1977 Argentine Grand Prix
| 1977 Argentine Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | January 9, 1977 | ||
| Location | Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||
| Course | Permanent road course | ||
| Course length | 5.81 km (3.61 miles) | ||
| Distance | 53 laps, 307.93 km (191.33 miles) | ||
| Weather | Dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Ford | ||
| Time | 1:48.68 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 James Hunt | McLaren-Ford | |
| Time | 1:51.06 on lap 21 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Wolf-Ford | ||
| Second | Brabham-Alfa Romeo | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
The 1977 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Buenos Aires circuit, Argentina on January 9, 1977.
Report
The 1977 season started in Argentina, and it was reigning world champion James Hunt who started off his title defence with pole position in his McLaren. Countryman John Watson shared the front row with him in the Brabham, and Patrick Depailler in the six-wheeled Tyrrell was third on the grid.
Watson took the lead at the start with Hunt second. Watson led for the first 10 laps until Hunt moved ahead and pulled away, with Mario Andretti's Lotus third, but soon the other McLaren of Jochen Mass took the place. Mass had to retire soon after with an engine failure which caused him to spin, and a suspension failure took teammate and race leader Hunt out three laps later. Watson took the lead again, but he also had suspension failures and let teammate Carlos Pace through. Watson eventually retired, and Pace struggled towards the end due to heat in his cockpit and was passed by Jody Scheckter's Wolf and Andretti, but the latter retired then with a wheel bearing failure. Scheckter took the first win of 1977, with Pace second, and home hero Carlos Reutemann completing the podium for Ferrari.
Classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 |  Jody Scheckter
|
Wolf-Ford | 53 | 1:40:11.19 | 11 | 9 |
| 2 | 8 |  Carlos Pace
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 53 | +43.24 | 6[1] | 6 |
| 3 | 12 |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Ferrari | 53 | +46.02 | 7 | 4 |
| 4 | 28 | Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 53 | +55.48 | 16 | 3 |
| 5 | 5 |  Mario Andretti
|
Lotus-Ford | 51 | Wheel bearing | 8 | 2 |
| 6 | 22 |  Clay Regazzoni
|
Ensign-Ford | 51 | +2 laps | 12 | 1 |
| 7 | 19 |  Vittorio Brambilla
|
Surtees-Ford | 48 | Out of fuel | 13 | |
| Ret | 10 | Ian Scheckter
|
March-Ford | 45 | Electrical | 17 | |
| NC | 16 | Tom Pryce
|
Shadow-Ford | 45 | Not classified | 9 | |
| Ret | 7 | John Watson
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 41 | Suspension | 2 | |
| Ret | 9 | Alex Ribeiro
|
March-Ford | 39 | Transmission | 20 | |
| NC | 26 |  Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Matra | 37 | Not classified | 15 | |
| Ret | 4 | Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 32 | Overheating | 3 | |
| Ret | 1 | James Hunt
|
McLaren-Ford | 31 | Suspension | 1 | |
| Ret | 2 |  Jochen Mass
|
McLaren-Ford | 28 | Spun off | 5 | |
| Ret | 3 |  Ronnie Peterson
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 28 | Spun off | 14 | |
| Ret | 29 | Ingo Hoffmann
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 22 | Engine | 19 | |
| Ret | 11 |  Niki Lauda
|
Ferrari | 20 | Fuel system | 4 | |
| Ret | 18 | Hans Binder
|
Surtees-Ford | 18 | Accident | 18 | |
| Ret | 17 | Renzo Zorzi
|
Shadow-Ford | 2 | Gearbox | 21 | |
| DNS | 6 | Gunnar Nilsson
|
Lotus-Ford | 10 |
Notes
- This was a debut victory for Wolf Racing.
Standings after the race
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 166. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.