The good 1995 season, the best in recent years after the glories of the 80s, was not enough for the French Ligier team to return to stable form among the top Formula 1 teams. The changes implemented by the new ownership, with Tom Walkinshaw and Flavio Briatore who took over from Cyril de Rouvre, are not enough to give continuity of results to the still small French structure, worthy of a leading team. Moreover, Briatore's subsequent exit from the scene, that once he has achieved his goal of appropriating the supply contract for the Renault V10s for his Benettons, he sells his shares in the French team to Tony Dowe, negatively affects the appeal that the Ligier team managed by a manager with his charisma would have had.
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| LIGIER JS43, Pedro-Paulo Diniz Merlbourne., AustraliaN GP '96 |
The
1995 JS41, a car that aroused quite a few controversies due to its
resemblance to the Benetton B195, was taken as the basis for creating
the new JS43. Frank Dernie, after the years spent in Hesketh,
Williams and Benetton, still retains the role of technical director,
entrusted to him by Briatore in '95, but Paul Crooks is called to his
side as chief designer who had already worked in Ligier at the
beginning of the 90s before its passage in Simtek. Loïc Bigois also
remains in his place, still dealing with the aerodynamic appearance
of the new single-seater, which does not differ much from that
already seen on the previous JS41. In fact, the new JS43 were it not
for the new side guards positioned next to the passenger compartment
to protect the driver's head, it would not be recognizable at first
sight from the previous version. The high nose with the full-width
spoiler supported by two pylons positioned laterally to the nose
itself, the squared and strongly carved sides towards the engine
hood, as on the B195, the sloping engine hood and the tapering at the
rear, as well as the extractor chute , have practically the same
shapes as the JS41, also because the project of the new JS43 advances
with many difficulties due to the growing economic difficulties of
the transalpine team.
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| LIGIER JS43, Olivier Panis Estoril, Portuguese GP '96 |
In
fact, the two new owners leave their position due to increasingly
frequent disagreements with the old owner, but still active in the
management of the stable, Guy Ligier. This opens the door to a
subsequent change of ownership which will take place at the end of
the season, but it brings many uncertainties in the present and above
all many difficulties in carrying forward a good project like that of
the JS43 single-seater. In fact, for the second consecutive year the
car, in addition to the gearbox and suspension inherited from the
Benetton B195, is fitted with the powerful and reliable Mugen-Honda
MF-301 HA V10 engine which in this updated version reaches 690hp,
about thirty less than the most powerful Renault and Ferrari but with
the enviable weight of only 122kg, which allow you to have a
power-to-weight ratio on par with the competition, as well as having
the enviable reliability inherited from the Honda engines designed by
Osamu Goto in the late 80s.
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| LIGIER JS43, Pedro-Paulo Diniz Catalunya, Spanish GP '96 |
On
the classic blue livery of the French single-seaters, from 1996 the
name of the tobacconist sponsor changed from the historic Gitanes to
the new Gauloises brand, in any case still part of the French group
Seita, while the new sponsor Parmalat appears on the sides brought as
a dowry by the newcomer Pedro-Paulo Diniz, driver in his second year
in Formula 1 but much courted by smaller teams precisely because of
his financial dowry inherited from his father's company which manages
the "Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição", exclusive
company for the distribution of Parmalat products in South America.
The first driver remains the talented Frenchman Olivier Panis,
already capable of obtaining excellent results in '95 with the JS41,
including second place on the Adelaide circuit in Australia. In 1996,
the Frenchman improved by managing to bring a Ligier back to the top
step of the podium in the Montecarlo Grand Prix, for the last time in
its history after the last success which took place in 1981 at the
Canadian Grand Prix of that year. To tell the truth, Panis' result is
the result of a very particular race, with only 4 cars able to cross
the finish line even if Panis deserves credit for having been able to
finish a race that was anything but simple, run on a track made
treacherous by the rain that fell just a few minutes before the
start.
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| LIGIER JS43, Olivier Panis Hockenheimring, GP di Germania '96 |
However,
the JS43 turns out to be valid but quite unreliable, forced to retire
on 17 occasions out of 32 starts and with only 5 finishes in the
points. In addition to the already mentioned victory of Panis in
Montecarlo, the Frenchman also gets 1 sixth and 1 fifth place,
respectively in Brazil and Hungary, while Diniz only gets 2 sixth
places in Spain and Italy. The results obtained allow the transalpine
team to close the championship with 15 points and sixth place in the
constructors' standings. At the end of 1996, Equipe Ligier officially
withdrew from Formula 1 after 21 seasons, with 333 Grand Prix races
and 9 victories, leaving an indelible mark on the history of Formula
1. The shares of the French team were taken over in full by Alain
Prost who, while maintaining the modern factory near the Magny-Cours
circuit, changes the team name to Prost Grand Prix.
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