1986 French Grand Prix
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid
1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams - Honda 80 1:37:19.272 2
2 1 Alain Prost McLaren - TAG 80 + 17.128 5
3 6 Nelson Piquet Williams - Honda 80 + 37.545 3
4 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren - TAG 80 + 48.703 7
5 25 René Arnoux Ligier - Renault 79 + 1 Lap 4
6 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier - Renault 79 + 1 Lap 11
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
NC 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows - BMW 67 + 13 Laps 21
Ret 16 Patrick Tambay Lola - Ford 64 Brakes 13
Ret 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus - Renault 56 Engine 12
Ret 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 46 Engine 22
Ret 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell - Renault 43 Fire 17
Ret 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 32 Accident 24
Ret 22 Allen Berg Osella - Alfa Romeo 25 Turbo 26
Ret 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton - BMW 22 Gearbox 8
Ret 19 Teo Fabi Benetton - BMW 7 Engine 9
Classification -- Race
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 FIA 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.