Ligier JS33B
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The Ligier JS33 was a Formula One car used by the Ligier team during the
1989 Formula One season The 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 43rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 26 March and ended on 5 November. Alain Prost won his third Drivers' Championship, and McLaren won the Constructors' Championship. ...
. Its best finish in a race was fifth, at the
1989 Canadian Grand Prix The 1989 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 18 June 1989. It was the sixth race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship. The 69-lap race was won by Belgian driver Thierry Boutsen, driving a Wi ...
. The JS33 was updated to a 'B' spec for use in the following season, but failed to score any points for the team.


Development

For the 1989 season, Ligier switched from the Judd engines of the previous season to
Cosworth DFR The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. The name is an abbreviation of ''Double Four Valve'', the engine being a V8 development of the earlier four-cylinder FVA, which had fo ...
. The JS33 chassis was designed by
Michel Beaujon Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), S ...
and finished off by
Richard Divila Ricardo Ramsey "Richard" Divila (30 May 1945 – 25 April 2020) was a Brazilian motorsports designer. He worked in Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Three, Formula 3000 and sports car racing. Life and career Divila was born in São Paulo. He ...
.Hodges, 2001, p. 126 In appearance, it looked similar to the
March 881 The March 881 was a Formula One racing car designed by Adrian Newey (his first ever F1 car) and raced by March Racing Team in the season by Italian Ivan Capelli and the debuting Maurício Gugelmin from Brazil. The car's best result was a seco ...
and even used the same gearbox (purchased from March).Henry, 1989, p. 60 The chassis was updated to a 'B' spec for the
1990 Formula One season The 1990 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 44th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1990 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1990 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were conteste ...
. The March gearbox from the previous season was discarded in favour of an X-trac unit,Henry, 1990, p. 58 and the front suspension was revised. Weight was also shaved from the car.Hodges, 2001, p. 126


Race history


1989 season

Ligier's lead driver from the previous season,
René Arnoux René Alexandre Arnoux (; born 4 July 1948) is a French former racing driver who competed in 12 Formula One seasons (1978 to 1989). He participated in 165 World Championship Grands Prix (149 starts) winning seven of them, achieving 22 podium fi ...
, remained with the team and alongside him was new recruit Olivier Grouillard. Arnoux, in his final season in Formula One, did not start the year well, failing to qualify for the first two races of the year before making the grid in the
Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...
in 21st spot. He went on to finish the race in 12th. He continued to struggle during qualifying, only making the grid on eight more occasions. He finished in the points once, with a fifth-place finish at the
Canadian Grand Prix The Canadian Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix du Canada) is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a sports ...
. Grouillard was usually the faster of the two Ligier drivers. His best qualification performance was at the San Marino Grand Prix where he was 10th on the grid. He was disqualified from the race after his team worked on his car prior to a restart of the race. His best finish of the year was 6th, at the French Grand Prix. Grouillard left the team at the end of the season. Ligier finished 13th equal in the World Constructors' Championship with three points, an improvement on the previous year.


1990 season

Nicola Larini Nicola Larini (born 19 March 1964) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 6 September 1987. He finished second in the tragic 1994 San Marino Grand Prix on a substitute outing for Ferrari, but only ...
and Philippe Alliot were Ligier's drivers for the 1990 Formula One season. Larini was a reliable driver for the team, finishing all but three of his races. He did not score any points and his best finishes were back to back seventh places at the Spanish and Japanese Grand Prix. Alliot had some unfortunate races; he was excluded from the opening race in the United States when a mechanic worked on his car outside of the pits and he was disqualified from the German Grand Prix when he received a push start on the first lap of the race. With more cars than spaces available on the grid, some teams had to enter pre-qualifying in order to be allowed to participate in qualifying proper. With neither driver scoring points by the midpoint of the season, Ligier was relegated to having to pre-qualify from the German Grand Prix. However, this only lasted for a few races before one of the seeded teams, Onyx, withdrew from Formula One, allowing Ligier, as the best placed unseeded team, direct entry into qualifying.Hamilton, 1990, p. 197


Complete Formula One results

(
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)


Notes


References

* * * * {{F1 cars 1990 1989 Formula One season cars 1990 Formula One season cars Ligier Formula One cars