F1 star worked as mechanic to support career and had bitter Alain Prost feud

To reach Formula 1 in the modern era, racers must secure a huge amount of funding so they can show their skills while karting and in junior series.

The same has been true for many years now, but there was once a time where someone with enough talent and determination could reach the pinnacle of motorsport under their own power. That's what Rene Arnoux had to do, forced to complete a long apprenticeship to eventually get his chance.

Such a rags-to-riches journey, which saw him work as a racing mechanic, is essentially the exact opposite to the path taken by the man who would become his rival. Alain Prost may be a fellow Frenchman, but that's where the similarities end – unlike Arnoux, he had the backing of major sponsors and admitted himself he had barely had to pay a penny out of his own pocket.

But before those unlikely team-mates ever worked together, Arnoux had already made a name for himself through his participation in one of the sport's great on-track battles. He was already 30 years old by the time of his F1 debut with Martini, though he had moved to Renault when he and Gilles Villeneuve went wheel-to-wheel at the 1979 French Grand Prix – regarded as one of the most ferocious ever seen.

The race in Dijon was won by his Renault team-mate Jean-Pierre Jabouille, though that is not why it is remembered so fondly. Instead it was the battle for second place which stole the headlines, as Arnoux and Villeneuve gave everything they had to stand on the second step of the podium – a fight which saw them come together countless times in the final few laps.

The Ferrari being driven by Villeneuve was hampered by Michelin tyres, which were well past their best operating window, while Arnoux's Renault was suffering from fuel pickup issues. The fact their cars were in a fragile state didn't stop them from racing so aggressively that they both went off the track on several occasions, but always came back so they could come together again.

Despite what appeared to be their best efforts to crash as spectacularly as possible, both Arnoux and Villeneuve managed to keep control of their cars to finish. The Ferrari racer crossed the line just two tenths of a second ahead, but both were treated like heroes by the crowd that adored them for the exciting show they had put on – and both racers received that adulation as one in an inspiring display of mutual respect.

Such sportsmanship was certainly not present a few years later, though, when Arnoux was partnered at Renault by Prost to create an exciting all-French driver lineup for the team based in the suburbs of Paris. It should have been a pairing which brought success and national pride, but instead the drivers failed to see eye to eye – and things came to a head at the 1982 French Grand Prix.

Three years on from that exciting scrap with Villeneuve, Arnoux found himself leading his home race – by now held at its current home, the Circuit Paul Ricard. Prost was the man in his mirrors and Renault was about to secure its first one-two finish in F1, but an agreement was in place which sparked team orders for Arnoux to let his team-mate, who was better placed in the title hunt, pass him to win the race and claim the extra points.

Not that he followed those orders. Instead, Arnoux kept the lead until he took the chequered flag – winning his home race, at the cost of a blow to Prost's championship chances. As a result, the reaction from the French fans was more split than it would usually have been, and the rift between the two drivers meant Arnoux was to move on at the end of the year, joining another compatriot at Ferrari in Patrick Tambay.

Three wins in the 1983 season gave him a strong chance of becoming a world champion for himself, but then he suffered an engine failure in the final race and ended up finishing the year third. He never managed to come so close again, taking a year out in 1985 before returning to F1 with Ligier – not that he was competitive, failing to make the podium across his four years with the team before ending his career in the sport after the 1989 season.