The 1987 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 5 July 1987 at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet. It was the sixth race of the 1987 Formula One World Championship. It was the 65th French Grand Prix and the eleventh to be held at Paul Ricard, and the second to be held on the shortened version of the circuit. The race was held over 80 laps of the circuit for a race distance of . The race was won by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda, after he started from pole position. Mansell took his second victory of the season by 7.7 seconds from Brazilian teammate Nelson Piquet, with local driver Alain Prost third in a McLaren-TAG. Drivers' Championship leader, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, finished fourth in his Lotus-Honda, which was enough for him to retain the championship lead by one point over Prost, with Piquet and Mansell three and six points behind respectively. Race summary Qualifying For the first time since the 1986 Mexican Grand Prix, a non-Honda powered car was on the front row in the shape of the McLaren-TAG of Alain Prost, who qualified second. The pole position was taken once again by Nigel Mansell in his Williams-Honda, while the second row was occupied by Ayrton Senna's Lotus-Honda and Nelson Piquet's Williams. The fast nature of the circuit clearly suited the turbo cars: the best placed non-turbo driver was Ivan Capelli in the March 871 in 22nd place, about six seconds off the pace and slower on the Mistral Straight than the Williams-Hondas. Showing the advances in engine development, aerodynamics and tyres, on his pole lap Mansell was timed at on the Mistral. Even though the Mistral used in 1987 was some 800 metres shorter than when Formula One last used the full circuit at Paul Ricard in 1985, the sheer acceleration and top speed of the Williams-Hondas was comparable to the top speeds seen at the circuit from the season cars. During qualifying Arrows driver Derek Warwick gave a view on the strength of the turbocharged Honda RA167-E V6 engine and the acceleration advantage Williams had over the field since the opening round in Brazil. He noted that on one lap he entered the Mistral approximately 50 metres ahead of Piquet's Williams. Despite the known power of the Megatron (formerly BMW) turbo, Warwick claimed by the time they got to Signes