RETROSPECTIVE - 1979 French Grand Prix

In all its glory, the final 5 laps

Back in the days when Grand Prix drivers were real men, men with a hunger for speed, a passion for Racing and without fear of death, Formula 1 was a real spectacle of motorsport at its glorious best. Back in the early days, driver skill was just as important as the machinery they were given by their respective teams, there were full grids of 26 cars (with numerous others failing to qualify or even pre-qualify) and we also saw some of the greatest drivers ever to grace a grand prix car, one of them in this race i'm looking back on.

FRENCH GRAND PRIX 1979 - DIJON PRENOIS CIRCUIT
STARTING GRID

ROW 1 - 1. Jean Pierre Jabouille, 2. Rene Arnoux
ROW 2 - 3. Gilles Villeneuve, 4. Nelson Piquet
ROW 3 - 5. Jody Scheckter, 6. Niki Lauda
ROW 4 - 7. Alan Jones, 8. Jacques Laffite
ROW 5 - 9. Clay Regazzoni 10. Jean Pierre Jarier
ROW 6 - 11. Didier Pironi, 12. Mario Andretti
ROW 7 - 13. Carlos Reutemann, 14. Jacky Ickx
ROW 8 - 15. John Watson, 16. Keke Rosberg
ROW 9 - 17. Bruno Giacomelli, 18. Emerson Fittipaldi
ROW 10 - 19. Riccardo Patrese, 20. Patrick Tambay
ROW 11 - 21. Jan Lammers, 22. Jochen Mass
ROW 12 - 23. Hector Rebaque, 24. Elio De Angelis
DID NOT QUALIFY - Patrick Galliard, Arturo Merzario

As the lights turned green, the two turbo powered Renault's both got off the line terribly allowing Gilles Villeneuve (the real star of the era) to slip through between them and lead going into the first corner, the majority of the race was bordering on precessional, Villeneuve lost the lead on lap 46 to Jabouille as the turbo engine's in the Renaults began to find their legs, Jody Scheckter (who would end up as World Champion in 1979) would drop back badly from his 5th place on the grid to finish a lap down in 7th. Despite all this, it would be the final 5 laps of the race that would go down in Grand Prix folklore

Jabouille in his Renault had stretched out a lead of just under 15 seconds and was well on the way to achieving his very first Grand Prix win, but no one cared about that, the real drama was happening behind him in the battle for 2nd place, Rene Arnoux in the 2nd of the Renault's had managed to haul in Gilles Villeneuve in an attempt to grab 2nd place and the opportunity to give France a glorious driver & car 1-2 finish in their home grand prix. Going into lap 76 and Arnoux had his first sense of opportunity going into the first corner (which was the main overtaking area) Villeneuve locked up but Arnoux patiently abandoned the opportunity and kept the Ferrari occupied until the fast flowing final turn going onto the pit straight 2 laps later, there Arnoux was close enough to get a good slipstream and then pulled out to overtake the Canadian driver, Villeneuve, typical of him, tried to keep as close to the inside as possible in a possible attempt to switch back on the inside of the chicane which would follow immediately afterwards, but Arnoux had completed the pass before going into the chicane prompting a huge roar from the French fans, they now sensed a 1-2 finish for 2 French drivers both in French cars was now a mere certainty.

But Villeneuve was having none of it, despite Arnoux pulling away from his flat-12 Ferrari at a considerable rate of knots, Villeneuve attempted an audacious late overtaking attempt on Arnoux on the very next lap, locking up his front left tyre big time, and amazingly, he managed to pull it off, re-taking 2nd place against all the odds, a clear example of Villeneuve's refusal to accept defeat. After completing the pass, Arnoux (who had a clear power advantage) knew that all he needed to do was to attempt again what he did on the previous lap and 2nd place would be his again, and probably for keeps too as the next lap would be lap 80, the final lap. So Arnoux kept himself within striking distance of Villeneuve's Ferrari so he could get a good slipstream again on the home straight. This he attempted again but as they began the final lap, he was too close to Villeneuve's rear so they were side by side going across the line. He then pulled out later to attempt the pass than he did the previous time, Villeneuve didnt expect Arnoux to attempt the pass so late and locked up his front left again as a reuslt, they went round the 1st turn side by side, but now Villeneuve was going in with a touch more speed than his French rival and also with a slight overlap advantage so he could attempt the switchback, but Arnoux had done just enough to prevent that coming out of the final turn going into the chicane, they then banged wheels which caused Arnoux to run off the circuit for a short time, as soon as he returned to the track, they banged wheels again forcing Villeneuve to take to the kerb before banging wheels for a 3rd time, this caused Villeneuve to run wide again, but this gave him a faster run up to the Parabolique hairpin coming up. Through that, Villeneuve managed to pull off arguably the cleanest overtaking manouvere of the lot on that half a lap.

Jochen Mass was then way too polite for Arnoux's liking (sensing an opportunity if Villeneuve was held up by the German while lapping him) his only hope of passing Villeneuve now was going into the fast final turn, getting into the slipstream and beating Villeneuve across the line in a straight drag race. Jabouille won (not that anyone cared about that at the time) but all eyes were on that battle for 2nd, Arnoux's hopes of beating the Ferrari on the straight were dashed when Villeneuve had pulled out enough of a gap to prevent that from happening, so ended one of the greatest Grand Prix ding-dong's ever witnessed

RACE RESULT - TOP 10

1. Jean Pierre Jabouille - Renault ................ 80 laps in 1h 35m 20.420
2. Gilles Villeneuve - Ferrari ................ + 14.590
3. Rene Arnoux - Renault ................ + 14.830
4. Alan Jones - Williams Ford ................ + 36.610
5. Jean Pierre Jarier - Tyrrell Ford ................ + 1m 04.510
6. Clay Regazzoni - Williams Ford ................. + 1m 05.510
7. Jody Scheckter - Ferrari ................ + 1 lap
8. Jacques Laffite - Ligier Ford ................ + 1 lap
9. Keke Rosberg - Wolf Ford ................ + 1 lap
10. Patrick Tambay - McLaren Ford ................ + 2 laps

p.s. Video posted on youtube by kokxol entitled "Gilles villeneuve vs Renè Arnoux best about 1979 F1" on 30/07/06