1977 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1977 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 5 June 1977. It was the seventh race of the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

1977 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 7 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date 5 June 1977
Location Circuit Zolder
Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
Course length 4.262 km (2.648 miles)
Distance 70 laps, 298.340 km (185.380 miles)
Weather Wet
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Ford
Time 1:24.64
Fastest lap
Driver Sweden Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford
Time 1:27.36 on lap 53
Podium
First Lotus-Ford
Second Ferrari
Third Tyrrell-Ford
Lap leaders

The 70-lap race was won by Swedish driver Gunnar Nilsson, driving a Lotus-Ford. Austrian driver Niki Lauda finished second in a Ferrari, while Nilsson's fellow Swede, Ronnie Peterson, finished third in the six-wheeled Tyrrell-Ford. This was to be Nilsson's only Formula One victory, before his career was cut short by cancer and he died in October 1978.

Qualifying

edit

Qualifying classification

edit
Pos. Driver Constructor Time No
1   Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:24,64 1
2   John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:26,18 2
3   Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:26,45 3
4   Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 1:26,48 4
5   Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:26,71 5
6   Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:26,81 6
7   Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:26,85 7
8   Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 1:26,95 8
9   James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:27,04 9
10   Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:27,05 10
11   Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:27,11 11
12   Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 1:27,23 12
13   Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 1:27,28 13
14   Arturo Merzario March-Ford 1:27,33 14
15   Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 1:27,35 15
16   Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:27,47 16
17   Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 1:27,55 17
18   Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:27,75 18
19   Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 1:28,02 19
20   David Purley LEC-Ford 1:28,10 20
21   Ian Scheckter March-Ford 1:28,50 21
22   Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:28,51 22
23   Larry Perkins Surtees-Ford 1:28,53 23
24   Patrick Nève March-Ford 1:28,67 24
25   Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:29,02 25
26   Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 1:29,11 26
Cut-off
27   Boy Hayje March-Ford 1:29,46 27
28   Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford 1:30,12
29   Conny Andersson BRM 1:30,24
30   Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 1:30,24
31   Bernard de Dryver March-Ford 1:30,42
32   Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford 1:33,30

Race

edit

Report

edit

In qualifying Mario Andretti took a comfortable pole position with John Watson just beating the second Lotus of Gunnar Nilsson to second. The race was wet due to rain earlier in the day. Watson took the lead into the first corner, but later in the lap, Andretti locked up into the chicane and ran into the back of the Brabham, knocking both drivers out of the race with Jody Scheckter taking over the lead.

Scheckter led the early stages ahead of Nilsson, whereas Carlos Reutemann made an early charge but spun off. The track began to dry and everyone had to pit for tyres, and those who stopped early were the ones who benefited, as now Niki Lauda was leading from Jochen Mass and Scheckter was down to fifth. Mass spun off from second, handing it to Nilsson who then went on to catch and pass Lauda before driving away to his first career victory. Behind second-placed Lauda, Ronnie Peterson completed the podium for Team Tyrrell after Scheckter retired with an engine failure. This remains the only F1 race in which two Swedes shared the podium.

David Purley stayed out later than most drivers and was running third by lap 21.[1] After he finally pitted, he emerged in front of race leader Lauda. He was likely unaware that Lauda was a lap ahead and did not let him through, holding the leader up for a few laps. This may have cost Lauda victory and the two were involved in an argument after the race.[2]

Classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 6   Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 70 1:55:05.71 3 9
2 11   Niki Lauda Ferrari 70 + 14.19 11 6
3 3   Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 70 + 19.95 8 4
4 19   Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 70 + 24.98 12 3
5 17   Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 70 + 1:15.47 17 2
6 8   Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 69 + 1 Lap 18 1
7 1   James Hunt McLaren-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 9  
8 4   Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 5  
9 25   Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 25  
10 27   Patrick Nève March-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 24  
11 34   Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 26  
12 18   Larry Perkins Surtees-Ford 67 + 3 Laps 23  
13 31   David Purley LEC-Ford 67 + 3 Laps 20  
14 37   Arturo Merzario March-Ford 65 + 5 Laps 14  
NC 33   Boy Hayje March-Ford 63 + 7 Laps 27  
Ret 20   Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 62 Engine 4  
Ret 2   Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 39 Accident 6  
Ret 26   Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 32 Engine 10  
Ret 22   Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 29 Engine 13  
Ret 12   Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 14 Accident 7  
Ret 24   Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 14 Accident 19  
Ret 16   Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 12 Accident 15  
Ret 10   Ian Scheckter March-Ford 8 Accident 21  
Ret 28   Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 2 Electrical 16  
Ret 5   Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 0 Collision 1  
Ret 7   John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 0 Collision 2  
DNS 30   Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford   Engine 22  
DNQ 36   Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford    
DNQ 9   Alex Ribeiro March-Ford    
DNQ 35   Conny Andersson BRM    
DNQ 38   Bernard de Dryver March-Ford    
DNQ 39   Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford        
Source:[3]

Notes

edit
  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Mexican driver Héctor Rebaque and Belgian driver Bernard de Dryver.
  • This was the 25th pole position set by an American driver.
  • This was the 10th Grand Prix win for a Swedish driver.

Championship standings after the race

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

References

edit
  1. ^ "Belgium 1977 - Lap by lap • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  2. ^ Widdows, Rob (June 2008). "Run rabbit!". Motor Sport. p. 85. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  3. ^ "1977 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Belgium 1977 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.


Previous race:
1977 Monaco Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1977 season
Next race:
1977 Swedish Grand Prix
Previous race:
1976 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1978 Belgian Grand Prix