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
12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T 54 1h40m18.840s  
24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308 54 1h40m20.430s  
Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth M23 54 1h40m21.150s  
Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 54 1h40m58.610s  10 
27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Cosworth VPJ4 54 1h41m20.920s  15 
Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 54 1h41m26.240s  13 
23 Tony Brise Hill-Cosworth GH1 54 1h41m28.450s  12 
17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN5 54 1h41m38.620s  
Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 54 1h41m50.520s  
10 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 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 
Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 26 Cv Joint 
Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 72E 17 Cv Joint 19 
30 Wilson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth FD03 14 Engine 23 
28 Mark Donohue Penske-Cosworth PC1 Cv Joint 18 
Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 751 Suspension 
11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312T Engine 
16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN5 Transmission 
ns 20 Francois Migault Williams-Cosworth FW  Engine 24