1977 French Grand Prix

March 2021 F1 France French Dijon-Prenois Circuit.svg 3 July 1977 9 17 Dijon-Prenois, Dijon, France 2.361 3.801 80 188.88 304.08 Dry Mario Andretti USA Lotus-Ford 1:12.21 Mario Andretti USA Lotus-Ford 1:13.75 76 Mario Andretti USA Lotus-Ford John Watson UK Brabham-Alfa Romeo James Hunt UK McLaren-Ford FRA 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. 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 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 12 cylinder Alfa engine ran out of fuel and immediately Andretti was past. Andretti thus took the win ahead of a crestfallen Watson and Hunt. Lauda was nearly lapped, but picked up Watson for a ride to the podium ceremony, and the lead in the standings, too. Classification Qualifying classification Pos. No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 5 USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:12.21 2 1 GBR James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:12.73 +0.52 3 6 SWE Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:12.79 +0.58 4 7 GBR John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:12.83 +0.62 5 26 FRA Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:13.30 +1.09 6 12 ARG Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:13.36 +1.15 7 2 FRG Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:13.41 +1.20 8 20 RSA 1928 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 1:13.45 +1.24 9 11 AUT Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:13.52 +1.31 10 17 AUS Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 1:13.56 +1.35 11 19 ITA Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 1:13.61 +1.40 12 4 FRA Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.66 +1.45 13 8 FRG Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:13.67 +1.46 14 24 GBR Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 1:13.71 +1.50 15 16 ITA Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 1:13.87 +1.66 16 22 SUI Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 1:13.90 +1.69 17 3 SWE Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.92 +1.71 18 37 ITA Arturo Merzario March-Ford 1:13.92 +1.71 19 34 FRA Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 1:14.17 +1.96 20 10 RSA 1928 Ian Scheckter March-Ford 1:14.24 +2.03 21 31 GBR David Purley LEC-Ford 1:14.39 +2.18 22 28 BRA Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:14.45 +2.24 Cut-off 23 9 BRA Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 1:14.60 +2.39 24 27 BEL Patrick Nève March-Ford 1:14.74 +2.53 25 30 USA Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:14.83 +2.62 26 25 AUT Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:15.06 +2.85 27 18 AUS Larry Perkins Surtees-Ford 1:15.13 +2.92 28 39 MEX Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford 1:15.88 +3.67 29 18 FRA Patrick Tambay Surtees-Ford 1:16.06 +3.85 30 35 SWE Conny Andersson BRM 1:16.17 +3.96 Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 80 1:39:40.13 1 9 2 7 UK John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 80 + 1.55 4 6 3 1 UK James Hunt McLaren-Ford 80 + 33.87 2 4 4 6 SWE Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 80 + 1:11.08 3 3 5 11 AUT Niki Lauda Ferrari 80 + 1:14.15 9 2 6 12 ARG Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 79 + 1 Lap 6 1 7 22 SUI Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 16   8 26 FRA Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 78 + 2 Laps 5   9 2 FRG Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 78 + 2 Laps 7   10 24 UK Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 78 + 2 Laps 14   11 28 BRA 1968 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 22   12 3 SWE Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 17   13 19 ITA Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 11   NC Not classified 10 RSA 1928 Ian Scheckter March-Ford 69 + 11 Laps 20   Ret Retired 20 RSA 1928 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 66 Accident 8   Ret Retired 8 FRG Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 64 Accident 13   Ret Retired 17 AUS Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 60 Transmission 10   Ret Retired 37 ITA Arturo Merzario March-Ford 27 Gearbox 18   Ret Retired 4 FRA Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 21 Accident 12   Ret Retired 16 ITA Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 6 Engine 15   Ret Retired 31 UK David Purley LEC-Ford 5 Accident 21   Ret Retired 34 FRA Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 4 Accident 19   DNQ Did not qualify 9 BRA 1968 Alex Ribeiro March-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 27 BEL Patrick Nève March-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 30 USA Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 25 AUT Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 18 AUS Larry Perkins Surtees-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 39 MEX Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 18 FRA Patrick Tambay Surtees-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 35 SWE Conny Andersson BRM        Source:1977 French Grand Prix http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1977/433/ formula1.com https://web.archive.org/web/20141021094353/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1977/433/ 21 October 2014 23 December 2015 Notes This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French driver and future Grand Prix winner Patrick Tambay. 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 Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 1 AUT Niki Lauda 33 10px 2 2 USA Mario Andretti 32 10px 2 3 RSA 1928 Jody Scheckter 32 10px 1 4 ARG Carlos Reutemann 28 10px 1 5 SWE Gunnar Nilsson 16Source:France 1977 - Championship • STATS F1 https://www.statsf1.com/en/1977/france/championnat.aspx www.statsf1.com 15 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 ITA Ferrari 50 (52) 10px 2 UK Lotus-Ford 43 10px 3 CAN Wolf-Ford 32 10px 4 UK McLaren-Ford 25 10px 1 5 UK Brabham-Alfa Romeo 17Source: 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 French Grand Prix 1977 1977 Swedish Grand Prix 1977 British Grand Prix 1976 French Grand Prix 1978 French Grand Prix French Grand Prix Category:French Grand Prix Category:1977 in French motorsport