Jérémy-Étienne Voeckler

Jérémy-Étienne Voeckler, driving for McLaren in 1988

Jérémy-Étienne Voeckler (born February 17, 1960 in 16ème Arrondissement, Paris, France) is a French professional racing driver and team principal. He is part of the Voeckler family of racing drivers; the elder brother of fellow Formula One driver Frédéric-Maxime Voeckler. He was the Formula One World Drivers Champion in 1988, driving for Honda Marlboro McLaren.

Formula One

1980: Hesketh

A successful 1979 FIA European Formula 3 season with Ecurie Elf saw Voeckler earn the interest of Renault. Their funding secured him a full season in European Formula 2. A solid start to the season, including a win in the season-opening round at Thruxton, resulted Hesketh offer Voeckler a handful of races in Formula One.

1981: Arrows

Voeckler's performances convinced Ragno Arrows North Star Beta Racing Team to offer him the second seat at the team - driving alongside fellow Frenchman Patrick Depailler. Voeckler scored a fifth place finish on his debut with the team in Argentina.

1987-1988: McLaren

By 1987, Voeckler was driving for Marlboro McLaren International alongside Austrian veteran and team leader Gerhard Berger. Unlike his teammate, Voeckler was a lot more lucky in the early stages of the season in regards to reliability and would take his first win of the season in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Voeckler would take several podiums throughout the season as well as a second win in the European Grand Prix in Dijon-Prenois. Ultimately, Voeckler would retire in the final race of 1987 and finished the season in third - two points adrift of Berger.

The following year, Berger and Voeckler remained at McLaren and had the opportunity to pilot the innovative MP4-4. Barring a slight challenge from the Ferrari pair of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, the McLaren duo were the main protagonists in the title battle. The pair swapped the title lead over the course of the season, with Berger having the initial edge over Voeckler for most of the year. Berger finished the season on top with 84 points but with only the 11 best points finishes counted towards the world championship, Voeckler would be the 1988 champion despite scoring less.

1989-1991: Williams

Voeckler would make the switch to McLaren rivals Williams ahead of the 1989 season as part of Renault's return to the sport. He teamed up with English fan favourite Nigel Mansell. However, his title defence was a complete failure and he finished the season in seventh place - his best results being a pair of second place finishes. Voeckler's relationship with Williams briefly hung in the balance when he took part in a number of World Touring Car Masters races for his family-run team. A unknown member of Williams management had spoken to a journalist from The Generic Times in a hotel bar and alleged that Voeckler could be sacked for these offences despite Renault's objections. Once the media storm began, Voeckler was courted by a number of outfits for the 1990 season (most notable was an audacious offer from AGS owner Henri Julien) before Williams and Voeckler denounced the rumours in a joint conference.

1990 saw Voeckler team up with another French superstar in the form of Ferrari refugee Alain Prost, with Mansell moving in the other direction. Voeckler and Williams had a relatively average season - taking a solitary win at Imola and finishing the year 6th in the championship, earning himself 30 points.

In 1991, the lineup remained the same, but with Williams taking a gamble by taking on Pirelli tyres - more renowned for their qualifying pace than their race performance. This mostly came true - Voeckler took 7 straight pole positions in the middle of the season, but in the races the tyres just could not keep up with the Goodyear rubber McLaren and Arrows brandished. Nevertheless, Voeckler was clearly bested by teammate Prost - who was simply much better at managing his tyres. Voeckler also made several errors in the season - he was beaten by Michele Alboreto in the notably inferior Minardi at the circuit he had won at only a year previously, and spun out early at Hockenheim and barely made it into the points. However, after retiring from the Hungarian Grand Prix with an arguably self-inflicted puncture, it was over. Williams terminated Voeckler’s contract with immediate effect despite the misgivings of their engine supplier, and he was replaced by young Brit Jack Christopherson. He ended the year 8th in the championship with a comparatively measly 18 points - a shadow of a man who had won his first world championship just three years previously.

1993: Return to McLaren

After spending 1992 out of the sport, in 1993 Voeckler opted to return to McLaren as the team's test driver, using his experience to help the team going forward.

Voeckler was not expecting to race that year but when Mika Häkkinen broke his legs at the Canadian Grand Prix the Frenchman stepped into the seat to fill in for the young Finn until he was able to return to the car at the Japanese Grand Prix. Voeckler's opening comeback drive at the French Grand Prix went well as he ultimately finished in 2nd place in front of his home crowd.

Personal Life

Jérémy-Étienne, along with his brother Frédéric-Maxime, has worked as a team principal of Voeckler Grand Prix Engineering since his father Jean-François handed the reins of the team to the pair in the early 2000s. A series of acquisitions in the following years has seen Voeckler become one of the largest motorsport companies in the world.

Jérémy-Étienne has two sons - Alexandre-Laurent and Timothée with his wife. Alexandre-Laurent raced in Formula One with Renault, Ferrari, Villeneuve and Sauber - winning two races throughout his career at the top level. His other son, Timothée also raced cars but is more notable as a professional cyclist.

Complete Formula One World Championship Grand Prix Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1980	Hesketh Racing	Hesketh 308F/80	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON Ret	MEX	SMR	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	CPL	DUB		-	0
1987	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren MP4/3	TAG/Porsche TTE PO1 1.5 V6t	AUS 4	SMR 9	BEL 1	MON Ret	CAN Ret	DET 3	FRA 3	GBR 2	GER Ret	HUN Ret	YUG Ret	ITA Ret	POR 2	EUR 1	JPN 3	MEX Ret		3rd	45
1988	Honda Marlboro McLaren	McLaren MP4/4	Honda RA168E 1.5 V6t	BRA 2	SMR 1	MON 3	MEX 2	CAN 2	DET 3†	FRA 2	GBR 1	GER Ret	HUN Ret	YUG 1	SOV Ret	ITA 5	BEL 1	JPN Ret	AUS 1		1st	77 (79)
1989	Canon Williams Renault Team	Williams FW13	Renault RS1 3.5 V10	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON 2	FRA Ret	USA Ret	CAN 4	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 2	SOV Ret	POR 4	ITA 3	BEL Ret	JPN 5	AUS 3	MEX 15†		6th	28
1990	Canon Williams Renault Team	Williams FW13B	Renault RS2 3.5 V10	USA Ret	BRA 6	PAC 5	SMR 1	MON 2	CAN 6	MEX 7	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 3	ITA 4	POR Ret	JPN 5	AUS 5		6th	30
1991	Canon Williams Renault Team	Williams FW14	Honda RA121E 3.5 V12	USA 19†	BRA 5	PAC 3	SMR 3	MON 6	CAN Ret	MEX Ret	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 6	HUN Ret	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	8th	18
1993	Marlboro McLaren Hart	McLaren MP4/8	Hart 1035 3.5 V10	RSA	BRA	PAC	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA 2	GBR 1	GER 6†	HUN Ret	BEL 3	ITA 3	POR Ret	JPN	AUS		6th	25
1994	Marlboro McLaren Hart	McLaren MP4/9	Hart 1035 3.5 V10	BRA Ret	PAC Ret	SMR 7	MON 12†	ESP Ret	CAN 5	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER 6	HUN 4	BEL 12	ITA 4	POR 10	EUR 4	JPN Ret	AUS 4		9th	18

Sporting Accolades
Preceded by: Gerhard Berger	Formula One World Champion 1988	Succeeded by: Ayrton Senna