Jabouille had recovered for the third race of the year in Argentina but failed to qualify. Laffite in the meantime qualified comfortably for the race but retired with handling problems. He also retired from the following race while Jabouille finally got to race the JS17 in anger, after qualifying in 18th. Although his car was running at the finish, he was several laps down and thus unclassified. By the Belgian Grand Prix, the team had gotten its hydropneumatic suspension working properly and this saw an improved performance with Jabouille making the grid in 16th while Laffite was ninth. While Jabouille retired from the race, Laffite went onto finish second. He followed this up with third in Monaco and another second, from pole position, at the Spanish Grand Prix.