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

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.^[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]

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Pos.	Driver	Constructor	Time	No
1	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1:07,19	1
2	René Arnoux	Renault	1:07,45	2
3	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:07,65	3
4	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:08,13	4
5	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	1:08,15	5
6	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:08,20	6
7	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1:08,23	7
8	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Ford	1:08,55	8
9	Clay Regazzoni	Williams-Ford	1:08,65	9
10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell-Ford	1:08,80	10
11	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:08,95	11
12	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:09,35	12
13	Carlos Reutemann	Lotus-Ford	1:09,36	13
14	Jacky Ickx	Ligier-Ford	1:09,68	14
15	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:09,97	15
16	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	1:10,15	16
17	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:10,59	17
18	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:10,61	18
19	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	1:10,70	19
20	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	1:10,92	20
21	Jan Lammers	Shadow-Ford	1:11,14	21
22	Jochen Mass	Arrows-Ford	1:11,40	22
23	Hans-Joachim Stuck	ATS-Ford	1:11,75	DNS
24	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	1:11,97	23
25	Elio de Angelis	Shadow-Ford	1:12,23	24
DNQ	Patrick Gaillard	Ensign-Ford	1:13,00	—
DNQ	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	1:14,95	—

Race

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	M	80	1:35:20.42	1	9
2	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	M	80	+ 14.59	3	6
3	16	René Arnoux	Renault	M	80	+ 14.83	2	4
4	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	G	80	+ 36.61	7	3
5	4	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell-Ford	G	80	+ 1:04.51	10	2
6	28	Clay Regazzoni	Williams-Ford	G	80	+ 1:05.51	9	1
7	11	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	M	79	+ 1 Lap	5
8	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Ford	G	79	+ 1 Lap	8
9	20	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	G	79	+ 1 Lap	16
10	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	G	78	+ 2 Laps	20
11	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	G	78	+ 2 Laps	15
12	31	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	G	78	+ 2 Laps	23
13	2	Carlos Reutemann	Lotus-Ford	G	77	+ 3 Laps	13
14	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	G	77	+ 3 Laps	19
15	30	Jochen Mass	Arrows-Ford	G	75	+ 5 Laps	22
16	18	Elio de Angelis	Shadow-Ford	G	75	+ 5 Laps	24
17	35	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	G	75	+ 5 Laps	17
18	17	Jan Lammers	Shadow-Ford	G	73	+ 7 Laps	21
Ret	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	G	71	Suspension	11
Ret	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	53	Engine	18
Ret	6	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	52	Accident	4
Ret	1	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	51	Brakes	12
Ret	25	Jacky Ickx	Ligier-Ford	G	45	Engine	14
Ret	5	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	23	Spun Off	6
DNS	9	Hans-Joachim Stuck	ATS-Ford	G		Tyre Dispute
DNQ	22	Patrick Gaillard	Ensign-Ford	G
DNQ	24	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	G
Source:^[3]^[4]

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)
2	Gilles Villeneuve	26
3	Jacques Laffite	24
4	Patrick Depailler	20 (22)
5	Carlos Reutemann	20 (25)
Source: ^[5]

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
Source: ^[5]

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

^ "Autosport.com on the 1979 French Grand Prix". Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
^ "Formula1.com on the 1979 French Grand Prix". Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
^ "1979 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
^ "1979 French Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. July 1979. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
^ ^a ^b "France 1979 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

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