1980 French Grand Prix

  1980 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 14 in the 1980 Formula One season
Date	June 29, 1980
Location	Paul Ricard Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	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 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 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	David Kennedy	Shadow-Ford
Source:[1]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alan Jones 28 2 Nelson Piquet 25 3 René Arnoux 23 4 Didier Pironi 23 5 Carlos Reutemann 16

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 44 2 Ligier-Ford 39 3 Brabham-Ford 25 4 Renault 23 5 Arrows-Ford 11

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

References