The Ligier F1 Team That Quietly Disappeared

We continue our journey through Formula One’s forgotten teams of the past, and this time the spotlight falls on Ligier F1 team. For many fans, it is not an entirely unfamiliar name, after all, the team was still competing well into the 1990s, leaving behind a story that deserves to be remembered.

In the past, we have already shared stories of several teams from the 1970s that entered Formula One. Many were privateer efforts that appeared briefly before fading away, some after just a single race like Connew, others lasting a little longer, such as the Shadow F1 team, before eventually disappearing from the grid.

However, for two decades, Ligier was one of Formula One’s most recognisable French teams. It never became a dominant force like Ferrari or McLaren, yet its story is deeply woven into the fabric of the sport.

The team entered Formula One in 1976 as a full constructor rather than a privateer. Here, we look back at its history and explore what ultimately happened to the French team.

Ligier F1

Across 20 years in Formula One, from 1976 to 1996, Ligier competed in 326 races. The team won multiple Grands Prix and produced moments that still feel unmistakably Formula One, before almost suddenly, the name vanished from the grid.

Ligier racing team roots

The team was created by Guy Ligier, a man whose path to F1 was anything but ordinary.

However, before racing cars, Ligier was a professional rugby player, later, he became a successful racing driver aand businessman, who had strong connections inside French motorsport.

He was also a rowing champion in 1947 and later became a motorcycle champion in France, winning the 500cc class in 1959 and 1960.

However, he founded his company in the late 1960s, initially focusing on sports cars before later entering Formula One. Every car carried the initials “JS” as a tribute to Jo Schlesser, a close friend who lost his life while driving for Honda in 1968.

In 1976, he decided to enter Formula One with the Ligier team, acquiring the assets of Matra. The idea was to build a truly French F1 team, using French drivers, French engines, and French sponsors whenever possible.

Earlier in our content, we shared the story of the Matra team, and their journey was remarkable—entering Formula One in 1967 and winning the world title in just their third season. It is sad to see a team like Matra leave the sport after such an achievement. Looking at both teams, they each enjoyed success, but Ligier was never able to win an F1 title. It was a different era, and Formula One was evolving rapidly during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Team on the rise

So, let’s return to Ligier. Looking back at the team’s history, it is clear they did not arrive as a backmarker—Ligier showed promise almost immediately.

In their first year in Formula One, the Ligier F1 team competed with just one car, driven by Jacques Laffite. He managed to finish in fourth place in only the team’s third race, a remarkable achievement for a debut team reaching that level so quickly.

However, that year Laffite finished sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, and the story did not end there—Ligier continued their journey in Formula One.

In 1977, Ligier claimed their first victory in just their second year in Formula One, with Jacques Laffite winning the Swedish Grand Prix driving the Ligier JS7.

The team’s best years came at the end of the 1970s. In 1979, Ligier finished third in the Constructors’ Championship, and in 1980, they improved further, securing second place in the championship standings.

Looking back at the late 1970s, Ligier F1 was a team that deserved respect in the paddock. They were competitive, had talented drivers, and their future appeared stable.

Ligier drivers

Over the years, Ligier attracted several talented drivers. Jacques Laffite remains the figure most closely associated with the team, delivering the majority of its podiums. Didier Pironi also passed through Ligier before becoming a Ferrari star and racing alongside Gilles Villeneuve, while Patrick Depailler competed with Ligier during the team’s early years.

Later in the team’s final years, the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix became Olivier Panis’s moment and the last great story for Ligier. It was one of the most chaotic races in Formula One history, and Panis’s victory in the wet conditions would also be his only win in F1.

Ligier engines in F1

What Ligier suffered from the most was the constant struggle to secure reliable engine suppliers. Unlike manufacturer-backed teams, Ligier relied heavily on external deals, and this ongoing challenge was one of the key reasons the team eventually decided to leave Formula One.

They began with Matra engines, reinforcing their French identity, and later switched to Ford-Cosworth power during some of their most competitive seasons, at a time when Cosworth was among the best engines on the grid. During the turbo era, Ligier formed a partnership with Renault.

The late 1980s and early 1990s were particularly unstable for Ligier. During this period, the team used Megatron, Judd, Lamborghini, and Mugen-Honda engines. Some combinations showed promise, but they never achieved the results of the team’s early years. Each engine change came at a cost, and the constant struggle for financial survival ultimately hurt their progress in Formula One.

By the mid-1990s, the Mugen-Honda partnership gave Ligier F1 team a brief resurgence, leading directly to Panis’s Monaco win. Yet even that success could not stop what was coming.

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Financial Struggles before disappearance

Ligier F1 team enjoyed strong support from French sponsors during their time in Formula One, with ELF and Gitanes playing a major role in keeping the team on the grid. However, Guy Ligier was aware that these relationships would not last forever.

In 1992, Guy Ligier began selling his stakes and stepped back from daily involvement in an effort to preserve the team. Without his leadership and connections, however, Ligier entered a period of instability.

Ligier team was sold to Briatore in 1992

In the team’s final years, Ligier F1 team was sold to Flavio Briatore, who was also heavily involved with Benetton at the time and focused primarily on that team.

At the end of 1996, Briatore sold Ligier to four-time World Champion Alain Prost, and the Ligier name disappeared, replaced by Prost Grand Prix in 1997. This marked the end of Ligier’s twenty-year presence on the Formula One grid.

Remembering Ligier F1 team

Fans still look back and admire the cars of Ligier. It was an iconic team—though they never won a world championship, they proved that a small outfit could challenge the big teams and even win races.

Overall, Ligier’s story is not one of failure due to a lack of passion or talent. The team faded because factory-backed competitors with their own engines evolved faster, and eventually, it was time to step aside and sell.

Today, the Ligier name still lives on, but for many fans, it will always be remembered as one of Formula One’s most authentically human teams.

FEATURED IMAGE Credit: Photo by Martin Lee, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 – Source: Flickr

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