René Alexandre Arnoux

In 1973, Arnoux enrolled in the Winfield Racing School and graduated as the top student, earning the Volant Shell Competition Scholarship for a free Formule Renault season. He moved into Formula Two in 1974 with Elf, finishing fourth on his debut at Nogaro. In 1975 he won the Formule Super Renault title.

For 1976 Arnoux returned to Formula Two with an Elf-sponsored, works Martini-Renault, winning three races but narrowly losing the title to Jean-Pierre Jabouille. In 1977 he won the European Formula Two Championship with Martini-Renault, taking victories at Silverstone, Hockenheim, Pau, and Nogaro, and finishing twelve points clear of American Eddie Cheever — who drove for Ron Dennis's Project Four Racing — and fourteen points clear of teammate Didier Pironi.

Arnoux continued with the Martini team when it stepped up to Formula One in 1978, but the organisation lacked resources and abandoned the season partway through. His best finishes for Martini were two ninth places in Belgium and Austria. He moved to Surtees for the final two rounds of 1978, finishing ninth at Watkins Glen in the United States Grand Prix, then retiring in Canada when the Ford DFV engine failed.

Arnoux joined the factory Renault team for 1979. His teammate Jean-Pierre Jabouille took the team's only win of the year at the French Grand Prix at Dijon-Prenois. Arnoux attracted wider attention for a fierce wheel-banging battle with Gilles Villeneuve in the Ferrari for second place at the same race, which Villeneuve won. In the second half of the season Arnoux took four top-six finishes including three podiums.

In 1980, Arnoux claimed his first two Formula One victories: at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil, then at Kyalami in South Africa, where the turbocharged Renault RE20's power advantage in the thinner high-altitude air proved decisive. After the South African race, Arnoux led the World Championship for the first time. He would not lose the lead until Round 6 in Monaco. The turbocharged Renault V6 produced approximately 510 bhp but suffered chronic unreliability, and Arnoux ended the season sixth with 29 points, 38 behind World Champion Alan Jones.

The 1981 season was complicated by the arrival of Alain Prost at Renault, and their rivalry quickly moved off the track. At the 1982 French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard, Arnoux and Prost achieved Renault's first one-two finish in Formula One, with Arnoux ahead. Prost was furious, believing Arnoux had broken a pre-race agreement to yield the win, as Prost was better placed in the championship. Arnoux maintained no such orders had been given. Arnoux also won the 1982 Italian Grand Prix. He suffered a high-speed crash at the Dutch Grand Prix after losing a wheel entering the banked Tarzan corner.

With the Prost–Arnoux pairing becoming unsustainable, Arnoux left Renault at the end of 1982 to join Ferrari alongside Patrick Tambay. In 1983 he won at the Canadian, German, and Dutch Grands Prix and remained a championship contender until the final race, the South African Grand Prix, where he retired with engine failure. He finished third in the championship behind Nelson Piquet and Prost. Both Arnoux and Tambay became favourites with the Tifosi for their hard-charging styles; their combined results helped Ferrari win the 1983 Constructors' Championship. Arnoux's victory at Zandvoort was the seventh and final win of his Formula One career.

In 1984, the McLarens of Prost and Niki Lauda dominated, and teammate Michele Alboreto progressively took the team leadership from Arnoux. Arnoux finished sixth with 27 points, achieving his last Formula One podium with second place in San Marino and second place in Dallas — the only Grand Prix ever held in Dallas. He also started that race from the pits after an electrical fault on the warm-up lap. After finishing fourth in the opening race of the 1985 championship in Brazil, Arnoux left Ferrari by mutual consent, with Stefan Johansson taking his place.

Arnoux returned to Formula One in 1986 with the French Ligier team, then using turbocharged Renault engines. He had two teammates during the season: Jacques Laffite for the first half — until Laffite broke both legs in a first-corner crash at Brands Hatch in the British Grand Prix — and Philippe Alliot thereafter.

For 1987, Ligier had arranged exclusive use of a new Alfa Romeo four-cylinder turbocharged engine producing 850 bhp for the Ligier JS29. However, after Arnoux publicly compared the engine to "used food" during pre-season testing, Alfa's parent company Fiat pulled the project. Ligier were forced to use Megatron engines, producing around 950 bhp, for the season. Arnoux scored the team's only point with sixth place in Belgium.

In 1988, Ligier switched to the naturally aspirated 3.5-litre Judd V8 engine. The Ligier JS31 proved uncompetitive, and Arnoux and new teammate Stefan Johansson failed to qualify on multiple occasions. Arnoux's best finish was tenth in Portugal. It was the first season since his debut that he failed to score a World Championship point. In the final race of the 1988 season in Adelaide, Arnoux collected race leader Gerhard Berger while being lapped; Berger attributed the incident partly to a "very long" brake pedal.

Arnoux completed his Formula One career in 1989 with the Ford DFR-powered Ligier JS33. He was criticised throughout the season for not using his mirrors and blocking faster cars in qualifying and when being lapped. At the Monaco Grand Prix, BBC commentator Murray Walker noted Arnoux's explanation that naturally aspirated cars were difficult for him after years in turbocharged machinery; co-commentator and 1976 World Champion James Hunt responded bluntly. Arnoux's last World Championship points came with fifth place at the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix. His final race was the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, where his Ligier was retired after four laps following contact with the Arrows of Eddie Cheever. He ended his Formula One career with 181 World Championship points.

After retiring from driving, Arnoux established an indoor karting business with four tracks in France. He also owns and manages two factories, and appears regularly at historical events on behalf of Renault. He took part in the Grand Prix Masters championship, a series restricted to former Formula One drivers, in 2006 and 2007. In 2007 and 2008 he drove for the Renault H&C Classic Team, presenting and driving Alain Prost's 1983 Formula One car at World Series by Renault events.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.