1977 Spanish Grand Prix

 1977 Spanish Grand Prix

Racing data
5th of 17 races of the 1977 automobile world championship
Surname:	XXIII Gran Premio de España
Date:	May 8, 1977
Place:	San Sebastian de los Reyes
Course:	Circuito Permanente del Jarama
Length:	255.3 km in 75 laps of 3.404 km
Weather:	sunny and warm
Pole position
Driver:	Mario Andretti	lotus
Time:	1: 18.70 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jacques Laffite	Ligier
Time:	1: 20.81 min
Podium
First:	Mario Andretti	lotus
Second:	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari
Third:	Jody Scheckter	wolf

The 1977 Spanish Grand Prix took place on May 8th at the Circuito Permanente del Jarama near Madrid and was the fifth race of the 1977 Automobile World Championship .

Reports

background

31 potential participants were registered for the first European race of the season. That was nine more than at the US West Grand Prix five weeks ago .

Ian Scheckter , who had missed the races in South Africa and Long Beach, has now returned permanently to the March factory team. The teams Hesketh Racing were also back at the start with a revised version of the Type 308 for Harald Ertl and Formula 1 debutant Rupert Keegan , RAM Racing with Boy Hayje and BRM with Conny Andersson instead of Larry Perkins as the driver.

A few months after ceding his original team, Frank Williams Racing Cars, to Walter Wolf , Frank Williams and Patrick Head founded a new company called Williams Grand Prix Engineering . This is the Williams team, which is still active in Formula 1 with a modified name (as of 2012). In the first year of its existence, the team did not design its own racing car. Instead, a March 761 piloted by Patrick Nève was used as a customer vehicle. Cars of this type were also acquired by the private teams of the pilots Arturo Merzario and Brian Henton , who were competing for the first time . A total of seven copies of the 761 were registered for the race weekend. The private driver Emilio de Villota , who was financially supported by the Spanish airline Iberia , got a McLaren M23 from the previous year.

David Purley's team registered for the Grand Prix with an in-house design known as the LEC CRP1 after the car was used for the first time in a Formula 1 race in the Race of Champions, which is not part of the world championship. The Wolf team competed for the first time with the new WR2 .

training

Mario Andretti secured the third pole position of his Formula 1 career at the wheel of the Lotus 78 , whose wing car principle , which was new at the time, was constantly being further developed, which led to a clearly noticeable increase in competitiveness. Jacques Laffite qualified with the Ligier JS5 for second place in the front row in front of the two Ferrari 312T2s driven by Niki Lauda and Carlos Reutemann . Jody Scheckter and John Watson formed the third row ahead of James Hunt in the McLaren M26, which was used for the first time since the 1976 Dutch Grand Prix .

Since only 25 participants were admitted to the race, the six slowest participants in the training failed to qualify, including three of the seven March pilots.

run

On the morning of the race day, Niki Lauda drove into the pits during the warm-up after driving over a bump due to severe pain. A fracture of a rib that had not yet fully healed was found in the hospital. Because of this long-term consequence of his accident at the Nürburgring in 1976 , he had to forego the race.

Mario Andretti led the race from the first to the last lap and gave the Lotus team a superior victory that gave an idea of ​​the future importance of the future-oriented Wing Car principle. During the first few laps Jacques Laffite was his immediate pursuer before he had to go to the pits due to a problem with one of the rear wheel suspensions. Then Carlos Reutemann took second place for the rest of the afternoon.

Defending champion James Hunt had to give up the race after a few laps due to a misfire. John Watson was in third place for a long time, but had to hand it over to Jody Scheckter on the 25th lap due to a spin. Jochen Mass also got past him to fourth place.

When Watson finally retired after the 64th lap due to a problem with the fuel pump, Gunnar Nilsson and Hans-Joachim Stuck came in fifth and sixth and thus in the points.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Marlboro Team McLaren	1	James Hunt	McLaren M26	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren M23
Eleven Team Tyrrell	3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell P34		G
	4th	Patrick Depailler
John Player Team Lotus	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus 78		G
	6th	Gunnar Nilsson
Martini Racing	7th	John Watson	Brabham BT45B	Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12	G
	8th	Hans-Joachim Stuck
Hollywood March Racing	9	Alex Ribeiro	March 761B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Team Rothmans International	10	Ian Scheckter
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	11	Niki Lauda	Ferrari 312T2	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	G
	12	Carlos Reutemann
Shadow Racing Team	16	Renzo Zorzi	Shadow DN8	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	17th	Alan Jones
Durex Team Surtees	18th	Hans Binder	Surtees TS19		G
Beta Team Surtees	19th	Vittorio Brambilla
Walter Wolf Racing	20th	Jody Scheckter	Wolf WR2		G
Team Tissot Ensign with Castrol	22nd	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign N177		G
Penthouse Rizla Racing	24	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh 308E		G
Hesketh Racing	25th	Harald Ertl
Ligier Gitanes	26th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier JS7	Matra MS76 3.0 V12	G
Williams Grand Prix Engineering	27	Patrick Nève	March 761	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Copersucar-Fittipaldi	28	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar FD04		G
Chesterfield Racing	30th	Brett Lunger	March 761		G
LEC Refrigeration Racing	31	David Purley	LEC CRP1		G
RAM Racing / F&S Properties	33	Boy Hayje	March 761		G
ATS Racing Team	34	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Penske PC4		G
Rotary Watches Stanley BRM	35	Conny Andersson	BRM P207	BRM P202 3.0 V12	G
Iberia Airlines	36	Emilio de Villota	McLaren M23	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Team Merzario	37	Arturo Merzario	March 761B		G
British Formula One Racing Team	38	Brian Henton	March 761		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 18.70	155.710 km / h	01
02	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 19.42	154.299 km / h	02
03	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1: 19.48	154.182 km / h	03
04th	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1: 19.52	154.105 km / h	04th
05	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1: 19.57	154.008 km / h	05
06th	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 19.87	153.429 km / h	06th
07th	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 20.11	152.970 km / h	07th
08th	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	1: 20.13	152.931 km / h	08th
09	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1: 20.14	152.912 km / h	09
10	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 20.16	152.874 km / h	10
11	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1: 20.26	152.684 km / h	11
12	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	1: 20.38	152.456 km / h	12
13	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 20.55	152.134 km / h	13
14th	Alan Jones	Shadow Ford	1: 20.74	151.776 km / h	14th
15th	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 20.96	151.364 km / h	15th
16	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	1: 21.03	151.233 km / h	16
17th	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	1: 21.05	151.196 km / h	17th
18th	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1: 21.16	150.991 km / h	18th
19th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	1: 21.56	150.250 km / h	19th
20th	Hans Binder	Surtees-Ford	1: 21.73	149.938 km / h	20th
21st	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	1: 21.82	149.773 km / h	21st
22nd	Patrick Nève	March-Ford	1: 21.92	149.590 km / h	22nd
23	Emilio de Villota	McLaren-Ford	1: 21.97	149.499 km / h	23
24	Renzo Zorzi	Shadow Ford	1: 22.09	149.280 km / h	24
25th	Brett Lunger	March-Ford	1: 22.24	149.008 km / h	25th
DNQ	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Penske-Ford	1: 22.27	148.953 km / h	-
DNQ	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford	1: 22.30	148.899 km / h	-
DNQ	Boy Hayje	March-Ford	1: 22.39	148.736 km / h	-
DNQ	Brian Henton	March-Ford	1: 22.57	148.412 km / h	-
DNQ	David Purley	LEC-Ford	1: 22.89	147.839 km / h	-
DNQ	Conny Andersson	BRM	1: 24.29	145.384 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	75	0	1: 42: 52.22	01	1: 20.83
02	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	75	0	+ 15.85	04th	1: 21.31
03	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	75	0	+ 24.51	05	1: 21.73
04th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	75	0	+ 24.51	09	1: 21.73
05	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	75	0	+1: 05.83	12	1: 22.26
06th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	74	0	+ 1 lap	13	1: 22.61
07th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	74	1	+ 1 lap	02	1: 20.81
08th	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	74	0	+ 1 lap	15th	1: 22.81
09	Hans Binder	Surtees-Ford	73	0	+ 2 rounds	20th	1: 23.15
10	Brett Lunger	March-Ford	72	0	+ 3 rounds	25th	1: 24.38
11	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	72	0	+ 3 rounds	17th	1: 22.70
12	Patrick Nève	March-Ford	71	0	+ 4 rounds	22nd	1: 24.27
13	Emilio de Villota	McLaren-Ford	70	0	+ 5 rounds	23	1: 24.27
14th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	70	1	+ 5 rounds	19th	1: 23.85
-	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	64	0	DNF	06th	1: 21.94	defective fuel pump
-	Alan Jones	Shadow Ford	56	0	DNF	14th	1: 22.71	collision
-	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	32	0	DNF	16	1: 22.76	Driving error
-	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	29	0	DNF	18th	1: 23.98	Collision damage
-	Renzo Zorzi	Shadow Ford	25th	0	DNF	24	1: 24.28	Engine failure
-	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	16	1	DNF	21st	1: 23.89	collision
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	12	0	DNF	10	1: 22.29	Engine failure
-	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	10	1	DNF	07th	1: 22.20	defective ignition
-	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	09	0	DNF	08th	1: 22.27	collision
-	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	09	0	DNF	11	1: 22.13	collision
-	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	-	0	DNS	03	-	not started

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Jody Scheckter wolf 23 02  Mario Andretti lotus 20th 03  Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 19th 04th  Niki Lauda Ferrari 19th 05  James Hunt McLaren 9 06th  Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar 8th 07th  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 7th 08th  Carlos Pace Brabham 6th

Item driver constructor Points 09  Jochen Mass McLaren 5 10  Gunnar Nilsson lotus 4th 11  Renzo Zorzi Shadow 1 12  Clay Regazzoni Ensign 1 13  Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske 1 14th  John Watson Brabham 1 15th  Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 34 02  wolf 23 03  lotus 22nd 04th  McLaren 12 05  Copersucar 8th

Item constructor Points 06th  Brabham 8th 07th  Tyrrell 7th 08th  Ensign 1 09  Penske 1 10  Shadow 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on June 16, 2012)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on June 16, 2012)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on June 16, 2012)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website