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 1 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 1:38.88 - 2 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:39.49 + 0.61 3 25 Didier Pironi Ligier-Ford 1:39.49 + 0.61 4 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:39.50 + 0.62 5 28 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:39.60 + 0.78 6 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:40.18 + 1.30 7 8 Alain Prost McLaren-Ford 1:40.63 + 1.75 8 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:40.67 + 1.79 9 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:40.85 + 1.97 10 22 Patrick Depailler Alfa Romeo 1:40.89 + 2.01 11 9 Marc Surer ATS-Ford 1:41.03 + 2.15 12 11 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:41.56 + 2.68 13 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:41.63 + 2.75 14 12 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:41.66 + 2.78 15 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 1:41.71 + 2.83 16 3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 1:41.78 + 2.90 17 2 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:41.99 + 3.11 18 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:42.07 + 3.19 19 1 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 1:42.38 + 3.50 20 4 Derek Daly Tyrrell-Ford 1:42.77 + 3.89 21 31 Eddie Cheever Osella-Ford 1:42.85 + 3.97 22 6 Ricardo Zunino Brabham-Ford 1:43.14 + 4.26 23 21 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:43.16 + 4.28 24 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:43.21 + 4.33 25 17 Geoff Lees Shadow-Ford 1:44.28 + 5.40 26 14 Jan Lammers Ensign-Ford 1:44.33 + 5.45 27 18 David Kennedy Shadow-Ford 1:44.56 + 5.68
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre 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 13 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 50 Engine 24 14 3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 50 +4 Laps 16 31 Eddie Cheever Osella-Ford 43 Engine 21 9 Marc Surer ATS-Ford 26 Gearbox 11 22 Patrick Depailler Alfa Romeo 25 Handling 10 11 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 18 Gearbox 12 21 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 8 Spun Off 23 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 8 Handling 9 8 Alain Prost McLaren-Ford 6 Transmission 7 12 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 3 Clutch 14 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 0 Transmission 6 6 Ricardo Zunino Brabham-Ford 0 Clutch 22 17 Geoff Lees Shadow-Ford 14 Jan Lammers Ensign-Ford 18 David Kennedy Shadow-Ford
Notes
This was the 10th French Grand Prix win for a Ford-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 2 1 Alan Jones 28 1 2 Nelson Piquet 25 1 3 René Arnoux 23 4 Didier Pironi 23 5 Carlos Reutemann 16Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 44 2 Ligier-Ford 39 3 Brabham-Ford 25 4 Renault 23 5 Arrows-Ford 11Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References