1984Succeeded by
Pierre-Henri RaphanelCategories:- 1958 births
- Living people
- People from Haute-Garonne
- French racecar drivers
- French Formula One drivers
- AGS Formula One drivers
- French Formula Three Championship drivers
- Champ Car drivers
- International Formula 3000 drivers
- 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
- World Touring Car Championship drivers
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.