At least we're sure that Olivier HAS mirrors.

---

To be fair to the slick-haired man from Toulouse, his manners have not always been under question, at least not during his first year with Ligier; then again he had Rene Arnoux as a team-mate, and Arnoux's blocking job on Alain Prost at Monaco, which lost the Professor 12.2 seconds in four laps, would have put anything Grouillard did in the shade.

What cemented Grouillard's reputation were two horrendous years with Osella (or Fondmetal), during which on several occasions he refused to let the leaders by, most notably at Adelaide in 1990, where Nigel Mansell shook his fist at the Frenchman in front of the on-board camera. Unrepentant, and excusing himself using the performance disadvantages of his cars, Grouillard took his blocking skills to Tyrrell in 1992, but thereafter was seen no more in F1. The leading drivers, at least, were pleased with that.

Back to the top.

It was Philippe's performances in his Larrousse that let him to be labelled as a bit of a blocker by James Hunt.

---

Alliot too had a leader shake his fist at him in front of an on-board camera. The leader in question was Ayrton Senna, and the race was the Spanish GP in 1989, where the Larrousse blatantly chopped across the McLaren's bows, eliciting Senna's outraged response.

But the incident which tops them all was at Estoril in 1990. Alliot in the Ligier did the same thing to Nigel Mansell's Ferrari as he had done to Senna the previous year, but this time the Englishman nudged him into a spin backwards into the armco barrier at high speed. Mansell was fortunate to go on and win the race, whilst many, Hunt especially, thought Alliot had received his just deserts.

From memory, Hunt called him a "bloody idiot" on air, and that just about summed it up.

Back to the top.

ESPN commentator David Hobbs observes de Cesaris' blocking tactics at Mexico in '92. "Andrea de Cesaris, at some stage in almost every race, does something that raises the ire of his other drivers. I mean he could have just let him [Mansell] through then." he claims. (.WAV, 97k, 9 secs)

The Alfa of Andrea de Cesaris - one of the most feared chicanes in in mid-80s.

---

A classic example: the 1982 Swiss GP at Dijon. This would be Keke Rosberg's maiden victory in his championship year, but along the way he got stuck behind De Cesaris' Alfa for lap after lap, losing some ten seconds in all to Rene Arnoux's Renault. It was not the first time these drivers had clashed, and by the end of the season they were off their mutual Christmas card lists.

Though he would mature with age and experience, it seemed as though De Cesaris must have always flunked his etiquette classes, for as late as 1992, ESPN commentator David Hobbs remarked that "at some stage in almost every race [he] does something that raises the ire of his other drivers" after he had nearly taken leader Nigel Mansell out of the race.

Back to the top.