The 1984 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Dijon-Prenois near Dijon, France on 20 May 1984. It was the fifth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship.
This was the final Formula One race to be held at the Dijon-Prenois circuit, as it was deemed too short by governing body FISA. 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 until their return to the sport in 2002.
Double 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. Lauda's team-mate and World Championship leader, Alain Prost, could only manage seventh after he was forced to pit to change a loose wheel.
Andrea de Cesaris failed to qualify his Ligier, but nonetheless started the race and finished tenth. De Cesaris' Friday qualifying time was disallowed when his car's onboard fire extinguisher was found to be empty, before rain in the Saturday session prevented him from setting a time fast enough to make the grid. Ligier took the bizarre step of withdrawing their second car, driven by François Hesnault (who had qualified 14th), in order to allow de Cesaris to start 26th and last.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1Q2 Gap 1 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 1:02.2001:24.855 — 2 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:02.3361:20.859 +0.136 3 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:02.8061:30.893 +0.606 4 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:02.9081:30.872 +0.708 5 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:02.9821:25.397 +0.782 6 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:03.2001:20.061 +1.000 7 16 Derek Warwick Renault 1:03.5401:23.363 +1.340 8 14 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:03.8651:28.393 +1.665 9 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:04.4191:25.567 +2.219 10 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:04.4591:22.749 +2.259 11 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 1:04.9171:22.707 +2.517 12 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 1:05.4101:27.917 +3.210 13 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 1:05.7441:28.225 +3.544 14 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:05.9721:25.252 +3.772 15 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:06.1721:28.124 +3.972 16 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:06.2811:23.770 +4.081 17 2 Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW 1:06.370no time +4.170 18 20 Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart 1:08.1091:31.359 +5.989 19 17 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 1:08.4571:26.943 +6.257 20 4 Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 1:08.6081:29.539 +6.408 21 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 1:09.047no time +6.847 22 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:09.447no time +7.247 23 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 1:09.5541:28.555 +7.354 24 21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 1:09.6291:31.021 +7.429 25 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:11.6251:32.541 +10.431 26 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault no time1:22.388 +20.188 — 25 François Hesnault* Ligier-Renault 1:05.8501:22.272 —
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 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 76 Disqualified 23 21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 61 Engine 24 16 Derek Warwick Renault 53 Accident 7 17 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 51 Accident 19 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 51 Engine 16 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 35 Turbo 13 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 33 Engine 10 20 Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart 22 Turbo 18 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 15 Engine 15 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 11 Turbo 3 4 Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 11 Disqualified 20 14 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 5 Clutch 8 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 4 Electrical 22
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 12Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 42 2 Ferrari 22 3 Renault 20 4 Lotus-Renault 16 5 Williams-Honda 10Source:
References