Philippe René Gabriel Alliot was born on 27 July 1954 in Voves, Eure-et-Loir, France.[1] Alliot initially enrolled as a political science student, before dropping out to pursue a racing career at the Motul Racing School at the Circuit de Nogaro.[2]
Prior to his career in Formula One, Alliot competed during 1976 and 1977 in Formule Renault, and won the championship in 1978, in the BP Racing team. With said team, he also won the French Formula Renault championship and went on to French Formula Three. He finished third in his first race and moved to the European Formula 3 Championship in 1980. By 1983, he moved to Formula Two but hit the headlines that year when he finished third in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Michael and Mario Andretti in a KremerPorsche.
In 1984 Alliot joined the Skoal Bandit RAM F1 team, but did not enjoy much in the way of success. After Jacques Laffite was injured at the 1986 British Grand Prix, Alliot took his place at Ligier, where he showed an improvement. He moved to Larrousse for 1987, but returned to Ligier in 1990, gaining a reputation for accidents. He has the record of most race starts without any lead lap finish.[3]
Alliot made another attempt at F1 with Larrousse in 1993, achieving the best finish of his F1 career, fifth, at the San Marino Grand Prix. For 1994, Alliot was actually out of a drive in Formula One until Peugeot insisted that McLaren, who they were supplying V10 engines for, take him on as a test/reserve driver (largely against the wishes of team boss Ron Dennis who only relented because of Peugeot's insistence). This role led to a race at the 1994 Hungarian Grand Prix for the team as a replacement for Mika Häkkinen, while he was suspended. Qualifying 14th, he retired from the race itself. Alliot then replaced Olivier Beretta at Larrousse for the following race, the Belgian Grand Prix. Starting from 19th on the grid, he retired with engine failure and this proved to be his last race in F1. Alliot left Formula One as the driver with the most race starts who had never achieved at least one of a podium finish, a pole position, or a fastest lap.
Later life
After announcing his retirement from Formula One in 1995, Alliot decided to try a career in politics, also did some TV commentary and competed in ice racing and the Paris–Dakar Rally, but ended running his own GT racing team.
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