The 1979 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 1 July 1979 at Dijon.
It marked the first victory of a turbocharged car in Formula One, with Renault overcoming the reliability problems that had initially plagued their car. For Jean-Pierre Jabouille it was a victory on home soil, driving a French car (Renault), on French tyres (Michelin), powered by a French engine (Renault), burning French fuel (Elf).
The race is also remembered for one of the fiercest battles ever for second place, between Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve and Renault driver René Arnoux, who on several occasions during the final laps touched wheels and swapped positions. The fight is often cited as one of the most memorable pieces of racing in Formula One.[1] Villeneuve, who passed the finish line less than half a second ahead of Arnoux, later described the occasion as "my best memory of Grand Prix racing".[2].
Classification[]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 |  Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|
Renault | 80 | 1:35:20.42 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 12 |  Gilles Villeneuve
|
Ferrari | 80 | +14.59 secs | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 16 | René Arnoux
|
Renault | 80 | +14.83 secs | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | 27 |  Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford | 80 | +36.61 secs | 7 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 80 | +1:04.51 | 10 | 2 |
| 6 | 28 |  Clay Regazzoni
|
Williams-Ford | 80 | +1:05.51 | 9 | 1 |
| 7 | 11 |  Jody Scheckter
|
Ferrari | 79 | +1 Lap | 5 | |
| 8 | 26 | Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Ford | 79 | +1 Lap | 8 | |
| 9 | 20 |  Keke Rosberg
|
Wolf-Ford | 79 | +1 Lap | 16 | |
| 10 | 8 | Patrick Tambay
|
McLaren-Ford | 78 | +2 Laps | 20 | |
| 11 | 7 |  John Watson
|
McLaren-Ford | 78 | +2 Laps | 15 | |
| 12 | 31 |  Hector Rebaque
|
Lotus-Ford | 78 | +2 Laps | 23 | |
| 13 | 2 |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Lotus-Ford | 77 | +3 Laps | 13 | |
| 14 | 29 |  Riccardo Patrese
|
Arrows-Ford | 77 | +3 Laps | 19 | |
| 15 | 30 |  Jochen Mass
|
Arrows-Ford | 75 | +5 Laps | 22 | |
| 16 | 18 | Elio de Angelis
|
Shadow-Ford | 75 | +5 Laps | 24 | |
| 17 | 35 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
Alfa Romeo | 75 | +5 Laps | 17 | |
| 18 | 17 |  Jan Lammers
|
Shadow-Ford | 73 | +7 Laps | 21 | |
| Ret | 3 | Didier Pironi
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 71 | Suspension | 11 | |
| Ret | 14 |  Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 53 | Engine | 18 | |
| Ret | 6 | Nelson Piquet
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 52 | Accident | 4 | |
| Ret | 1 |  Mario Andretti
|
Lotus-Ford | 51 | Brakes | 12 | |
| Ret | 25 |  Jacky Ickx
|
Ligier-Ford | 45 | Engine | 14 | |
| Ret | 5 |  Niki Lauda
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 23 | Spun Off | 6 | |
| DNS | 9 | Hans Joachim Stuck
|
ATS-Ford | Tyre Dispute | |||
| DNQ | 22 | Patrick Gaillard
|
Ensign-Ford | ||||
| DNQ | 24 | Arturo Merzario
|
Merzario-Ford |
Notes[]
- Lap Leaders: Gilles Villeneuve 46 laps (1-46); Jean-Pierre Jabouille 34 laps (47-80).
- First win for Renault in Formula One.
- First win for turbocharged car in Formula One, marked by the Renault RS10.
Standings after the race[]
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 4 results from the first 7 races and the best 4 results from the last 8 races counted towards the Drivers' Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
References[]
- ↑ "Autosport.com on the 1979 French Grand Prix". Archived from the original on 2009-05-06. http://atlasf1.autosport.com/99/dec15/tytler.html. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- ↑ "Formula1.com on the 1979 French Grand Prix". Archived from the original on 2009-05-06. http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2003/7/577.html. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
| Previous race: 1979 Monaco Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1979 season |
Next race: 1979 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1978 French Grand Prix |
French Grand Prix | Next race: 1980 French Grand Prix |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1979 French Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |