Super qualifier gets Peugeot break
Author
- Mattijs Diepraam
Date
- 8W June 1998 issue, offers are kindly accepted to extend the length of this article!
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Who?Philippe Alliot What?McLaren-Peugeot MP4/9 Where?Hungaroring When?1994 Hungarian GP |
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Why?
There were times when Mika Häkkinen was seen as the "Irvinator" of the field. His aggressive style, probably combined with the disappointment over the failing McLaren-Peugeot combination, got him into trouble more than once during the 1994 season. At Hockenheim he was seen to be the catalyst to a multi-car pile-up at the start after which the FIA, in trigger-happy form those
days, immediately meted out a one-race ban. This meant that for the Hungarian GP McLaren had to look for a substitute.
Ron Dennis didn't need to go at lengths to get himself a stand-in because his engine deal with Peugeot meant that Philippe Alliot had been forced on him as a "test driver". Alliot's F1 career was already on the rocks by then and his performance at the Hungaroring was lacklustre to say the least, his reputation as a super qualifier notwithstanding. He returned to the F1 cockpit just once more, jumping in at Spa for his long-time employer Larrousse. If Philippe must be credited for something, it must be that he managed to stay in F1 for a relatively long spell without achieving any success worth mentioning.