| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 7 of 14 in the 1980 Formula One season | ||
 | ||
| Date | June 29, 1980 | |
| Location | Paul Ricard Circuit | |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 5.809 km (3.61 mi) | |
| Distance | 54 laps, 313.686 km (194.94 mi) | |
| Weather | Dry | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver |  Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Ford |
| Time | 1:38.88 | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver |  Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford |
| Time | 1:41.45 on lap 48 | |
| Podium | ||
| First | Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford |
| Second | Didier Pironi
|
Ligier-Ford |
| Third | Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Ford |
The 1980 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on June 29, 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 team mate 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 team mate 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[]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford | 54 | 1:32:43.4 | 4 | 9 |
| 2 | 25 | Didier Pironi
|
Ligier-Ford | 54 | +4.52 secs | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 26 | Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Ford | 54 | +30.26 secs | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | 5 |  Nelson Piquet
|
Brabham-Ford | 54 | +1:14.88 secs | 8 | 3 |
| 5 | 16 | René Arnoux
|
Renault | 54 | +1:16.15 secs | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | 28 |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Williams-Ford | 54 | +1:16.74 secs | 5 | 1 |
| 7 | 7 |  John Watson
|
McLaren-Ford | 53 | +1 Lap | 13 | |
| 8 | 2 |  Gilles Villeneuve
|
Ferrari | 53 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
| 9 | 29 |  Riccardo Patrese
|
Arrows-Ford | 53 | +1 Lap | 18 | |
| 10 | 30 |  Jochen Mass
|
Arrows-Ford | 53 | +1 Lap | 15 | |
| 11 | 4 |  Derek Daly
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 52 | +2 Laps | 20 | |
| 12 | 1 |  Jody Scheckter
|
Ferrari | 52 | +2 Laps | 19 | |
| Ret | 20 | Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 50 | Engine | 24 | |
| Ret | 3 | Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 50 | +4 Laps | 16 | |
| Ret | 31 |  Eddie Cheever
|
Osella-Ford | 43 | Engine | 21 | |
| Ret | 9 |  Marc Surer
|
ATS-Ford | 26 | Gearbox | 11 | |
| Ret | 22 | Patrick Depailler
|
Alfa Romeo | 25 | Handling | 10 | |
| Ret | 11 | Mario Andretti
|
Lotus-Ford | 18 | Gearbox | 12 | |
| Ret | 21 |  Keke Rosberg
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 8 | Spun Off | 23 | |
| Ret | 23 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
Alfa Romeo | 8 | Handling | 9 | |
| Ret | 8 | Alain Prost
|
McLaren-Ford | 6 | Transmission | 7 | |
| Ret | 12 | Elio de Angelis
|
Lotus-Ford | 3 | Clutch | 14 | |
| Ret | 15 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|
Renault | 0 | Transmission | 6 | |
| Ret | 6 | Ricardo Zunino
|
Brabham-Ford | 0 | Clutch | 22 | |
| DNQ | 17 | Geoff Lees
|
Shadow-Ford | ||||
| DNQ | 14 |  Jan Lammers
|
Ensign-Ford | ||||
| DNQ | 18 | Dave Kennedy
|
Shadow-Ford |
Standings after the race[]
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
| Previous race: 1980 Monaco Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1980 season |
Next race: 1980 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1979 French Grand Prix |
French Grand Prix | Next race: 1981 French Grand Prix |
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This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1980 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. |