There’s not much to remember about Francois Hesnault’s F1 career. After a pointless season with Ligier in 1984 he switched to Brabham, but was sacked after just four races. Later in 1985, he had a one-off race for Renault, where he’d leave his small mark on the sport.
Onboard cameras were nothing new in F1, but previously they’d only been used in testing or practice sessions. Hesnault’s car would be the first to be fitted with one in a race, in the German GP at the Nurburgring.
Sadly he retired after just eight laps with a broken clutch, but it was enough to get some good footage, even including an overtake on Jonathan Palmer’s Zakspeed.
This was also the last time a team entered three cars for a race, as Hesnault raced alongside Renault’s regular drivers Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick.
