The 1986 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on 6 July 1986. It was the eighth race of the 1986 Formula One World Championship.
Following Elio de Angelis's fatal testing crash on the full circuit two months previously, a decision was made to use the shorter, "Club" circuit for this race and for future F1 races (up to and including 1990). This eliminated the high-speed Verrerie bends, where de Angelis had crashed, and reduced the length of the Mistral straight from to . Nonetheless, the cars still recorded speeds of over on the straight.
The 80-lap race was won by Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda. It was Mansell's third victory of the season. Alain Prost finished second in a McLaren-TAG, with Nelson Piquet third in the other Williams-Honda. Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Lotus-Renault, but crashed at Signes early in the race after sliding on oil laid by Andrea de Cesaris's failed Minardi.
This race marked Scuderia Ferrari's 400th start in a World Championship event as a team.Scuderia Ferrari did not participate in the 1950 French Grand Prix; Peter Whitehead's privateer entry in this race does not count towards the team's participation tally.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:06.526 1:06.807 2 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:06.755 1:09.899 +0.229 3 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:06.797 1:07.184 +0.271 4 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 1:07.114 1:07.075 +0.549 5 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:07.270 1:07.266 +0.740 6 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:07.365 1:09.161 +0.839 7 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 1:07.545 1:08.175 +1.019 8 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 1:07.835 1:07.554 +1.028 9 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 1:08.703 1:07.818 +1.292 10 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:07.874 1:08.881 +1.348 11 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 1:07.913 1:08.288 +1.387 12 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 1:09.477 1:08.544 +2.018 13 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Ford 1:09.108 1:08.616 +2.090 14 8 Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW 1:09.471 1:08.905 +2.379 15 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:09.044 1:10.293 +2.518 16 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:09.624 1:09.436 +2.910 17 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 1:09.935 1:09.700 +3.174 18 17 Christian Danner Arrows-BMW 1:09.737 1:10.614 +3.211 19 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:09.792 1:10.630 +3.266 20 15 Alan Jones Lola-Ford 1:09.929 1:10.733 +3.403 21 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:09.987 1:28.882 +3.461 22 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:10.305 1:10.511 +3.779 23 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:11.483 1:21.859 +4.957 24 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 1:12.940 1:12.163 +5.637 25 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:14.496 1:12.443 +5.917 26 22 Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:18.866 1:14.264 +7.738
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 80 1:37:19.272 2 9 2 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 80 + 17.128 5 6 3 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 80 + 37.545 3 4 4 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 80 + 48.703 7 3 5 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 79 + 1 Lap 4 2 6 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 79 + 1 Lap 11 1 7 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 78 + 2 Laps 16 8 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 78 + 2 Laps 6 9 8 Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW 77 + 3 Laps 14 10 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 77 + 3 Laps 15 11 17 Christian Danner Arrows-BMW 76 + 4 Laps 18 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 67 + 13 Laps 21 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Ford 64 Brakes 13 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 56 Engine 12 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 46 Engine 22 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 43 Fire 17 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 32 Accident 24 22 Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo 25 Turbo 26 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 22 Gearbox 8 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 7 Engine 9 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 5 Turbo 10 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 3 Accident 1 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 3 Accident 25 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 3 Accident 19 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 3 Turbo 23 15 Alan Jones Lola-Ford 2 Accident 20
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 39 2 Nigel Mansell 38 3 Ayrton Senna 36 4 Nelson Piquet 23 5 Keke Rosberg 17Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda 61 2 McLaren-TAG 56 3 Lotus-Renault 36 4 Ligier-Renault 22 5 Ferrari 13Source:
References