1984 French Grand Prix

  1984 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 5 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One season
Date	May 20, 1984
Location	Dijon, France
Course	Dijon-Prenois
Course length	3.801 km (2.361 mi)
Distance	79 laps, 300.279 km (186.519 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Patrick Tambay	Renault
Time	1:02.200
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Time	1:05.257 on lap 59
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG
Second	Patrick Tambay	Renault
Third	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault

The 1984 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Dijon on May 20, 1984. It was the fifth round of the 1984 Formula One season.

This was the 5th French and 6th and last ever World Championship Grand Prix to be held at the 3.801km (2.361m) Dijon-Prenois circuit as it was deemed too short by the governing body FISA (circuits where lap times were under 60 seconds were considered too small for Grand Prix racing. With speeds increasing, it was felt that another race at Dijon would see the cars lapping in under one minute. The same fate would fall on the shortened Paul Ricard Circuit after 1990). Fittingly in France, Frenchman Patrick Tambay, in the all French team (French car, French engine, French tyres and French fuel) scored the Equipe Renault team's last pole position.

Dual World Champion Niki Lauda won the race in his McLaren-TAG, his first win in France since 1975. Tambay finished second in his Renault RE50 with the Lotus-Renault of Nigel Mansell third. After almost losing a wheel on the fast Courbe de Pouas leading onto the pit straight, World Championship leader Alain Prost was forced to pit to change the wheel. He put in one of his usual stirring drives, but could still only manage 7th in his McLaren-TAG.

After impressing in the final qualifying session run in heavy rain, François Hesnault was not allowed to start on race day after Ligier was withdrawn from the race, despite the Frenchman qualifying 14th (one place behind the new Toleman-Hart of Ayrton Senna). This was done so the teams number one driver Andrea de Cesaris could start from the back of the grid. de Cesaris' Friday time was disallowed when his Ligier JS23's onboard fire extinguisher was found to be empty. As the final qualifying session was run in the wet, de Cesaris actually failed to qualify as his best time was 11 seconds slower than 26th placed Piercarlo Ghinzani in the Osella and 17 seconds slower than Hesnault. de Cesaris would go on to finish in 10th place, two laps adrift of Lauda.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Gap
1	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:02.200	—
2	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:02.336	+0.136
3	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:02.806	+0.606
4	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:02.908	+0.708
5	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:02.982	+0.782
6	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	1:03.200	+1.000
7	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:03.540	+1.340
8	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	1:03.865	+1.665
9	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:04.419	+2.219
10	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:04.459	+2.259
11	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	1:04.917	+2.517
12	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	1:05.410	+3.210
13	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	1:05.744	+3.544
14	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:05.972	+3.772
15	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:06.172	+3.972
16	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:06.281	+4.081
17	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	1:06.370	+4.170
18	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	1:08.109	+5.989
19	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:08.457	+6.257
20	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	1:08.608	+6.408
21	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	1:09.047	+6.847
22	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:09.447	+7.247
23	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	1:09.554	+7.354
24	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	1:09.629	+7.429
25	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:11.625	+10.431
26	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	1:22.388	+20.188
—	25	François Hesnault*	Ligier-Renault	—	—

* François Hesnault actually qualified 14th with a time of 1:05.850 in the first qualifying session. However Ligier withdrew his entry in order for their #1 driver Andrea de Cesaris to start after the Italians Friday time was disallowed due to an empty onboard fire extinguisher in his JS23 and he could not post a quick time in the wet final session.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	79	1:31:11.951	9	9
2	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	79	+ 7.154	1	6
3	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	79	+ 23.969	6	4
4	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	79	+ 43.706	11	3
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	79	+ 1:06.125	2	2
6	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	78	+ 1 Lap	4	1
7	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	78	+ 1 Lap	5
8	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	78	+ 1 Lap	12
9	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	78	+ 1 Lap	17
10	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	77	+ 2 Laps	26
11	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	77	+ 2 Laps	14
12	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	74	+ 5 Laps	25
13	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	72	+ 7 Laps	21
DSQ	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	76	Disqualified	23
Ret	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	61	Engine	24
Ret	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	53	Accident	7
Ret	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	51	Accident	19
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	51	Engine	16
Ret	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	35	Turbo	13
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	33	Engine	10
Ret	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	22	Turbo	18
Ret	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	15	Engine	15
Ret	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	11	Turbo	3
DSQ	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	11	Disqualified	20
Ret	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	5	Clutch	8
Ret	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	4	Electrical	22
Source:[1]

Notes

• The Tyrrells of Brundle (finished 12th) and Bellof (retired) were both later disqualified from all the season's races for technical infringements.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 24 2 Niki Lauda 18 3 Derek Warwick 13 4 René Arnoux 13 5 Elio de Angelis 12

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 42 2 Ferrari 22 3 Renault 20 4 Lotus-Renault 16 5 Williams-Honda 10

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. Tyrrell and its drivers were subsequently disqualified from 1984 results and their points reallocated.

References

1. "1984 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.