Jean-Pierre Jacques Jarier (born 10 July 1946) is a French former Grand Prix racing driver. He drove for Formula One teams including Shadow, Team Lotus, Ligier and Tyrrell Racing. His best finish was third (three times) and he also took three pole positions.

Early career

Jarier was born at Charenton-le-Pont, near Paris. After competing in Formula France, he moved up to French Formula Three, finishing 3rd overall in 1970, before moving on to the Shell Arnold European Formula Two team in 1971. He peaked with two 3rd places, and also made his Grand Prix debut at Monza when the team rented a March Engineering 701. However, the team dropped him midway through 1972 for financial reasons. For 1973 he signed to the March Engineering Formula Two team, and was also given a Formula One seat by the outfit. Formula One was difficult in the uncompetitive 721G, but Jarier stormed to the Formula Two title with eight wins.

Formula One

After his good form in the 1973 F2 European series, Jarier nearly signed for Ferrari, but their established driver Clay Regazzoni insisted on having the young Austrian Niki Lauda as his teammate.