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1980 French Grand Prix

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1980 French Grand Prix
Race 7 of 14 in the 1980 Formula One season
Race details
Date June 29, 1980
Location Paul Ricard Circuit
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.809 km (3.610 miles)
Distance 54 laps, 313.686 km (194.915 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Ligier-Ford
Time 1:38.88
Fastest lap
Driver Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford
Time 1:41.45 on lap 48
Podium
First Williams-Ford
Second Ligier-Ford
Third Ligier-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1980 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on 29 June 1980. It was the seventh round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the 58th French Grand Prix, or the 66th Grand Prix de l'ACF and the sixth to be held at Paul Ricard. The race was held over 54 laps of the 5.809-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 314 kilometres.

Controversy

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Originally the race was the eighth round of the season but moved up the order after the Spanish Grand Prix was removed from the schedule as a consequence of the first major confrontation between FISA and FOCA.[citation needed] The controversy threatened to spill over into the French Grand Prix as well as the FISA aligned teams, primarily Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo, had boycotted the Spanish race which later saw its results removed from championship considerations. The two camps came to an agreement in time for the French Grand Prix to not be affected.

Results

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The race was won by Alan Jones driving a Williams FW07B. The win was Jones' seventh Formula One Grand Prix victory and his third of the year. Jones was entering a period of good form having won the Spanish Grand Prix four weeks earlier. Jones won by four seconds over French driver Didier Pironi driving a Ligier JS11/15. Third was Pironi's French teammate Jacques Laffite. Laffite had led for much of the race until his tyres lost condition. The large French contingent had dominated proceedings with the all-French teams Renault and Ligier taking up four of the top six grid positions with only Jones and his Williams teammate Carlos Reutemann intervening. Jean-Pierre Jabouille's Renault RE20 broke its transmission at the start and Jones picked his way past Pironi then the second Renault of René Arnoux before finally catching Laffite on lap 34.

Arnoux faded to fifth behind Nelson Piquet (Brabham BT49) with throttle problems with Reutemann taking the final point in sixth. The win saw Jones move back into the championship lead passing Arnoux and Piquet. Jones now led Piquet by three points and Arnoux by five. Pironi was now equal with Arnoux.

Williams now led Ligier by five points, unchanged from Monaco thanks to the efforts of all four drivers and Brabham increased the gap over Renault in third and fourth.

Shadow Racing Cars

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This race also saw the final appearance of Shadow Racing Cars. Geoff Lees and David Kennedy were 25th and 27th in qualifying in the Shadow DN12s meaning both drivers missed the 24-car grid. The team had been sold only two months previously to Macau-based businessman and motor racing team owner Teddy Yip. Yip's own race team Theodore Racing would emerge as a Formula One team in 1981.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No. Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 1:38.88 -
2 16 France René Arnoux Renault 1:39.49 + 0.61
3 25 France Didier Pironi Ligier-Ford 1:39.49 + 0.61
4 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:39.50 + 0.62
5 28 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:39.60 + 0.78
6 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:40.18 + 1.30
7 8 France Alain Prost McLaren-Ford 1:40.63 + 1.75
8 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:40.67 + 1.79
9 23 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:40.85 + 1.97
10 22 France Patrick Depailler Alfa Romeo 1:40.89 + 2.01
11 9 Switzerland Marc Surer ATS-Ford 1:41.03 + 2.15
12 11 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:41.56 + 2.68
13 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:41.63 + 2.75
14 12 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:41.66 + 2.78
15 30 West Germany Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 1:41.71 + 2.83
16 3 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 1:41.78 + 2.90
17 2 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:41.99 + 3.11
18 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:42.07 + 3.19
19 1 South Africa Jody Scheckter Ferrari 1:42.38 + 3.50
20 4 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly Tyrrell-Ford 1:42.77 + 3.89
21 31 United States Eddie Cheever Osella-Ford 1:42.85 + 3.97
22 6 Argentina Ricardo Zunino Brabham-Ford 1:43.14 + 4.26
23 21 Finland Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:43.16 + 4.28
24 20 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:43.21 + 4.33
25 17 United Kingdom Geoff Lees Shadow-Ford 1:44.28 + 5.40
26 14 Netherlands Jan Lammers Ensign-Ford 1:44.33 + 5.45
27 18 Republic of Ireland David Kennedy Shadow-Ford 1:44.56 + 5.68
Source:[1]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 54 1:32:43.4 4 9
2 25 France Didier Pironi Ligier-Ford G 54 +4.52 secs 3 6
3 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford G 54 +30.26 secs 1 4
4 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford G 54 +1:14.88 secs 8 3
5 16 France René Arnoux Renault M 54 +1:16.15 secs 2 2
6 28 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford G 54 +1:16.74 secs 5 1
7 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford G 53 +1 Lap 13
8 2 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 53 +1 Lap 17
9 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford G 53 +1 Lap 18
10 30 West Germany Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford G 53 +1 Lap 15
11 4 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly Tyrrell-Ford G 52 +2 Laps 20
12 1 South Africa Jody Scheckter Ferrari M 52 +2 Laps 19
13 20 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 50 Engine 24
14 3 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford G 50 +4 Laps 16
Ret 31 United States Eddie Cheever Osella-Ford G 43 Engine 21
Ret 9 Switzerland Marc Surer ATS-Ford G 26 Gearbox 11
Ret 22 France Patrick Depailler Alfa Romeo G 25 Handling 10
Ret 11 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 18 Gearbox 12
Ret 21 Finland Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford G 8 Spun Off 23
Ret 23 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo G 8 Handling 9
Ret 8 France Alain Prost McLaren-Ford G 6 Transmission 7
Ret 12 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford G 3 Clutch 14
Ret 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 0 Transmission 6
Ret 6 Argentina Ricardo Zunino Brabham-Ford G 0 Clutch 22
DNQ 17 United Kingdom Geoff Lees Shadow-Ford G
DNQ 14 Netherlands Jan Lammers Ensign-Ford G
DNQ 18 Republic of Ireland David Kennedy Shadow-Ford G
Source:[2][3]

Notes

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Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ "1980 French Grand Prix | Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motor Sport Magazine. 2017-06-12. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  2. ^ "1980 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  3. ^ "1980 French Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 29 June 1980. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b "France 1980 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.


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