#0837 Ligier JS11

Dutch Grand Prix Zandvoort 1979

Jacques Laffite (3rd place)
Jochen Mass, Arrows (6th place)
Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari 312 T4 (DNF)

Jacques Laffite and Ligier are almost synonymous. Both are often mentioned in the same breath. Because Laffite experienced six of the nine Grand Prix victories for Guy Ligier's team.
The 1979 season got off to an excellent start for the Laffite-Ligier JS 11 pairing. The first two Grand Prix were won and successes were repeatedly achieved in the other races of the first half of the year. Ferrari with Scheckter and Villeneuve, Williams with Alan Jones, however, over the course of the season Laffite and Depailler in the Ligiers in the World Championship standings because the perfect aerodynamics of the JS 11 achieved such high downforce that the aluminum chassis could not withstand it , deformed during the race and the skirts could no longer keep the desired contact with the road - the downforce effect that pressed the car to the ground was lost more and more in the race. Halfway through the world championship, the JS 11 was no longer capable of winning. The watercolor shows Laffite next to Jochen Mass' Arrows A30 in the Zandvoort Grand Prix in 1979. In the background Gilles Villeneuve in a Ferrari, René Arnoux in a Renault and Nelson Piquet in a Brabham.