1979 Brazilian Grand Prix

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1979 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 15 in the 1979 Formula One season
Race details
Date 4 February 1979
Location Autódromo de Interlagos
São Paulo, Brazil
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 7.960 km (4.946[1] miles)
Distance 40 laps, 318.400 km (197.840 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Ligier-Ford
Time 2:23.07
Fastest lap
Driver France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford
Time 2:28.76 on lap 23
Podium
First Ligier-Ford
Second Ligier-Ford
Third Lotus-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1979 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on 4 February 1979. It was the second race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

Qualifying[edit]

Qualifying classification[edit]

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Grid
1 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 2:23.07 1
2 25 France Patrick Depailler Ligier-Ford 2:23.99 2
3 2 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford 2:24.15 3
4 1 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 2:24.28 4
5 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 2:24.34 5
6 11 South Africa Jody Scheckter Ferrari 2:24.48 6
7 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 2:24.85 7
8 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 2:25.16 8
9 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 2:26.35 9
10 20 United Kingdom James Hunt Wolf-Ford 2:26.37 10
11 16 France René Arnoux Renault 2:26.43 11
12 5 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 2:27.57 12
13 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford 2:27.67 13
14 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford 2:27.82 14
15 4 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 2:27.89 15
16 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 2:28.08 16
17 28 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford 2:28.88 17
18 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 2:29.39 18
19 30 West Germany Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 2:29.42 19
20 17 Italy Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford 2:30.29 20
21 18 Netherlands Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford 2:31.60 21
22 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 2:31.64 22
23 22 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 2:31.78 23
24 9 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford 2:32.27 24
DNQ 31 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 2:32.66
DNQ 24 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 2:34.08

Race[edit]

Race report[edit]

The Ligier team dominated the race weekend with their superior ground-effect JS11. Frenchman Jacques Laffite dominated the race weekend and made the most of his superbly set-up Ligier by taking pole position, smashing Jean-Pierre Jarier's 1975 pole time by 7 seconds, setting fastest lap and leading every lap of the race up to the finish. Laffite's teammate Patrick Depailler started and finished 2nd. Laffite and the Ligier team completed their domination of the South American fortnight, Laffite also dominantly won in Argentina.

Classification[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford G 40 1:40:09.64 1 9
2 25 France Patrick Depailler Ligier-Ford G 40 + 5.28 2 6
3 2 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford G 40 + 44.14 3 4
4 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford G 40 + 1:25.88 8 3
5 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 39 + 1 Lap 5 2
6 11 South Africa Jody Scheckter Ferrari M 39 + 1 Lap 6 1
7 30 West Germany Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 19
8 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 14
9 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 16
10 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 39 + 1 Lap 7
11 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 9
12 18 Italy Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 20
13 22 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly Ensign-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 23
14 17 Netherlands Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 21
15 28 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford G 38 + 2 Laps 17
Ret 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 33 Fuel System 13
Ret 9 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford G 31 Steering 24
Ret 16 France René Arnoux Renault M 28 Spun Off 11
Ret 20 United Kingdom James Hunt Wolf-Ford G 7 Steering 10
Ret 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford G 7 Collision 18
Ret 5 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 5 Gearbox 12
Ret 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 5 Accident 22
Ret 1 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 2 Fuel Leak 4
Ret 4 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford G 0 Electrical 15
DNQ 31 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford G
DNQ 24 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford G
Source:[2][3]

Championship standings after the race[edit]

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Notes[edit]

  • ^a Although the circuit length was quoted in MotorSport magazine as 7.873 km,[5] the fastest lap's time/speed quoted[5] are consistent with the 7.87385 km length, same as quoted in 1980 race report.[6]
  • ^b Although the race distance was quoted in MotorSport magazine as 314.92 km,[5] the winner's time/speed quoted[5] are consistent with the 314.954 km distance, same as quoted in 1980 race report.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "1979 Brazilian Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
  2. ^ "1979 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ "1979 Brazilian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 4 February 1979. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Brazil 1979 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d "Brazilian Grand Prix". MotorSport. March 1979. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  6. ^ a b "Brazilian Grand Prix". MotorSport. March 1980. Retrieved 2017-11-13.


Previous race:
1979 Argentine Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1979 season
Next race:
1979 South African Grand Prix
Previous race:
1978 Brazilian Grand Prix
Brazilian Grand Prix Next race:
1980 Brazilian Grand Prix