The 1995 season, the best in recent years following the glory days of the 1980s, was not enough for the French team Ligier to reestablish itself as a consistent top-tier team in Formula 1. The changes implemented by the new ownership, Tom Walkinshaw and Flavio Briatore taking over from Cyril de Rouvre, were insufficient to provide the French team with a steady stream of results worthy of a leading constructor. Moreover, Briatore’s subsequent departure, after achieving his goal of securing the Renault V10 engine supply contract for his Benetton team and selling his Ligier shares to Tony Dowe, negatively impacted the appeal the team could have had under the management of such a charismatic figure. The JS41 from 1995, a car that sparked considerable controversy due to its resemblance to the Benetton B195, was used as the basis for the development of the new JS43.
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| LIGIER JS43, Pedro-Paulo Diniz Melbourne, Australian GP 1996 |
Frank Dernie, after his years at Hesketh, Williams, and Benetton, retained his role as technical director, a position he had been given by Briatore in 1995, but was joined by Paul Crooks as chief designer. Crooks had previously worked with Ligier in the early 1990s before moving to Simtek. Loïc Bigois also remained in his position, continuing to work on the aerodynamics of the new car, which did not differ significantly from that of the JS41. In fact, the JS43 would be indistinguishable from its predecessor at first glance were it not for the new side protections placed alongside the cockpit to protect the driver's head. The high nose with a full-width wing supported by two pylons positioned laterally to the nose itself, the squared sidepods deeply sculpted towards the engine cover, the sloping engine cover, the tapered rear, and the diffuser ramp all closely resembled the JS41, mainly because the JS43 project advanced with multiple difficulties due to the team’s growing financial problems.
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| LIGIER JS43, Pedro-Paulo Diniz Magny-Cours, French GP 1996 |
The two new owners ultimately stepped down due to increasingly frequent disagreements with the former owner, yet still active in the team's management, Guy Ligier. This led to a subsequent change in ownership at the end of the season, but it also introduced uncertainty in the present and made it difficult to continue with what was otherwise a solid project like the Ligier JS43. For the second year in a row, the car featured not only the gearbox and suspension inherited from the Benetton B195, but also the powerful and reliable Mugen-Honda MF-301 HA V10 engine. In its updated version, the engine produced 690 horsepower, about thirty less than the more powerful Renault and Ferrari engines, but weighed only 122 kg, giving it a power-to-weight ratio comparable to the competition, in addition to the enviable reliability inherited from Honda engines designed by Osamu Goto in the late 1980s.
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| LIGIER JS43, Pedro-Paulo Diniz Catalunya-Barcelona, Spanish GP 1996 |
On the car’s traditional French blue livery, the 1996 season saw a change in tobacco sponsorship, shifting from the historic Gitanes brand to the new Gauloises name, both still part of the French Seita group. Meanwhile, a new sponsor, Parmalat, appeared on the sidepods thanks to newcomer Pedro Paulo Diniz, a Brazilian driver in his second Formula 1 season, who was highly sought after by smaller teams due to the financial backing from his father’s company, which managed “Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição,” the exclusive distributor of Parmalat products in South America. The lead driver remained the talented Frenchman Olivier Panis, who had already achieved impressive results in 1995 with the JS41, including a second-place finish at the Adelaide circuit in Australia. In 1996, Panis improved even further, bringing Ligier back to the top step of the podium at the Monaco Grand Prix, the last victory in the team's history, following its previous win at the 1981 Canadian Grand Prix. In truth, Panis's result came in a very unusual race, with only four cars managing to reach the finish line. Nevertheless, credit must be given to Panis for completing a highly challenging race on a track made treacherous by rain that had fallen until just minutes before the start.
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| LIGIER JS43, Olivier Panis Hockenheimring, German GP 1996 |
The JS43 proved to be as competitive as it was unreliable, being forced to retire in 17 of its 32 starts and achieving points finishes in only 5 races. In addition to his aforementioned win in Monaco, Panis also finished sixth and fifth in Brazil and Hungary, respectively, while Diniz secured two sixth-place finishes in Spain and Italy. These results allowed the French team to finish 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, having competed in 333 Grands Prix and achieved 9 victories, leaving an indelible mark on the history of the sport. The team's shares were fully acquired by former World Champion Alain Prost who, while retaining the modern facilities near the Magny-Cours circuit, changed the team’s name to Prost Grand Prix.
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