1986 French Grand Prix

Previous race

At Detroit, Senna won his first United States Grand Prix — the only American win for a Renault-powered car. He dropped to eighth after a pitstop for a slow puncture on lap 14 and carved his way back through the field, passing Prost, Mansell, and ultimately Piquet to lead. Laffite was second; Prost’s engine cut out under braking late in the race and Laffite passed him.

Entrants

Patrick Tambay returns after missing Detroit while recovering from his Montreal warm-up injuries.

Track changes

Following Elio de Angelis’s fatal testing accident on the full 5.81-kilometre circuit in May, a decision has been made to use the shorter 3.812-kilometre “Club” configuration for this race and all future Formula One events at Paul Ricard. The high-speed Verrerie bends — where de Angelis crashed — are eliminated, and the Mistral straight is reduced from 1.8 km to 1 km. The cars still reach over 330 km/h on the straight.

Milestones

This race marks Scuderia Ferrari’s 400th start in a World Championship event.