Many of you will probably say that politics can’t go hand in hand with Formula One. The global opinion around the globe is that there is no place for politics within any kind of sports. Well this might be the conception the reality is the opposite. Politics is part of the sport, this counts even more for today’s Formula One with it’s bad decision making to visit countries who will try to “white wash” their reputation via the sport. Anyway, politics helped some drivers in the Formula One back in the 1990s. You can ask Jean-Marc Gounon about it. Thanks to Frédérique Bredin (minister of youth and sport) who said “give Gounon a test”.
In those days, it was common sense in France to support their drivers with talent. Elf had their own youth program for French drivers. Several others had the same. The French government sponsored also plenty of drivers, this all changed in the mid-1990s though. It is also the French government that would eventually kill a lot of careers due to the introduction of Evin’s Law that forbid tobacco sponsoring. Even the French Grand Prix got cancelled for 1993 due to this fact.
Luckily, there was the French minister of youth and sport Frédérique Bredin. Who loved auto and motorsport. In late December 1992 and early January 1993, former FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre was working for week’s non-stop to find a solution for the cancelled Grand Prix. Eventually, Frédérique gave the government’s guarantee that an amendment on the law could be made to have the teams not breaking the law. There for the FFSA could guarantee the FISA the race could happen without issues. Eventually the Grand Prix would continue the 4th of July 1993 at Magny-Cours.
Interesting is that thanks to Balestre, Bredin would introduce a 50million worth program where drivers could apply for the funding they lost as they had no access anymore for tobacco sponsoring. Eventually over 153 French drivers applied for this. She believed that Larrousse would be one of the team that would profit form this program.
Not long after Bredin would appear again in the Formula One. This time because she told the Larrousse team that they should give Gounon a test with their car. At that time, Gounon raced in the French Formula 3000. He was the only driver that won races in 1991 and 1992 in a non-Reynard car. It seems that Bredin just “asked” or “told” the Larrousse team to give him a chance in their car. The first time he tested with the Larrousse LH93 was at Paul Ricard in early February 1993. He completed a two-day test session with the team. His best time was a 1:06,60 while Comas was only a bit faster with a 1:06,00.
A week later Gounon would test again at Paul Ricard for the Larrousse team. This time Frédérique would be there as well during the test session. The 9th of February 1993 she took place in the cockpit of Gounon, to taste and feel the Formula One. As well did she visit the French Yamaha team that was also present on the circuit. It seems that some sort of race day was organised for Fans. Eventually the Larrousse team would test that day as well at Paul Ricard.
Not long after the 9th of February, the Larrousse team announced Jean-Marc Gounon as their test driver for 1993. Eventually he would make his debut in the Formula One with Minardi during the last two races of the season. In 1994, he completed seven races for the Simtek team.
©Martin Lee
