The 1979 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 1 July 1979 at Dijon-Prenois near Dijon, France.
It marked not just the first victory of a forced-induction car in Formula One since the Alfa Romeo 159's victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1951, but also 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). Jabouille was the first Frenchman to win the French Grand Prix since Jean-Pierre Wimille in 1948.
The race featured 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. Villeneuve, who passed the finish line less than a quarter of a second ahead of Arnoux, later described the occasion as "my best memory of Grand Prix racing".
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo1Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:07,1912René ArnouxRenault1:07,4523Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:07,6534Nelson PiquetBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:08,1345Jody ScheckterFerrari1:08,1556Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:08,2067Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:08,2378Jacques LaffiteLigier-Ford1:08,5589Clay RegazzoniWilliams-Ford1:08,65910Jean-Pierre JarierTyrrell-Ford1:08,801011Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:08,951112Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:09,351213Carlos ReutemannLotus-Ford1:09,361314Jacky IckxLigier-Ford1:09,681415John WatsonMcLaren-Ford1:09,971516Keke RosbergWolf-Ford1:10,151617Bruno GiacomelliAlfa Romeo1:10,591718Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:10,611819Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:10,701920Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:10,922021Jan LammersShadow-Ford1:11,142122Jochen MassArrows-Ford1:11,402223Hans-Joachim StuckATS-Ford1:11,7524Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:11,972325Elio de AngelisShadow-Ford1:12,2324Patrick GaillardEnsign-Ford1:13,00—Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:14,95—
Race
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre 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 3 6 3 16 René Arnoux Renault 80 + 14.83 2 4 4 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 80 + 36.61 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 Héctor 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 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 71 Suspension 11 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 53 Engine 18 6 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 52 Accident 4 1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 51 Brakes 12 25 Jacky Ickx Ligier-Ford 45 Engine 14 5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 23 Spun Off 6 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford Tyre Dispute 22 Patrick Gaillard Ensign-Ford 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French driver Patrick Gaillard. This race marked the 25th Grand Prix start for Renault and a Renault-powered car. It was also the first fastest lap set, podium finish and Grand Prix win for the French team and engine supplier.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jody Scheckter 30 (34) 1 2 Gilles Villeneuve 26 1 3 Jacques Laffite 24 4 Patrick Depailler 20 (22) 5 Carlos Reutemann 20 (25)Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 60 2 Ligier-Ford 46 3 Lotus-Ford 37 4 Tyrrell-Ford 17 5 Williams-Ford 14Source:
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