1979 French Grand Prix

  1979 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 8 of 15 in the 1979 Formula One season
Date	July 1, 1979
Location	Dijon
Course	3.801 km (2.361 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 304.08 km (188.88 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault
Time	1:07.19
Fastest lap
Driver	René Arnoux	Renault
Time	1:09.16 on lap 71
Podium
First	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault
Second	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari
Third	René Arnoux	Renault

The battle between Villeneuve (left) and Arnoux (right).

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 perhaps best 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 a quarter of 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

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jody Scheckter 30 (34) 2 Gilles Villeneuve 26 3 Jacques Laffite 24 4 Patrick Depailler 20 (22) 5 Carlos Reutemann 20 (25)

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 60 2 Ligier-Ford 46 3 Lotus-Ford 37 4 Tyrrell-Ford 17 5 Williams-Ford 14

• 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

1. ^ "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. 
2. ^ "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.