1979 British Grand Prix
Race 9 of 15 in the 1979 Formula One season
Race details
Date 14 July 1979
Official name XXXII Marlboro British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.718[1] km (2.932 miles)
Distance 68 laps, 320.871 km (199.380 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver
Williams-Ford
Time 1:11.88
Fastest lap
Driver Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford
Time 1:14.40 on lap 39
Podium
First
Williams-Ford
Second
Renault
Third
Tyrrell-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1979 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXII Marlboro British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 14 July 1979. It was the ninth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 68-lap race was won by Clay Regazzoni, driving a Williams-Ford. It was the first Formula One victory for the Williams team and Regazzoni's final victory in Formula One. René Arnoux finished second in a Renault, with Jean-Pierre Jarier third in a Tyrrell-Ford.

Qualifying

Qualifying report

Qualifying saw Alan Jones take his and the Williams team's first pole position by 0.6 seconds from Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the Renault; the Williams FW07 had been modified by engineers Patrick Head and Frank Dernie to correct some aerodynamic problems on the car. Nelson Piquet took third in the Brabham with the second Williams of Clay Regazzoni alongside him on the second row, while René Arnoux in the second Renault and Niki Lauda in the second Brabham made up the third row. Completing the top ten were John Watson in the McLaren, the Lotuses of Carlos Reutemann and Mario Andretti, and Jacques Laffite in the Ligier. The Ferraris disappointed, with championship leader Jody Scheckter only managing 11th and Gilles Villeneuve 13th.

Qualifying classification

Pos. Driver Constructor Time No
1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:11.88 1
2 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:12.48 2
3 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:12.65 3
4 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford 1:13.11 4
5 René Arnoux Renault 1:13.29 5
6 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:13.44 6
7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:13.57 7
8 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford 1:13.87 8
9 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:14.20 9
10 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 1:14.37 10
11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 1:14.60 11
12 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford 1:14.87 12
13 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:14.90 13
14 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 1:14.96 14
15 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 1:15.28 15
16 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 1:15.63 16
17 Jacky Ickx Ligier-Ford 1:15.63 17
18 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 1:15.67 18
19 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:15.77 19
20 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 1:16.19 20
21 Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford 1:16.66 21
22 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:16.68 22
23 Patrick Gaillard Ensign-Ford 1:17.07 23
24 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 1:17.32 24
DNQ Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford 1:17.44 —
DNQ Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 1:19.57 —

Race

Race report

At the start of the race, Regazzoni charged into the lead, but was repassed by team-mate Jones and Jabouille before the end of the first lap. Andretti and the Ferraris also made fast starts, running close to Piquet, Lauda and Arnoux. At the end of lap 2, Piquet made a mistake at Woodcote and spun off, before Andretti dropped out with a broken wheel bearing on lap 4. Then Lauda encountered brake problems which eventually led to his retirement on lap 13, leaving Arnoux fourth with Scheckter fifth and Villeneuve dutifully following the South African.

Up at the front, Jones established a commanding lead over Jabouille, who was struggling on Michelin tyres that were wearing quickly. On lap 17, the Frenchman pitted for new tyres, promoting Regazzoni to second. However, disaster struck for Jabouille when, after a long stop, part of his front wing got caught in an air hose that had not been removed from under the car and was broken off as he accelerated. He was forced to return to the pits for repairs, during which his turbo overheated.[1]

At half-distance, Jones still led comfortably, with Regazzoni still second and well clear of Arnoux, and Laffite moving ahead of the Ferraris into fourth. Then, approaching Woodcote at the end of lap 39, Jones's engine failed, a water pump problem causing it to overheat.[2] Six laps later, Laffite also retired with engine trouble. This left only four drivers on the lead lap - Regazzoni, Arnoux, Scheckter and Villeneuve - with Jean-Pierre Jarier up to fifth in his Tyrrell and Watson sixth.

The Ferraris were also struggling on Michelins, and Villeneuve pitted for new tyres on lap 50, before stopping with fuel vaporization problems five laps from the end. Scheckter, meanwhile, was lapped by Regazzoni on lap 56, before Jarier and Watson passed him in the closing laps.[1]

Regazzoni eventually took the chequered flag 24 seconds ahead of Arnoux, giving Williams their first Formula One victory. It was also Regazzoni's fifth and final win and, to date, the last win in F1 for a Swiss driver. After Jarier, Watson and Scheckter came Jacky Ickx, taking the final point in the second Ligier.

This was the first Grand Prix on which James Hunt, who had retired from racing the previous month, commentated alongside Murray Walker for the BBC's Grand Prix programme.

Classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 28 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford G 68 1:26:11.17 4 9
2 16 France René Arnoux Renault M 68 +24.28 5 6
3 4 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford G 67 +1 lap 16 4
4 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford G 67 +1 lap 7 3
5 11 South Africa Jody Scheckter Ferrari M 67 +1 lap 11 2
6 25 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ligier-Ford G 67 +1 lap 17 1
7 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford G 66 Out of fuel 18
8 2 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford G 66 +2 laps 8
9 31 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford G 66 +2 laps 24
10 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford G 66 +2 laps 15
11 17 Netherlands Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford G 65 +3 laps 21
12 18 Italy Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford G 65 +3 laps1 12
13 22 France Patrick Gaillard Ensign-Ford G 65 +3 laps 23
14 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 63 Fuel system 13
Ret 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford G 45 Gearbox 19
Ret 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford G 44 Engine 10
Ret 20 Finland Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford G 44 Fuel system 14
Ret 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 38 Water pump 1
Ret 30 West Germany Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford G 37 Gearbox 20
Ret 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 25 Engine 22
Ret 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 21 Turbo 2
Ret 5 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 12 Brakes 6
Ret 1 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 3 Wheel bearing 9
Ret 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 1 Spun off 3
DNQ 9 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford G
DNQ 24 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford G
Source:[3][4][5]

Notes

  • ^1 – Elio de Angelis finished 11th, but received a one-minute time penalty for a jump start.[4][1][5][3]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 4 results from the first 7 races and the best 4 results from the last 8 races counted towards the Drivers' Championship. Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jenkinson, Denis (August 1979). "The British Grand Prix: Williams all the way". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 33. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "Grand Prix results: British GP, 1979". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  3. 1 2 "1979 British Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 "1979 British Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 14 July 1979. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Britain 1979 - Result". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Britain 1979 - Championship". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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