| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 16 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season | ||
 | ||
| Date | October 9, 1977 | |
| Location | Mosport Park, Ontario | |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 3.957 km (2.459 mi) | |
| Distance | 80 laps, 316.56 km (196.72 mi) | |
| Weather | Temperatures up to 12C (53.6F); wind speeds up to 12.8 km/h (8 mph)[1] | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver |  Mario Andretti
|
Lotus-Ford |
| Time | 1:11.385 | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver | Mario Andretti
|
Lotus-Ford |
| Time | 1:13.299 on lap 56 | |
| Podium | ||
| First |  Jody Scheckter
|
Wolf-Ford |
| Second |  Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford |
| Third |  Jochen Mass
|
McLaren-Ford |
The 1977 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 9, 1977 at Mosport Park. It was the 16th and penultimate race of the 1977 Formula One season.
Report[]
The field arrived in Canada without Niki Lauda who, having clinched the Drivers' Championship at the previous race at Watkins Glen, and having already announced his intention to drive for Brabham in 1978, abruptly quit Ferrari following the team's decision to run a third car for Gilles Villeneuve.
In qualifying, Lotus's Mario Andretti took his sixth pole position of the season, with McLaren's James Hunt alongside him on the front row. Ronnie Peterson was third in his six-wheeled Tyrrell, ahead of Gunnar Nilsson in the second Lotus. The top ten was completed by Jochen Mass in the second McLaren, Patrick Depailler in the second Tyrrell, the Shadows of Alan Jones and Riccardo Patrese, Jody Scheckter in the Wolf, and John Watson in the Brabham. But the safety of the bumpy, high-speed Mosport Park track was in question: during practice Ian Ashley's Hesketh crested one of these bumps on the Mario Andretti straight; it flipped, vaulted the barrier and crashed into a television tower, seriously injuring Ashley and ending his Formula One career. The Englishman survived, but it took 40 minutes to remove him from the car and an additional 30 minutes passed until a helicopter arrived. These problems were underlined later that day when Mass crashed at the first corner into a barrier that flattened upon impact.[2]
At the start of the race, Andretti led away from Hunt, with Mass charging up to third. Andretti and Hunt then proceeded to pull away from the rest of the field, such that by three-quarter distance, they were coming up to lap third-placed Mass. As they did so, Hunt pulled ahead of Andretti, only to collide with his McLaren team-mate after a misunderstanding. Unable to continue, a visibly furious Hunt waved his fist at Mass, before punching a marshal who was trying to usher him away. He was subsequently fined $2,750.[3] Gilles Villeneuve made his debut with Ferrari at this race; it ended with a crash on the uphill sweeper that leads into Moss corner.[4]
There was drama in the final four laps. On lap 77, Patrese spun his Shadow into the second Hesketh of Rupert Keegan, which had crashed earlier in the race and had been left on the side of the track. The following lap, Andretti's engine blew and laid oil. Vittorio Brambilla hit this oil and spun his Surtees, collecting the wreckages of Keegan's and Patrese's cars. Finally, Danny Ongais spun his Interscope Penske on the same oil, but was able to continue.[5]
Andretti's retirement meant that Scheckter inherited the win, with Depailler second and the recovered Mass completing the podium. Jones was fourth ahead of Patrick Tambay in the Ensign, while Brambilla was classified sixth, just ahead of Ongais.
Classification[]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Jody Scheckter
|
Wolf-Ford | 80 | 1:40:00.0 | 9 | 9 |
| 2 | 4 | Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 80 | +6.77 secs | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | 2 | Jochen Mass
|
McLaren-Ford | 80 | +15.76 secs | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 17 |  Alan Jones
|
Shadow-Ford | 80 | +46.69 secs | 7 | 3 |
| 5 | 23 | Patrick Tambay
|
Ensign-Ford | 80 | +1:03.26 | 16 | 2 |
| 6 | 19 |  Vittorio Brambilla
|
Surtees-Ford | 78 | Accident | 15 | 1 |
| 7 | 14 | Danny Ongais
|
Penske-Ford | 78 | +2 Laps | 22 | |
| 8 | 9 |  Alex Ribeiro
|
March-Ford | 78 | +2 Laps | 23 | |
| 9 | 5 | Mario Andretti
|
Lotus-Ford | 77 | Engine | 1 | |
| 10 | 16 | Riccardo Patrese
|
Shadow-Ford | 76 | Spun Off | 8 | |
| 11 | 30 | Brett Lunger
|
McLaren-Ford | 76 | Engine | 20 | |
| 12 | 21 |  Gilles Villeneuve
|
Ferrari | 76 | Transmission | 17 | |
| Ret | 1 |  James Hunt
|
McLaren-Ford | 61 | Accident | 2 | |
| Ret | 27 |  Patrick Nève
|
March-Ford | 56 | Engine | 21 | |
| Ret | 3 |  Ronnie Peterson
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 34 | Fuel Leak | 3 | |
| Ret | 24 | Rupert Keegan
|
Hesketh-Ford | 32 | Accident | 25 | |
| Ret | 18 |  Hans Binder
|
Surtees-Ford | 31 | Accident | 24 | |
| Ret | 10 | Ian Scheckter
|
March-Ford | 29 | Engine | 18 | |
| Ret | 28 | Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 29 | Engine | 19 | |
| Ret | 12 |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Ferrari | 20 | Fuel System | 12 | |
| Ret | 8 | Hans Joachim Stuck
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 19 | Engine | 13 | |
| Ret | 6 | Gunnar Nilsson
|
Lotus-Ford | 17 | Accident | 4 | |
| Ret | 26 | Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Matra | 12 | Transmission | 11 | |
| Ret | 7 | John Watson
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 1 | Suspension | 10 | |
| Ret | 22 |  Clay Regazzoni
|
Ensign-Ford | 0 | Accident | 14 | |
| DNS | 25 | Ian Ashley
|
Hesketh-Ford | Driver Injured | |||
| DNQ | 15 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|
Renault |
Notes[]
Prior to the race Niki Lauda decided on the Friday he would not compete the remainder of the season as he did not believe Ferrari could prepare three cars to a high standard. Ferrari had decided to run Gilles Villeneuve as well as the two regular drivers in order to prepare the French Canadian for 1978. Andretti led from pole followed by Hunt and Mass in the second McLaren. James Hunt eventually took the lead from Andretti but while attempting to lap his teammate Mass, the two colided. Hunt, visibly furious, jumped out of his wrecked McLaren and punched the face of a marshall. Andretti re-took the lead only for his engine to expire a few laps from the end. Scheckter went on to win.
- Lap Leaders: Mario Andretti 77 laps (1-60, 61-78); James Hunt 1 lap (61); Jody Scheckter 2 laps (79-80).
- Final Formula One entry for Ian Ashley
- It was the only race of the season in which Ferrari failed to score.
- First Formula One entry for Gilles Villeneuve in Ferrari.
- The final Canadian Grand Prix held at Mosport. The GP would then move to Circuit Île Notre-Dame for the 1978 race, where it has stayed ever since.
Standings after the race[]
|
|
- 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[]
- "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1977/440/. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
- ↑ "Weather information for the "1977 Canadian Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. http://www.almanac.com/weather/history/ON/Bowmanville/1977-10-09. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
- ↑ "1977 - Canadian Grand Prix". Archived from the original on 2013-07-13. http://www.zoompics.com/1977f1.htm. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
- ↑ "Controversial collisions". Top 10 – ESPNF1.com. http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/63645.html. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
- ↑ "1977 - Canadian Grand Prix". Archived from the original on 2013-07-13. http://www.zoompics.com/1977f1.htm. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
- ↑ "Danny Ongais - Biography". Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/ongais/biography.html. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
| Previous race: 1977 United States Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1977 season |
Next race: 1977 Japanese Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1976 Canadian Grand Prix |
Canadian Grand Prix | Next race: 1978 Canadian Grand Prix |
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This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1977 Canadian Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |