French GP 1975

French GP, 1975

There were few changes from the field which had been in action in Holland a fortnight earlier (where James Hunt had scored his first F1 victory) although Ian Scheckter had left the Williams team and Francois Migault had been taken on as his replacement. Tyrrell agreed to field a third car and Elf protege Jean-Pierre Jabouille was given the drive.

Qualifying was a similar story to recent races with Niki Lauda on pole position for the fifth time in six races. Alongside him was Jody Scheckter's Tyrrell while James Hunt was third in his Hesketh. Fourth on the grid was Jean-Pierre Jarier's Shadow. The third row was shared by Carlos Pace's Brabham and Tom Pryce (Shadow) while the top 10 was completed by Jochen Mass (McLaren), Vittorio Brambilla (March), Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) and Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren).

At the start Lauda went into the lead with Scheckter behind him. Hunt was third and Jarier fourth but Pryce made a poor start and had dropped to the tail of the field. Mass was thus fourth with Pace fifth and Regazzoni sixth. The Swiss driver was the man on the move in the early laps, passing Pace, Mass, Hunt and Scheckter to claim second by the sixth lap. On the seventh he suffered engine failure.

A couple of laps later Hunt overtook Scheckter for second and the South African dropped behind Mass and Emerson Fittipaldi soon afterwards. The top four then remained unchanged until the finish while Andretti ended the day fifth with Depailler sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T 54 1h40m18.840s  1 
2 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308 54 1h40m20.430s  3 
3 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth M23 54 1h40m21.150s  7 
4 1 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 54 1h40m58.610s  10 
5 27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Cosworth VPJ4 54 1h41m20.920s  15 
6 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 54 1h41m26.240s  13 
7 23 Tony Brise Hill-Cosworth GH1 54 1h41m28.450s  12 
8 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN5 54 1h41m38.620s  4 
9 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 54 1h41m50.520s  2 
10 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 54 1h41m54.860s  17 
11 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth FW04 54 1h41m55.610s  16 
12 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 54 1h41m55.970s  21 
13 18 John Watson Surtees-Cosworth TS16 53  14 
14 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 53  11 
15 31 Gijs van Lennep Ensign-Cosworth N175 53  22 
16 22 Alan Jones Hill-Cosworth GH1 53  20 
17 14 Bob Evans BRM P201 52  25 
18 10 Lella Lombardi March-Cosworth 751 50  26 
r 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 26 Cv Joint 5 
r 6 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 72E 17 Cv Joint 19 
r 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth FD03 14 Engine 23 
r 28 Mark Donohue Penske-Cosworth PC1 6 Cv Joint 18 
r 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 751 6 Suspension 8 
r 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312T 6 Engine 9 
r 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN5 2 Transmission 6 
ns 20 Francois Migault Williams-Cosworth FW  Engine 24