1983 French Grand Prix

Championship standings

Lauda leads the championship despite not yet winning a race. Piquet and Watson are joint second, one point behind, after taking the first two victories of the season. McLaren leads the Constructors’ Championship by ten points from Brabham, with Renault also in close attendance.

Previous race

Watson won Long Beach from 22nd on the grid — the lowest starting position from which a driver has won a Formula One race. Lauda followed him home from 23rd to complete a McLaren 1–2. Both drivers had been unable to find a balanced setup throughout the weekend. Laffite led for much of the race but struggled with tyre wear and dropped to fourth; Patrese retired three laps from the end while running third, handing Arnoux that position.

Between-race developments

Chico Serra returns to the Arrows after the sponsorship deal that would have kept Alan Jones in the car for the remainder of the season fell through at the last minute.

Entrants

The race is held in mid-April rather than its usual late-June/early-July slot to avoid the southern French summer heat. On the fast Circuit Paul Ricard with its 1.8 km Mistral Straight, the turbo engines carry a significant power advantage; the fastest naturally aspirated car in qualifying at Long Beach was the McLaren of Lauda, 4.3 seconds off pace here.

Nigel Mansell had his toes accidentally run over by his own team pushing his car in the pits, requiring a pain-killing injection before he could start.