The 1970 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Charade, Clermont-Ferrand on 5 July 1970. It was race 6 of 13 in both the 1970 World Championship of Drivers and the 1970 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. This was the third French Grand Prix to be held at the Circuit de Charade and the second in succession, after plans to hold the race at the Circuit d'Albi near Toulouse fell through.
The 38-lap race was won by Lotus driver Jochen Rindt after he started from sixth position. Chris Amon finished second for the March team and Brabham driver Jack Brabham came in third.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeGrid1 Jacky IckxFerrari2:58.2212 Jean-Pierre BeltoiseMatra2:58.7023 Chris AmonMarch-Ford2:59.1434 Jackie StewartMarch-Ford2:59.2445 Jack BrabhamBrabham-Ford2:59.6756 Jochen RindtLotus-Ford2:59.7467 Denny HulmeMcLaren-Ford3:00.4278 Henri PescaroloMatra3:00.5989 Ronnie PetersonMarch-Ford3:01.21910 Pedro RodríguezBRM3:01.291011 Ignazio GiuntiFerrari3:01.851112 Jackie OliverBRM3:02.771213 François CevertMarch-Ford3:02.871314 Rolf StommelenBrabham-Ford3:03.411415 Andrea de AdamichMcLaren-Alfa Romeo3:03.481516 Jo SiffertMarch-Ford3:03.781617 Dan GurneyMcLaren-Ford3:04.041718 John MilesLotus-Ford3:04.161819 George EatonBRM3:04.921920 Graham HillLotus-Ford3:07.8420 Silvio MoserBellasi-Ford3:08.10— Alex Soler-RoigLotus-Ford3:14.49— Pete LovelyLotus-Ford3:15.58—Source:
Race
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Jochen Rindt Lotus-Ford 38 1:55:57.0 6 9 2 14 Chris Amon March-Ford 38 + 7.61 3 6 3 23 Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 38 + 44.83 5 4 4 19 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 38 + 45.66 7 3 5 20 Henri Pescarolo Matra 38 + 1:19.42 8 2 6 17 Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 38 + 1:19.65 17 1 7 22 Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Ford 38 + 2:20.16 14 8 7 John Miles Lotus-Ford 38 + 2:47.17 18 9 1 Jackie Stewart March-Ford 38 + 3:09.61 4 10 8 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 37 + 1 Lap 20 11 2 François Cevert March-Ford 37 + 1 Lap 13 12 4 George Eaton BRM 36 + 2 Laps 19 13 21 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 35 Out of Fuel 2 14 11 Ignazio Giunti Ferrari 35 + 3 Laps 11 16 Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo 29 + 9 Laps 15 12 Jo Siffert March-Ford 23 Accident 16 18 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 17 Differential 9 10 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 16 Engine 1 3 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 6 Gearbox 10 5 Jackie Oliver BRM 5 Engine 12 24 Silvio Moser Bellasi-Ford 9 Alex Soler-Roig Lotus-Ford 25 Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford
Notes This was the last F1 race to be held on public roads with no Armco lined around the circuit. When F1 returned to the Charade circuit in 1972, Armco had already been installed there. Last Points: Dan Gurney For the first time since the 1968 Canadian Grand Prix, a Ford-powered car did not start on pole position. This race ended a record streak of 18 consecutive pole positions for Ford-Cosworth-powered cars.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Jochen Rindt 27 1 2 Jackie Stewart 19 3 Jack Brabham 19 3 4 Chris Amon 12 5 Denny Hulme 12Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 Lotus-Ford 32 1 2 March-Ford 31 3 Brabham-Ford 21 4 McLaren-Ford 19 5 Matra 15Source:
References