Larrousse Formula One started in 1987 under the original name Larrousse & Calmels. The team was founded in Antony, a southern suburb of Paris, by former Le Mans winner and Renault F1 sporting director Gérard Larrousse and his well-connected business partner, Didier Calmels.

Gérard Larrousse had built an incredible reputation in motorsport, having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a driver and successfully managed the factory Renault F1 turbo program through 1985. After a brief stint at Ligier, he decided it was time to establish his own independent structure in Formula 1. 

The timing was strategic: Formula 1 was planning to ban complex, expensive turbo engines by 1989. For the 1987 season, F1 introduced a dedicated sub-class (the Colin Chapman Trophy) for cheaper, naturally-aspirated cars, making it the perfect gateway for an independent privateer team to enter the sport cheaply.

Lacking the infrastructure to build their own chassis from scratch, Larrousse and Calmels partnered with British race car manufacturer Lola Cars. Lola built the LC87, designed by Eric Broadley and Ralph Bellamy. The car was powered by a standard, naturally-aspirated Ford Cosworth DFZ V8.

Larrousse & Calmels signed a multi-year extension with Lola and established themselves as a fixture on the F1 grid, before financial troubles and personal scandals completely altered the team's trajectory by 1989.

the start

The team officially hit the grid at the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix. They started the year as a humble one-car operation centered around French driver Philippe Alliot. Later in the season, a second chassis was entered for rising French star Yannick Dalmas. The debut year was a respectable success for a brand-new privateer team.

lc87

1987

The Lola LC87 is a Formula One car that the Larrousse team used to compete in 1987, the team's first season in Formula One.

It was closely related to Lola's then-current Formula 3000 car, and was powered by the 3.5-litre Ford Cosworth DFZ engine, through a Hewland FGB gearbox. The LC87 was an overweight car, but weight-saving measures were planned to take place throughout the season.

As a non-turbocharged car, Larrousse and the LC87 were eligible for a subsidiary championship for normally-aspirated cars, the Colin Chapman Trophy. The team initially ran a single car for Philippe Alliot, but a second car appeared towards the end of the season, to be driven by another Frenchman, debutant Yannick Dalmas. Alliot was eligible for the drivers' equivalent of the Colin Chapman Trophy, the Jim Clark Cup.

Larrousse-Lola closed the 1987 season with three World Championship points, all scored by Alliot, and ninth place in the Constructors' Championship. In the non-turbocharged Colin Chapman Trophy, Larrousse-Lola finished second behind Tyrrell. In the Jim Clark Cup, Alliot finished third with Dalmas sixth.

The LC87 was replaced in readiness for the 1988 season by the Lola LC88, although this car was less successful and failed to score a World Championship point.

lc88

1988

The Lola LC88 is a Formula One car that the Larrousse team used to compete in the 1988 and (in upgraded LC88C form) one race in the 1989 Formula One season. It was an evolution of the previous LC87 model, and had major changes to the front suspension.

The LC88 was designed by Eric Broadley, Chris Murphy and Hans Fouche, and a total of five cars were built. It was powered by the Ford Cosworth DFZ in 1988 and Lamborghini 3512 engines in 1989 (the first Formula One car with this engine).

The 1988 season proved to be a major struggle for the team. The LC88 suffered from a chronic lack of front-end grip and persistent mechanical unreliability, leaving the team fighting at the back half of the grid for most of the year.

Despite its lack of pace, the LC88 gained a reputation for being incredibly tough. Philippe Alliot suffered two massive accidents during the year—most notably a terrifying, high-speed flip down the pit straight during qualifying at the Mexican Grand Prix. Thanks to the strength of the Lola chassis, Alliot walked away completely uninjured.

The team's best results were two 7th-place finishes, both achieved by French driver Yannick Dalmas (at Monaco and Detroit). Because points were only awarded to the top 6 finishers at the time, Larrousse scored zero points in the 1988 championship.

lc89

1989

The Lola LC89 is a Formula One car designed by Lola founder Eric Broadley and used in the 1989 Formula One season by the Larrousse team. It was powered by the 3.5-litre Lamborghini 3512 V12 engine designed by former Ferrari designer Mauro Forghieri. Drivers of the car included Philippe Alliot, Éric Bernard, Aguri Suzuki and Michele Alboreto.

The car made its debut in round two of the season, at the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix. While the aerodynamics were good and the chassis was on the pace, the Lamborghini V12 engine proved to be generally unreliable, despite its reported 600 bhp. The car and engine combination would only score one point in its racing life with Alliot finishing in sixth place at the 1989 Spanish Grand Prix. Five time Grand Prix winner Alboreto failed to pre-qualify the car twice (Spain and Australia) and failed to qualify once (Japan), in his eight drives for the team in 1989. Alboreto also suffered a broken rib driving the car when he ran over a high curb during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The chassis was updated into the LC89B for the first two races of 1990. It was replaced by the Lola LC90 from the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix.

lc90

1990

The Lola LC90 was a Formula One car designed by Eric Broadley and Chris Murphy for use in the 1990 Formula One season by the Larrousse team. It was powered by the 3.5L Lamborghini LE3512 V12 engine. The car was driven by Japanese driver Aguri Suzuki who had spent 1989 failing to pre-qualify all 16 races for Zakspeed, and Frenchman Éric Bernard.

The LC90 made its debut at the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix replacing the updated 1989 car, the LC89B used in the opening two rounds of the season. Aguri Suzuki scored the team's first podium (and the only one for Lamborghini's V12 which was rated at 640 bhp in 1990) in front of his home fans at Suzuka.

With Suzuki also scoring points at the British and Spanish Grands Prix, and Éric Bernard scoring points at Monaco, Britain and Hungary, the team ended the year with 11 points achieving sixth place in the Constructors' Championship.

During the first half of the season, Larrousse was forced to pre-qualify due to only scoring one point in 1989. However, with an improving Lamborghini engine, a chassis considered among the best in the field and two talented young drivers, pre-qualifying was never really a problem and indeed qualifying positions within the top 10 became more and more frequent as the season progressed.

lc91

1991

The Lola LC91 was a Formula One car designed by Eric Broadley for use in the 1991 Formula One season by the Larrousse team. It was powered by the 3.5L Ford DFR V8. The car was driven by Japanese driver Aguri Suzuki and Frenchman Éric Bernard. It followed the team's highly successful 1990 season (where they scored a podium in Japan), but the LC91 was born under much more difficult administrative and financial circumstances.

The team was forced to use the naturally aspirated 3.5-litre Ford Cosworth DFR V8 customer unit after their lucrative supply of exotic Lamborghini V12 engines fell through.

The 1991 season was highly frustrating for Larrousse. While the LC91 was a reasonably quick chassis when it worked, it suffered from horrific mechanical unreliability. The car failed to reach the checkered flag in 22 out of 32 total entries across the season.

The LC91 is historically significant because it was the very last car Lola built for Larrousse. 

Ahead of 1991, the FIA stripped Larrousse of its 1990 championship points because the team had accidentally registered their chassis under their own name rather than as a Lola. Because they lost their points, they also lost millions of dollars in F1 television prize money and travel subsidies. Losing the prize money coincided with a terrible economic situation for the team's primary backers. Larrousse’s main Japanese sponsor, Espo, ran into severe financial trouble back home and withdrew their funding.

Because Gérard Larrousse suddenly had no money, he could not pay Lola Cars for designing, building, and supplying the parts for the LC91 chassis. As the 1991 season progressed, Larrousse’s debts to Lola grew exponentially, causing the relationship between Gérard Larrousse and Lola boss Eric Broadley to turn completely toxic.

By the end of 1991, Lola decided they had enough. They refused to build any more cars or supply any more components to the French team until the debts were paid.

Lola sued Larrousse for millions in unpaid bills and in an attempt to recover their money, Lola actually seized the LC91 chassis and team equipment.

To save his team from going completely bankrupt, Gérard Larrousse had to sell a 65% stake in the team to the French sports car manufacturer Venturi. With Venturi on board for 1992, the team completely cut ties with the UK-based Lola Cars. They hired a UK design firm called Robin Herd Ltd (Fomet) to build their 1992 chassis, marking the definitive end of the Larrousse-Lola era.

lc92

1992

The Venturi LC92 (also known as the Venturi Larrousse LC92 or the Larrousse LC92) was a Formula One racing car designed by Robin Herd, Michel Têtu and Tino Belli for the 1992 Formula One season.

Built to replace the Lola LC91 used in the previous season, after Larrousse had ended their agreement with Lola, the LC92 used a 3.5-litre Lamborghini 3512 V12 engine. It was the first car that Larrousse had built since Venturi had bought a controlling stake in the team, with Bertrand Gachot and Ukyo Katayama being selected to drive the car. Although the LC92 finished more races than its predecessor, it was no quicker, and Gachot scored the team's only point of the season at the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix. After Venturi sold their stake in Larrousse at the end of the season, the LC92 was replaced by the Larrousse LH93, which was marginally more successful.

Their single point secured them 11th in the constructor's standings, with Gachot classified 19th in the driver's standings.

lh93

1993

The Larrousse LH93 was the car with which the Larrousse team competed in the 1993 Formula One World Championship. The LH93 was Larrousse's first in-house chassis, following six seasons with Lola and Venturi chassis. Driven by Philippe Alliot, Érik Comas and Toshio Suzuki, the LH93 scored three points, giving the team tenth in the Constructors' Championship.

Larrousse's 1993 challenger borrowed heavily from the previous year's Venturi chassis. The wheelbase was shortened, allowing for a larger front wing with midplates. The monocoque remained identical, while the sidepods were enlarged to aid in cooling the 3.5 litre Lamborghini V12. Brembo brakes were ditched in favour of French Carbone Industrie units. Larrousse originally intended to have an active suspension pioneered by Williams, but rising costs and fears that it would be banned at the season's close meant the project was quickly abandoned.

Approximately two thirds of the way through the season, Lamborghini's parent company Chrysler tested the new V12 engine with the McLaren team but despite the power gain, the test engines were never made available for Larrousse to use during the year. As of 2026, this is the last Formula One car to powered by a Lamborghini V12 engine.

lh94

1994

The Larrousse LH94 was the car with which the Larrousse team competed in the 1994 Formula One World Championship. It was the second car to be fully constructed by Larrousse, which had previously contracted specialist chassis-builders to build its cars: Lola from 1987 to 1991 and Fondmetal in 1992. This was also the final car to be built and raced by Larrousse, as the team did not survive in 1995 owing to financial problems.

The LH94 was designed by Larrousse UK, a fifteen-strong component of the team based in Bicester, England, and owned by Robin Herd. It was based around the monocoque of the previous year's LH93 chassis. The front suspension of the LH94 remained unchanged from the previous year, although the team changed its damper supplier from Bilstein to Penske. The car was also more structurally rigid than the LH93.

The team decided to return to Ford power, using the Series 7 version of the Cosworth HB engine, which had powered the Benetton and McLaren teams the previous year.

Four chassis were constructed. The first three were ready for the beginning of the season, whilst chassis LH94/4 came into service at the French Grand Prix, replacing LH94/3.

Larrousse gradually sank towards the back of the grid while financial support dried up and the team was forced to resort to pay drivers in a last-ditch attempt to survive. Larrousse attempted to enter the 1995 season but had not had enough funds over the winter to build the LH95, which had been designed by Herd.

lh95

1995

The Larrousse LH95 was the car with which the Larrousse team planned to compete in the 1995 Formula One season. Due to lack of funds, the car was built and tested once before the team withdrew from Formula One in April 1995.

The LH95 was conceived by Larrousse's chief designer Robin Herd during the team's final Formula One campaign in 1994. Though Herd designed the car, the team's money problems meant that only one was built but never raced.

The team appeared on the entry list for the 1995 season, but needed to merge with an organisation with an available F1 chassis in order to compete. There were two options in Lola, which had built Larrousse's chassis from 1987 to 1991, and French International Formula 3000 team DAMS, which was in possession of a Reynard-designed F1 chassis with which it hoped to enter the sport in the future. However, the Lola option was unrealistic and Larrousse failed to come to an agreement with DAMS. Larrousse consequently ordered the previous year's chassis, the LH94, to be modified to meet new technical regulations for 1995.

One week before the San Marino Grand Prix, Larrousse announced his team's withdrawal from F1, blaming others for failing to produce promised funding. At the same time, he announced his intention to return to the sport for 1996, but the team's debts and lawsuits from former partners, drivers and suppliers made this impossible. The team's closure was a further blow to French motorsport, following the demise of the AGS team in 1991 and the takeover of the Ligier team by Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw in 1994.