Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

1980: FISA/FOCA war over F1

It was perhaps appropriate that the simmering row between FISA and FOCA should come to a head at Jarama, the site of one of the most ferocious battles of the Spanish Civil War. So many factors - and factions - were involved in the arguments last weekend that it is difficult to put forward a lucid and coherent picture of what actually happened

The root of the problem, of course, concerned the question of fines imposed by the FISA on certain Grand Prix drivers who failed to attend the pre-race briefings at Zolder and/or Monte Carlo. The threat of fines ($2000 for a first offence, $5000 thereafter) was announced by FISA President Jean-Marie Balestre after the FIA Plenary Conference in Rio, but the FOCA has never accepted it, on the grounds that it was not proposed by the FISA Executive Committee. From their standpoint, therefore, the imposition of the fines was unconstitutional.

When the fines went unpaid, Balestre requested of all the respective national authorities that they remove the licences of the drivers concerned. (Having issued them originally, they alone could recind them). Soon it became apparent that only the French body, the FFSA, was happy to go along with this - it should be borne in mind that Balestre is also the president of that organisation, too!

Ouite clearly, both sides arrived in Spain in uncompromising mood. Some fines had been paid, others not, and Balestre made it plain from the start that there would be no FISA sanction for the race until all of them had been settled. For the FOCA. this was unacceptable, their contention being that compulsory and immediate settlement would preclude any effective appeal thereafter.

A great many people feel that, while neither side was looking specifically to damage the Spanish Grand Prix, both were aiming to bring matters to a head. Jody Scheckter's comments suggest that Bernie Ecclestone engineered the confrontation by advising drivers not to attend the pre-race briefing at Zolder (thereby calling Balestre's bluff). And the others say that Balestre was completely intransigent in the course of the Madrid negotiations, insisting, for instance, that all the fines had to be paid individually, and in full, by the drivers concerned. He was not prepared to accept a deposit for the sum of the outstanding fines (which allowed for the possibility of appeals) either from the RACE (Royal Automobile Club of Spain) or, it is rumoured, from the FOCA.

In chronological order, the events in Spain last week went as follows:

Thursday: Any hopes that the licence problem could be solved by compromise were dispelled at a fiery press conference summoned by Balestre the night before official practice was due to begin. Representatives of the RACE were present to hear Balestre categorically confirm that the outstanding fines had to he paid before practice could begin the following day.

Clearly, the RACE was concerned that the Spanish Grand Prix was in serious jeopardy. Therefore it took steps considered necessary to ensure that the race would be run. They offered to deposit the sum of the outstanding fines with the FISA leaving the question of whether or not the fines had to be paid until after the race. Balestre, however, refused to accept anything less than full payment, and insisted that the money had to come from the drivers. A FOCA spokesman commented that this particularl point was fatuous, for Balestre was forgetting that he had already accepted a payment from Essex on behalf of Mario Andretti, this to ensure that Mario would run into no licence problems at Indianapolis, an FIA-sanctioned event. This spokesman went on to say that the FOCA had also challenged Balestre as to why Nelson Piquet had been allowed to compete at the Nurburgring the previous weekend, when his licence was supposedly suspended. Balestre dismissed that as "a mistake".

The fact that no compromise was possible became yet more clear on Thursday night when the Marquis de Cubas, the President of the RACE, challenged Balestre on this point: why were those drivers who failed to attend the briefing at Zolder not suspended for the Monaco Grand Prix? Balestre replied that there had not been enough time. That being the case, answered de Cubas, how had there been enough time between Monaco and Spain? Balestre declined to answer this point, saying he would prefer to give a written reply later. Although negotiations continued through Thursday evening, it was obvious that the Spanish Grand Prix could not be run under the auspices of the FISA unless the fines were paid - and equally obvious that Balestre was determined to have a head-on confrontation with the FOCA.

Friday: The RACE had no intention of running the Spanish Grand Prix without the FOCA, and after the breakdown of negotiations on Thursday night, the club reportedly told Balestre that he would not be admitted to the circuit, which they own. (It is unusual for a GP circuit to be owned by the organising club).

At this point, a decision open to differing legal interpretations was made. The RACE, which had hitherto acted as the organising club, invoked its apparent right to assume the full sporting powers which it had delegated to the FEA (Federacion Espagnola de Automovilis-mo), issuing the following statement: The RACE organises under its own responsibility on Sunday, June 1, 1980, the XXVI Gran Premio de Espana at Jarama, and by this it is no longer restricted by the FISA regulations. However, this does not mean to say that they will not present suit (sic) against the FIA, which is the most important organ in the automobile world.

According to the club - and local lawyers who were consulted - the RACE had this right, as stated in the FIA "Yellow Book", and had only to inform the FIA that it had assumed the sporting rights which it had previously delegated to the FEA. Therefore, the following telex was sent by the Marquis de Cubas to Prince Metternich. the President of the FIA: The RACE handed over the sporting powers in Spain to the FEA for one year at the FIA Congress in Paris in October 1979. It considers that the FEA has used these rights incorrectly, and withdrawn them for the duration of the Spanish Grand Prix.

This effectively overcame a stumbling block between the RACE and the FEA. The RACE, as the organising club, had to have the co-operation of the FOCA, but the FEA, as the legally constituted authority to control motor sport in Spain, was not willing to run the race outside FISA rules.

The FOCA then accordingly released the following statements to make clear its position: FOCA have been informed that, after a night of negotiations, the Royal Automobile Club Espagne has informed the FISA that the Spanish Grand Prix is not to be run under the auspices of FISA, a presence of FISA, and the presence of officials is not required at Jarama.

The FOCA fully supports the position of the RACE, and will participate in the race. The Spanish Grand Prix will count for the official 1980 Formula 1 WorldChampionship.

Because the race is not run under FISA rules, no FISA licences are required.

Official practice therefore began two and a half hours late, but four teams - Ferrari, Renault, Alfa Romeo and Osella did not take part. All gave the same reasons for their decision, explaining that they could not afford to risk losing their International FISA licence (which allows them to compete in other branches of racing and rallying) by taking part in a race outside the jurisdiction of the FISA. Renault team manager Jean Sage was anxious to point out that Renault were neither for nor against Balestre - it was simply a case of the large manufacturer teams not wishing to become involved in a race which was being run on an uncertain legal footing.

However, all four teams kept their cars ready in case of a reconciliation, and continually pursued avenues of mediation which might have allowed them to race.

Saturday: Further negotiations between Balestre and Ecclestone during Friday night proved fruitless. Neither would compromise on the question of the fines. Balestre continued to insist upon full payment by the individual drivers, while the FOCA held out on the grounds that if the drivers paid the fines they would effectively forfeit all rights to dispute their legality.

During Saturday morning, however, there seemed to be some hope that the three major 'FISA teams' (Enzo Osella decided that he could take part by using the device of entering his car under his sponsors' name) might still take part provided that they were unanimous in their intentions. For five hours intensive discussions took place in the Parmalat-Brabham motorhome (which served as the FOCA's base), to try to persuade Ferrari's Marco Piccinini to allow his cars to run. It was reported that Renault and Alfa Romeo were prepared to race, but only as long as Ferrari would join them, since they considered that only a solid front would protect them from retribution after taking part in a non-FISA race. However, Jean Sage was adamant that Ferrari had brought no pressure to bear on Renault and Alfa: "Absolutely not. We all feel exactly the same way. There is no question of Ferrari influencing us."

After the final untimed practice session was delayed for half an hour in the hope of finding a last minute answer. Piccinini decided that he could not change his mind. The FOCA assured him that, according to their interpretation of the legality of the RACE's assumption of the sporting powers in Spain, there was no fundamental reason why Ferrari should not race, but Piccinini would under no circumstances race outside the FISA. He had had his brief from Enzo Ferrari, he said, and the team simply could not race.

Despite the FOCA's view that the RACE was acting legally in organising the event, the complexion of the situation changed with a report that the Spanish Minister of Sport - presumably well-versed in the Spanish legal process - had declared that in fact the RACE had no right to claim the sporting power of the FEA.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, the weekend reflected no great credit on anyone. However, we are appalled that Jean-Marie Balestre was prepared - for the sake of asserting his authority - to jeopardise the Spanish Grand Prix meeting, literally the night before it was due to start. Yes, of course it is desirable that drivers should attend pre-race briefings, but to contemplate seriously robbing Spanish fans of their race on a point of pedantic principle was absurd, quite apart from the fact that his actions blithely ignored the financial consequences to the organisers if their race were to be cancelled. Had it not been for the RACE's decision to override the FEA there would have been no race. As it was, there were no Ferraris. Alfas or Renaults, the drivers of these teams being ironically the only ones totally innocent of all charges arising from the Zolder and Monaco briefings. Scheckter, Villeneuve, Jabouille, Arnoux, Depailler and Giacomelli all went to both meetings.




Emerson Fittipaldi: "Grand Prix racing is now a professional sport, and we should work as professional people. Amateurs who are trying to get a political position in motor racing are interfering with our future. At the moment, for instance, the FISA hasn't established the new rules for 1981, and the constructors don't know how they should be building their cars for next year's first Grand Prix in seven months time. The companies who invest their money in Grand Prix racing don't know where they stand- the sponsors, the teams like ourselves, the big manufacturers, and companies like Goodyear.

"Grand Prix racing will be much better and more popular when it is organised by professionals. I hope the FOCA can run the World Championship for itself. Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Renault can join us if they wish. We cannot continue in the present situation-we need good rules that look five or ten years ahead, not a matter of months."


Jody Scheckter (GPDA Chairman):"This is just the tip of the iceberg. It is a fight for the last nine months, and it has built up to this point. The trouble is that the arguments they pick are stupid, because FISA is 100 percent correct here.

"The political fight between FISA and FOCA has reached a head because FOCA have chosen this argument, which I think is totally wrong anyway. They want to breakaway, I think. The FISA are correct here. The sport needs a governing body, especially as the constructors are getting stronger and stronger. If we don't have a governing body, there's no law. It's like any country-there will just be chaos. The FISA is needed.

"Balestre has made mistakes-everybody's made mistakes, but I think the sport needs a person like Balestre, someone who doesn't sit back. He goes out and gets things done, and it takes someone like this to try to get Formula 1 under control. On the other hand, Bernie's done a lot for the sport, but the drivers need someone to control the rules and regulations! The constructors have proved to us that they weren't prepared to do anything-like safety on the cars. It was only after the last bit of pressure that they said they would do a little bit more in the cause of safety.

"Motor racing in the long term needs a governing body. I think in this argument FISA are especially right. Motor racing can't be run by the car owners. We know that because in regard to safety they'll do what they wish. This has been proved in the past-for eight years now the FISA (nee CSI) has been trying to slow the cars down, and FOCA have brushed most of the proposals aside.

"I've been at most of the meetings, and at the particular meeting where Bernie agreed that the drivers go to a drivers' meeting. He voted for it, and for fining those who don't show up. I was there representing the drivers, and the only thing I said was that the fine was too expensive. But then Bernie came around and blocked all the drivers from going to it, just making something to have a fight about."


Frank Williams: "I refuse to be administered by an incompetent - it's my livelihood, or him. All Balestre has is an armband - he doesn't run any cars, he doesn't pay my bills, he doesn't have one penny invested in my business or any of the teams here."


Jean Sage (Renault): "We don't want to make any trouble - if the race is in the world championship, we take part, but if it's just a show, we don't. It's a very easy decision for us."


Mario Andretti: "The great shame is that the public, our customers, suffer the most from this sort of dispute. They don't know anything about what's happened. They come to see a race - and they only see half of one. We have a problem here because we have two sides who won't compromise. Every business has to be run on compromise. We should do our dirty washing behind closed doors, not out in the open in front of God and the world.


Patrick Depailler: "Obviously I am very disappointed not to race, but I am concerned about the effects of the conflict between Ecclestone and Balestre because I think it could kill Formula 1, as serious as that. The drivers briefings have nothing to do with the conflict - they are just the one point that the FOCA has picked upon. No drivers are at fault. As far as I can tell, Alfa Romeo won't race until it is run under the FISA."


Marco Piccinini (Ferrari): "The situation will I have to change before Ferrari can race. If FISA and FOCA meet in agreement, we can race tomorrow. But we cannot go against the FISA - this is our big problem.




Australia's Alan Jones led home just five other cars to win the controversial Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, his Williams lasting the 80-lap Formula Ford race, which took place without the participation of Ferrari, Alfa and Renault.

It was a race of attrition, both on and off the track. Arguments erupted between FOCA and FISA and the Royale Automobile Club of Spain and the Spanish Automobile Federation, resulting in a FOCA/RACE race outside FISA jurisdiction but, say FOCA, within the FIA and World Championship rules. The 'big three' manufacturers taking part in the race, however, were not willing to accept this on FOCA's say-so and perhaps put at risk their other sporting programmes throughout the world.

On the track, the heat - and some hot-headed driving - accounted for no less than 16 of the 22 cars that did come to the line, and we saw another first class 'Monaco' style battle between the Williams, Ligier and Brabham teams. Each took their turn to lead, Carlos Reutemann most convincingly, but a mid-race crash between Reutemann and Jacques Laffite as they came up to lap Emilio de Villota's Williams put them both out of the race.

Piquet looked favourite to win after that, until his gearbox packed up a few laps later. Then it was Pironi's race as he pulled away from Alan Jones's overheating Williams, which had started to fall back, but the Ligier lost a front wheel with 15 laps to go leaving Jones an easy winner ahead of Jochen Mass's Arrows, 50s behind.

Elio de Angelis's Lotus 81 was the only other car to finish on the same lap as the leader, while Jean Pierre Jarier, Emerson Fittipaldi and Patrick Gaillard completed the top six and only finshers. Now the race is run, Jones has won, but you can bet that the arguments have only just begun.




Formula 1 racing witnessed its own Mount St Helens at Jarama when on Friday, May 30 1980 at 10am, the smouldering hotbed of antagonism between FISA's Jean-Marie Balestre and FOCA under Bernie Ecclestone finally blew up into a full scale eruption. One which had been confidently predicted under the growing pressure of the past couple of months.

The final eruption was triggered off by Jean Marie Balestre's refusal to avoid a head on confrontation with FOCA over non-payment of driver fines following their non-appearance at the driver briefings before the Monaco and Belgian GPs.

It was just the tip of the iceberg in the on-going power struggle between the two sides to gain control of Grand Prix racing, but the resultant collision might well have another 'Titanic' result on the 'indestructible' World Championship which is in very great danger of sinking with all hands aboard.

The days of endless discussion, argument and counter-argument achieved nothing with the result that only 22 of the original 29 entries for this race finally practised and took part in the 'race', which was run without Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Renault.

After the circuit owners, the Royal Automobile Club of Spain, 'sacked' the national race organisers, the Spanish Automobile Federation, in order to put on a race with the 22 'striking FOCA cars', Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo pulled out of the Grand Prix of Spain, fearing reprisals against their other sporting programmes by running in an event outside FISA control.

The RACE and FOCA claimed that, despite their actions, the race would still be an FIA-sanctioned World Championship race, but without any concrete evidence to back up that claim, the big three manufacturers remained unconvinced that this was the case.

Whether anybody will ever get any points or not, whether the race can be deemed legal or not, whether FOCA or FISA have right on their side, is something that will be discussed and argued for a long while to come yet. Whatever the outcome there will be no winner, for the ramifications of this 'Black Sunday' in Spain will undoubtedly go much deeper than just winning the point. It will give, and already has given, sponsors, tyre manufacturers and not least the public themselves, grave doubts about supporting Grand Prix racing in the future. The Grand Prix bubble could burst.

Rule book waving and table thumping do not deserve to share the same pages as a motor race and. I am happy to report that most of the drivers themselves remained blissfully ignorant of the political wranglings that surrounded them, concentrating on the job of racing. Hopefully, the sport will not suffer further from any retribution the sporting powers might wish to mete out after their taking part in this race. They just want to drive, and not one of them was happy racing without the presence of Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo in the same race. Without them, it wasn't a real Grand Prix, but a non-championship Formula Ford race, and practice without the different sound of the three different engines just didn't seem right to the spectator, either.

Practice actually began with Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Renault plus the Williams FW07 of local hero Emilio de Villota the only cars on the track. It lasted for about 30 minutes and the session was red flagged as the FEA organisers and the FISA officials present were told by the RACE that their presence was no longer required. Balestre himself had, perhaps wisely, stayed back in the confines of his hotel in Madrid, having said all he wished to say on the subject after all night discussions with RACE and FOCA representatives on Thursday.

So, with the RACE and FOCA having found the loophole they required to justify their cars taking to the track, practice began again on Friday at 12.30pm for one hour before a 90-minute break and a final timed hour from 3pm. There were more people in the pit lane than there were spectators around the circuit.

By the end of the first hour, unofficial times showed that there had been no earth-shattering leaps forward by any of the teams since their last appearance at Monaco for once again it was the Ligier, Williams and Brabham chassis that dominated the time sheets.

By Friday afternoon the two Ligiers had the edge over the Williams chassis after Jacques Laffite had scorched around in a record lm12.647s, almost two full seconds faster than his 1979 pole-winning best. Pironi came next almost half a second behind with Reutemann and Jones filling the next two places ahead of Piquet.

Honour was at stake here. Williams could not let the front row of the grid go to the French team, so on Saturday afternoon, which was much hotter and generally considered by most teams to be about half a second slower, Jones switched from his race chassis to the spare chassis with a slightly different set-up and improved his Friday time by half a second to push Pironi back on to the second row, while Laffite's Friday time, the only one under lm13.0s. remained untouchable. It was a good try, however, on behalf of Jones, the Australian taking the Williams right to the ragged edge and tossing it sideways in full power slides with the sort of driving that's great to watch, but which he would not dare to do in the race without losing his tyres in the first ten laps.

Laffite, by contrast, took second best time on Saturday and it looked easy for him, even though he was only a little over one tenth of a second slower.

Didier Pironi failed to better his Friday time, but came under no threat from Carlos Reutemann who found the engine of his chassis 400 revs down on the previous day and no way he was going to improve his time. Jones had also had the embarrassment of finding Emilio de Villota faster than him on the straight, and his attempts to get by on the corners were not made easy by the Spaniard who was not used to somebody doing what Jones was attempting to do. Finally Jones went ahead and swerved across in front of Villota pointing to his mirrors at the same time. Villota got the message.

Despite the layout of the two front rows, it looked as though the Ligier team had a slight edge over Williams by the end of the second day which Carlos confirmed. "They seem to be a little better turning into the corners than we are. My car understeers and you have to throw it into the turns." he explained, grimacing at the thought of it. Once again. Sunday morning's warm-up on full tanks would confirm whether one or other of the teams had managed to close that gap or extend it.

Nelson Piquet did little running in the final session on Saturday. "The car felt about as good as I was going to get it and I did not want put too much on the engine for I keep it for the race," explained Piquet who is already beginning to think about improving all his chances of finishing in the points rather than worrying about pushing his car for one more place on the grid. Piquet could not pinpoint where his car was losing out to the others, always just that bit too far ahead to catch. "I have a slight understeer problem. but I think I am losing out just a little bit everywhere, for the car feels nice to drive," said Piquet.

His team-mate Ricardo Zunino was doing much better at this race than he has in the past. His time at the end of the first day was good enough for a place on the third row of the grid but an off-course excursion damaged the skirt on one side and in the second session it was not working well at all. Other than that, Zunino was happy with his chassis even though he was almost a second slower than on Friday.

The two Brabhams were split on the grid by a brilliant Alain Prost who had another eventful practice with the McLaren team. The teams spare chassis had been modified at the front with revised suspension pick-up points taken off a fabricated box section, glued and riveted to the sides of the monocoque. Prost was asked to test the car on Saturday morning and after two slow laps he began to run hard but got only as far as the second hairpin half way around the circuit. There, he braked hard down the chute from around 140mph and the new pick-up point ripped away from the chassis and the car rode up over its own front wheel.

Fortunately for Prost, the corner, which previously had very little run-off area, had been extensively modified by the organisers and after clearing the first row of four-feet high catch fencing he had room to continue his high speed accident through three more rows of fencing before slamming into the low barrier half backwards. He climbed out of his wrecked chassis and limped back to the pits with no more than a bruised shin. Then the gutsy little Frenchman climbed aboard his regular chassis, went back out and lapped faster than he had all weekend. "If you stop and think about it, you don't drive again," said Prost, who was third quickest on Saturday and one of the few drivers to improve.

John Watson was plagued by an annoying understeer, but even setting up his car the same as Prost's, he failed to improve, which meant starting from the outside of the sixth row.
The outside of the fourth row was occupied by Mario Andretti's Lotus 81, Mario happy, but unhappy with his performance at the same time." Up until the last session I had a halfway decent race car," said Mario who had set a lm13.8s in the untimed session, but could not better lm14.5s on Saturday afternoon and had to be content with his Friday best of lm14.2s for his eighth place on the grid.

"The car was nicely balanced in the morning and then a front arm broke. We changed it for a stronger one and I went out again and the car was still good. During the lunch break the team put a stronger one on the other side and that must have upset the car and I didn't know until practice was over," explained Mario. "It was really unpredictable and not at all nice to drive," he added, at least happy that the team had found the reason for his problems.
Elio de Angelis sat three rows further down the grid in the second chassis, the Italian putting his usual verve into his driving but unable to find enough grip, especially at the rear end of the car.

Jan Lammers started off his practice in his usual ATS chassis, but on Saturday the team put him in the new one which first appeared at Monaco and which they had not really had time to test properly. The chassis features a slightly changed rear suspension and revised shock absorber mountings for improved airflow. Lammers managed to improve his time in the final session to head the fifth row which was being shared by Eddie Cheever, who did a brilliant job with the Osella.

Enzo Osella, fearing retribution by the FIA against his constructor's licence, would not take part in Friday's practice, but decided that all would be well on Saturday if he 'hired' the car to his sponsors, called it a Denim and stayed away from the pits.

"It was crazy, I would come in to the pits and say the car was understeering and a runner would dash around the back, tell Osella and then come back with what he thought we should do to the car," said Cheever. "We should have had a radio." Despite missing the first day, having to run most of the morning session in the slower T-car after the engine blew in his race car, (which is much lighter and has a different front suspension and aerodynamics), the team got a fresh engine in the race car and everything came good in the final session. The car was understeering badly, porpoising under braking at the end of the straight, but still I did a lm 14.4s," said Cheever who was more than happy.

The Arrows team had stopped fitting a half a dozen new things for every race in a bid to improve their performance. "We have tested and tested and nothing we seem to do makes it very much different, so we are working on the basic car here. We will have a big session in the wind tunnel before the next race," said Dave Wass. Jochen Mass and Riccardo Patrese resigned themselves to the situation and did the best job they could, Patrese's problems made even worse by the fact that his car had a misfire from a faulty fuel metering unit at the slow corners. Patrese headed the sixth from Watson with his A3, while Mass sat on the seventh row beside de Angelis in the second chassis.

The Tyrrell team were not very happy either. Derek Daly complained of a general lack of grip after early traction problems had been improved, while Jean-Pierre Jarier said that his motor was not all what it could have been. He never got to use the bigger front tyres with which most drivers seemed to improve, while he was not feeling well, either. "I have got the 'flu. I'm not on form," said Jarier constantly dabbing his nose with a tissue.

Jarier and Daly filled the eighth row of the grid which, considering the seven missing cars which would probably have qualified ahead of them, did not leave either driver much to smile about.

Emilio de Villota was trying hard in his Williams, sometimes too hard, for on Saturday morning he locked up and went straight on at the same hairpin where Prost crashed a few laps late, but the Spaniard had a second chassis waiting to go which then stopped out on the circuit, out of fuel.

While Villota drove competently, he seemed to lack the flair to get him further up the grid in a car that should have been at the front half and not the rear.

Keke Rosberg drove his backside off in his usual manner to try and get the Fittipaldi further up the grid. but an 'off and a damaged skirt did not help his position, while Emerson Fittipaldi missed most of the first quicker timed session when it took no less than three changes of electrical fuel pump before the team found one that would work. With much of the session wasted he went out in the T-car. but with his race car he improved on that time on Saturday. The team is hoping things will improve with their new chassis which should be ready for the French GP. If it takes place.

Geoff Lees spent the first day struggling with bad understeer on his Shadow DN12. It was better the second day, but Lees still failed to show a good time. "It's me, I am not driving well, I'm making too many mistakes," Lees told his team. He ended up ahead of David Kennedy in the second car, Kennedy driving the new DN12 for the first time. "The car is much better, but I hardly got any laps in it," said David after a gearbox failure and then engine problem throughout Saturday.

Completing the grid was Patrick Gaillard having a second chance at Fl with the Ensign team. A bad understeer problem into the slow corners and a snap oversteer in the fast turns did not make the car very pleasant to drive the first day. "After playing with different roll bars it was much better the second day, but the brakes were a problem," said Gaillard, who lost his rear brakes into the hairpin and spoiled the end of his session when he went straight on into the catch fencing.

It was hard to look down the times and take them seriously without three of the leading teams listed among them ...




On Sunday morning, Rene Arnoux, Patrick Depailler and Jean-Pierre Jabouille didn't even bother to don their driving gear. They just wandered around the track in their summer wear enjoying the clear blue sky and scorching hot sunshine that was causing a few worried looks among the teams as to whether the tyres they had chosen would stand up for the race.

During the all-important morning warm-up on full tanks, Jacques Laffite had managed the quickest time, but was only few hundredths faster than Reutemann, followed by Jones. Pironi and Piquet, the only other cars to break into the lm 15.0s barrier.

With the race not due to start until 4pm, drivers had plenty of time to think out their race tactics, Jones sitting out in the sun around the Williams motor home enjoying the first real sun anybody has seen since the start of the European season.

His mind was active. "I think Ligier are going to have problems with their rear tyres. The front end works so well, they are going to screw up the rears," he thought. So did Pironi, for he gambled with a harder rear left tyre on his car which, as he was to find out, was a mistake.
Prost was still running well up and was hopeful of doing the same in the race. Tyres were on everyone's mind.

Despite the lack of Ferrari, Renault and Alfa on the grid, there was quite a sizeable crowd filling most of the grandstands shortly before the start, although there seemed to be a lot less around the infield than usual.

The grid pulled up, the light turned green, and Carlos Reutemann made a brilliant start from the outside of the second row and was pulling alongside his team-mate Jones as the Ligiers left the grid. Reutemann had the edge over Jones going into the first turn at the end of the long run down the straight, with the two Ligiers. Piquet, Lammers, Zunino, Andretti, Cheever, Patrese and Mass all struggling through the corner on their tail.

By the end of the first lap, the two Williams' were still in front and, at the end of the straight, Jones made a half-hearted effort at passing Reutemann but did not push the point. Laffite and Pironi were still right behind, with Piquet there too. Lammers had lost a few lengths and. with the rest starting to string out in smaller groups behind, it was obvious that the race for lead was going to be another five-sided affair - just like Monaco.

What a shame Alfa Romeo and Renault were not also in the fight, probably with Ferrari struggling to hold on to them.

Anyway, the battle we had was good enough to keep the crowd happy, for every man in that leading group was fighting for a higher place, team-mates or not.

Pironi's decision to run a different left rear turned out to be a bad one. From lap 3, the car started to oversteer really badly and, to add to his troubles, the brake pedal began going to the floor on the first application, just as it had for Jacques in the last couple of races. He let his team-mate through next time round to give chase to Jones.

By this time, we had already lost David Kennedy's Shadow; he spun going into the tricky turn one for the second time, the gravel run-off area filling his throttle slides full of dirt so that there was no chance of him re-starting.

He came across the track to watch the race from the inside of the first turn which sees some interesting outbraking in the opening laps of the race.

Running at the back of the field was Emilio de Villota after a similar 'off' to Kennedy's, only he managed to keep his engine running and get on the track again, but with the left skirt of his Williams torn away from the side of the car.

On lap 4, Prost had tried to go inside his own team-mate John Watson for 12th place, only to find his way firmly barred by the McLaren. Next time round Watson left him more room and he was away. Two corners later, his efforts proved to be waned, for his engine went sick and he parked for the rest of the race.

Up front, the leading group of five were still all together. Piquet having several attempts to take Pironi, but finally getting his chance when Didier slid wide coming on to the straight, nearly lost it, but then gathered it up again by lifting his foot... all the chance Piquet needed.
Side by side the two cars came into the right-hander at the far end and Piquet took advantage of Pironi's brake problems to slip ahead for fourth place.

Behind, Lammers was pulling away from Zunino who, unbeknown to us, was having troubles with his Brabham's gear linkage and was soon disputing ninth place, although Mass must have been in no hurry to try and pass his team-mate, for the lead Arrows was pouring out smoke from the centre of the left rear wheel and something had to be amiss with the brakes. On lap 25 Patrese peeled off down the pit lane where he stayed for quite a time before re-joining the race only to stop five laps later with a broken gearbox.

By lap 12, we had lost another couple of cars, Keke Rosberg had disappeared on lap 10 when he crashed after his rear brakes had failed, while Derek Daly also went straight on at the end of the straight when the same thing happened to his Tyrrell. "They gave no real warning. One minute they were working reasonably well, the next time they did not work at all. I tried to pump but it was too late," said Daly after emerging from a cloud of dust thrown up by the sand and cinder run-off area, which did its job well and stopped the Tyrrell being seriously damaged. After the car was collected the rear brakes were still not working.
Lap 13 turned out to be an unlucky one for Jones, although he made up for it later. "I was having trouble getting second and third gear and I missed a gear," explained Jones later, having dropped to the back of the line behind Pironi as they all dived around inside the Williams.

Reutemann found the dangerous blue of a Ligier filling his mirrors instead of the friendly white colours of his team mate and he knew this would be the time to confirm whether he was going to win this race or not.

For the next 10 laps Jacques Laffite pushed his Ligier as close as he could to Reutemann, but then the crisis was over. It was Laffite's car which could not stand the pace, and he dropped back a couple of lengths, waiting for the slightest slip from Argentinian which he would pounce on right away.

The matter was decided on lap 36 at the same corner where Reutemann crashed heavily in the Ferrari a couple of years ago. The two cars came upon the Williams of Villota who did his best to move out of the way, although, in retrospect, he would have been better to stick to his line. Instead, he moved to the inside leaving Reutemann room to go around the outside. At the same time, Laffite made a move to try and outfox the Argentinian by slipping through on the inside. There were too many cars for the same bit of road. Laffite ran into the back of Villota and then bounced off squarely into the side of the leading Williams. It was a big accident, but fortunately Reutemann and Laffite were unharmed, while Villota was able to carry on around to the pits where he retired with bent suspension.

Piquet now found himself out front, by 2s from Pironi at this stage, while Jones was just over 1s further back chasing Pironi for all he was worth.

As they flashed past the limping Reutemann, he must have felt worse than ever seeing his race slip out of his grasp, for his car was running well and Laffite had not been able to keep up the early pressure he had put on him at the start of the race. Now he must have known just how Pironi had felt two weeks before.

Piquet was the one smiling now, but it would not be for long. His lead lasted just seven laps before he brought his Brabham to a stop with a broken gearbox, while his team-mate Zunino had been one of the early, fast growing list of retirements when he stopped 10 laps earlier, losing a good sixth place through a gear linkage problem.

There was a huge 50s gap behind Jones at the halfway stage, for another good drive by Jan Lammers had come to an end with a pit stop for brake and then electrical problems, which left Eddie Cheever running well in fourth place, despite the fact that his Osella was still porpoising wildly for the last third of the straight.

Mass was chasing Cheever hard in fifth place while, 10s behind him, John Watson had managed to pull out a couple of seconds on Elio de Angelis's car sliding wildly on overheating tyres. This forced the Italian to slow his pace slightly if he wanted to make it to the finish.
For the first part of the race, Watson had found himself the meat in a Lotus sandwich, but Mario Andretti's race ended after 30 laps when he coasted into the pits with a broken engine. De Angelis had got close to passing Watson when the pair of them came up to lap Villota, Watson finding himself boxed in behind the Spaniard as they came on to the straight. De Angelis pulled up along side and almost got ahead, but Watson dived across for the exit of the corner and De Angelis was forced to lift off. After that, he never had another chance.

On lap 48, De Angelis took the place more easily, however, for Watson's McLaren disappeared off the leader board when he was trying to lap Gaillard's Ensign. He tried to better Derek Daly's Aer Lingus act when he overtook Gaillard in the air. "I was following very close trying to force him to move over. He braked and I was not ready for it and hit him straight up the back," said Watson. My car flew straight over the top of his and landed about 20yds away and fortunately stopped without hitting anything else," said Watson who left a dazed Gaillard to limp back to the pits for a new rear wing and body panels. Gaillard"s helmet also having signs of contact with tyre marks on it!

And then there were eight. Geoff Lees had dropped out of the race a few laps earlier with a fractured lower wishbone at the rear end of his Shadow, and the final 30 laps of the race more a battle for survival than a race.

Jones had managed to hold the gap to Pironi, but had then been forced to back off and let the Ligier have its head when his water temperature needle started to creep up to 135 degrees - just as it had in Argentina.

Jones was cruising to a comfortable second place, but there was still more to come when, with 15 laps to go. Pironi's Ligier came three-wheeling to a stop at the end of the straight after a front wheel had fallen off. "I saw the wheel begin to wobble and slowed down, I was only doing about 50kph in first gear when it-came off," said Pironi, whose luck had deserted him once more.

Once again, the Ligier pit sat helpless as they watched a Williams take the lead and, this time. Jones made no mistake, slowing up as much as he needed to bring his water temperature back down and still finishing the race with 50s in hand over Mass, who put in a brave flying finish, but was too far behind to get within striking distance.

Mass had taken Cheever on lap 48, when the Osella started losing gears and, with only 13 laps to go. Cheever lost the gearbox altogether to be posted as the final retirement, leaving only six cars still running at the end of the race.

Behind Mass, Elio De Angelis had just managed to remain unlapped to take third place another 21s behind the Arrows, while fourth place went to Jean-Pierre Jarier after a lonely drive which finally rewarded him with fourth place. Fifth went to the Fittipaldi of Emerson and sixth - five laps down after his stop - was Gaillard's Ensign, battered but still running and in the points.

In Jones's chase of Pironi the Australian had also taken a new lap record and fastest lap, despite the fact that it was over 2s slower than his best practice lap.

For a while, it looked as though FISA were going to get the last laugh and there would be no finishers at all, but fortunately, at the end of 80 laps there were still six cars running to claim all the points. All that remains now are the arguments that are bound to follow over whether or not the race is recognised and the points officially awarded for the World Championship of drivers. If Alan gets to keep them, then he is suddenly looking really good for the half-way stage in the season with a six-point lead over his nearest rivals, who all failed to score on Sunday.

"We shall fight it all the way if we have to," said Frank, should anybody consider not giving him the points which the team had certainly had to work hard for last Sunday.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article 1979: The turbo era dawns at Dijon
Next article FISA/FOCA war

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe