1977 French Grand Prix

The 1977 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Dijon-Prenois near Dijon, France on 3 July 1977. It was race 9 of 17 in both the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

1977 French Grand Prix
Race 9 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date 3 July 1977
Location Dijon-Prenois, Dijon, France
Course length 3.801 km (2.361 miles)
Distance 80 laps, 304.08 km (188.88 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Ford
Time 1:12.21
Fastest lap
Driver United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford
Time 1:13.75 on lap 76
Podium
First Lotus-Ford
Second Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Third McLaren-Ford
Lap leaders

The 80-lap race was won by American driver Mario Andretti, driving a Lotus-Ford, after he started from pole position. Northern Irishman John Watson led for most of the race in his Brabham-Alfa Romeo, before Andretti passed him on the final lap. Watson finished 1.55 seconds behind the American, with Englishman James Hunt third in his McLaren-Ford.

Austrian Niki Lauda finished fifth in his Ferrari to take the lead of the Drivers' Championship from South African Jody Scheckter, who failed to finish in his Wolf-Ford.

Report

edit

Once again it was Mario Andretti on pole with James Hunt second and Gunnar Nilsson third on the grid. Hunt got the best start and led into the first corner from John Watson and Jacques Laffite, with Andretti dropping down to fourth. However, Watson passed Hunt on the fifth lap and started to build a gap until Andretti got up to second and began to reel him in. During the final few laps, leader Watson and Andretti were running nose-to-tail but Watson held him off till the last lap when his engine missed a beat and immediately Andretti was past. Andretti thus took the win ahead of a crestfallen Watson and Hunt.

Classification

edit

Qualifying classification

edit
Pos. No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 5   Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:12.21
2 1   James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:12.73 +0.52
3 6   Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:12.79 +0.58
4 7   John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:12.83 +0.62
5 26   Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:13.30 +1.09
6 12   Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:13.36 +1.15
7 2   Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:13.41 +1.20
8 20   Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 1:13.45 +1.24
9 11   Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:13.52 +1.31
10 17   Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 1:13.56 +1.35
11 19   Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 1:13.61 +1.40
12 4   Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.66 +1.45
13 8   Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:13.67 +1.46
14 24   Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 1:13.71 +1.50
15 16   Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 1:13.87 +1.66
16 22   Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 1:13.90 +1.69
17 3   Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.92 +1.71
18 37   Arturo Merzario March-Ford 1:13.92 +1.71
19 34   Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 1:14.17 +1.96
20 10   Ian Scheckter March-Ford 1:14.24 +2.03
21 31   David Purley LEC-Ford 1:14.39 +2.18
22 28   Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:14.45 +2.24
Cut-off
23 9   Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 1:14.60 +2.39
24 27   Patrick Nève March-Ford 1:14.74 +2.53
25 30   Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:14.83 +2.62
26 25   Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:15.06 +2.85
27 18   Larry Perkins Surtees-Ford 1:15.13 +2.92
28 39   Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford 1:15.88 +3.67
29 18   Patrick Tambay Surtees-Ford 1:16.06 +3.85
30 35   Conny Andersson BRM 1:16.17 +3.96

Race classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 80 1:39:40.13 1 9
2 7   John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 80 + 1.55 4 6
3 1   James Hunt McLaren-Ford 80 + 33.87 2 4
4 6   Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 80 + 1:11.08 3 3
5 11   Niki Lauda Ferrari 80 + 1:14.15 9 2
6 12   Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 79 + 1 Lap 6 1
7 22   Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 16  
8 26   Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 78 + 2 Laps 5  
9 2   Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 78 + 2 Laps 7  
10 24   Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 78 + 2 Laps 14  
11 28   Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 22  
12 3   Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 17  
13 19   Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 11  
NC 10   Ian Scheckter March-Ford 69 + 11 Laps 20  
Ret 20   Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 66 Accident 8  
Ret 8   Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 64 Accident 13  
Ret 17   Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 60 Transmission 10  
Ret 37   Arturo Merzario March-Ford 27 Gearbox 18  
Ret 4   Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 21 Accident 12  
Ret 16   Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 6 Engine 15  
Ret 31   David Purley LEC-Ford 5 Accident 21  
Ret 34   Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 4 Accident 19  
DNQ 9   Alex Ribeiro March-Ford    
DNQ 27   Patrick Nève March-Ford    
DNQ 30   Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford    
DNQ 25   Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford    
DNQ 18   Larry Perkins Surtees-Ford    
DNQ 39   Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford    
DNQ 18   Patrick Tambay Surtees-Ford    
DNQ 35   Conny Andersson BRM        
Source:[1]

Notes

edit
  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French driver and future Grand Prix winner Patrick Tambay.
  • This was the 5th Grand Slam for an American driver.
  • This race marked the 200th Grand Prix start for a Swedish driver. In those 200 races, Swedish drivers had won 10 Grands Prix, achieved 24 podium finishes, 12 pole positions, and 6 fastest laps.
  • This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Ligier.

Championship standings after the race

edit
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 8 results from the first 9 races and the best 7 results from the remaining 8 races were retained. Numbers without parentheses are retained points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

edit
  1. ^ "1977 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b "France 1977 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.


Previous race:
1977 Swedish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1977 season
Next race:
1977 British Grand Prix
Previous race:
1976 French Grand Prix
French Grand Prix Next race:
1978 French Grand Prix