1980 French Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:France
Grand Prix:French
Date:June 29
Year:1980
Race No:7
Season No:14
Location:Paul Ricard Circuit
Course:Permanent racing facility
Course Mi:3.610
Course Km:5.809
Distance Laps:54
Distance Mi:194.915
Distance Km:313.686
Weather:Dry
Pole Driver:Jacques Laffite
Pole Team:Ligier-Ford
Pole Time:1:38.88
Pole Country:France
Fast Driver:Alan Jones
Fast Team:Williams-Ford
Fast Time:1:41.45
Fast Lap:48
Fast Country:Australia
First Driver:Alan Jones
First Team:Williams-Ford
First Country:Australia
Second Team:Ligier-Ford
Second Country:France
Third Driver:Jacques Laffite
Third Team:Ligier-Ford
Third Country:France

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

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. 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

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

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

Qualifying

Pos No. Driver Constructor Time Gap
126 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Ford1:38.88-
216 René ArnouxRenault1:39.49+ 0.61
325 Didier PironiLigier-Ford1:39.49+ 0.61
427 Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:39.50+ 0.62
528 Carlos ReutemannWilliams-Ford1:39.60+ 0.78
615 Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:40.18+ 1.30
78 Alain ProstMcLaren-Ford1:40.63+ 1.75
85 Nelson PiquetBrabham-Ford1:40.67+ 1.79
923 Bruno GiacomelliAlfa Romeo1:40.85+ 1.97
1022 Patrick DepaillerAlfa Romeo1:40.89+ 2.01
119 Marc SurerATS-Ford1:41.03+ 2.15
1211 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:41.56+ 2.68
137 John WatsonMcLaren-Ford1:41.63+ 2.75
1412 Elio de AngelisLotus-Ford1:41.66+ 2.78
1530 Jochen MassArrows-Ford1:41.71+ 2.83
163 Jean-Pierre JarierTyrrell-Ford1:41.78+ 2.90
172 Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:41.99+ 3.11
1829 Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:42.07+ 3.19
191 Jody ScheckterFerrari1:42.38+ 3.50
204 Derek DalyTyrrell-Ford1:42.77+ 3.89
2131 Eddie CheeverOsella-Ford1:42.85+ 3.97
226 Ricardo ZuninoBrabham-Ford1:43.14+ 4.26
2321 Keke RosbergFittipaldi-Ford1:43.16+ 4.28
2420 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:43.21+ 4.33
2517 Geoff LeesShadow-Ford1:44.28+ 5.40
2614 Jan LammersEnsign-Ford1:44.33+ 5.45
2718 David KennedyShadow-Ford1:44.56+ 5.68

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
127 Alan JonesWilliams-Ford541:32:43.449
225 Didier PironiLigier-Ford54+4.52 secs36
326 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Ford54+30.26 secs14
45 Nelson PiquetBrabham-Ford54+1:14.88 secs83
516 René ArnouxRenault54+1:16.15 secs22
628 Carlos ReutemannWilliams-Ford54+1:16.74 secs51
77 John WatsonMcLaren-Ford53+1 Lap13
82 Gilles VilleneuveFerrari53+1 Lap17
929 Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford53+1 Lap18
1030 Jochen MassArrows-Ford53+1 Lap15
114 Derek DalyTyrrell-Ford52+2 Laps20
121 Jody ScheckterFerrari52+2 Laps19
1320 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford50Engine24
143 Jean-Pierre JarierTyrrell-Ford50+4 Laps16
Ret31 Eddie CheeverOsella-Ford43Engine21
Ret9 Marc SurerATS-Ford26Gearbox11
Ret22 Patrick DepaillerAlfa Romeo25Handling10
Ret11 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford18Gearbox12
Ret21 Keke RosbergFittipaldi-Ford8Spun Off23
Ret23 Bruno GiacomelliAlfa Romeo8Handling9
Ret8 Alain ProstMcLaren-Ford6Transmission7
Ret12 Elio de AngelisLotus-Ford3Clutch14
Ret15 Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault0Transmission6
Ret6 Ricardo ZuninoBrabham-Ford0Clutch22
DNQ17 Geoff LeesShadow-Ford
DNQ14 Jan LammersEnsign-Ford
DNQ18 David KennedyShadow-Ford

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Alan Jones28
2 Nelson Piquet25
3 René Arnoux23
4 Didier Pironi23
5 Carlos Reutemann16
Source:[1]
Constructors' Championship standings
PosConstructorPoints
1 Williams-Ford44
2 Ligier-Ford39
3 Brabham-Ford25
4 Renault23
5 Arrows-Ford11
Source:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: France 1980 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 17 March 2019.