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1977 British Grand Prix

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1977 British Grand Prix
Race 10 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date 16 July 1977
Official name XXX John Player British Grand Prix[1]
Location Silverstone Circuit
Northamptonshire, Great Britain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.719 km (2.932 miles)
Distance 68 laps, 320.871 km (199.380 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Ford
Time 1:18.49[2]
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom James Hunt McLaren-Ford
Time 1:19.60 on lap 48
Podium
First McLaren-Ford
Second Ferrari
Third Lotus-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1977 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 16 July 1977. It was the tenth race of the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 68-lap race was won from pole position by local driver James Hunt, driving a McLaren-Ford, with Austrian driver Niki Lauda second in a Ferrari and Swedish driver Gunnar Nilsson third in a Lotus-Ford. The race marked the debut of Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, as well as the first outing for the first turbocharged Formula One car, the Renault RS01, driven by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jabouille, who retired when the turbocharger had failed after 16 laps. It was also the last race to be given the honorific designation of the European Grand Prix.

Pre-qualifying

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Owing to the large number of entrants, a special system of pre-qualification was devised, taking place on the Wednesday before the race. Fourteen cars took part, most from teams which were not members of FOCA. Debutant Gilles Villeneuve also took part, along with Patrick Tambay, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Brett Lunger, Patrick Nève, Mikko Kozarowitzky, another debutant Andy Sutcliffe, Guy Edwards, Tony Trimmer, David Purley, Emilio de Villota, Brian Henton, Arturo Merzario and yet another debutant, Brian McGuire.[3]

Kozarowitzky crashed his RAM March in the first session, and Purley suffered a huge accident in the second session, when the throttle stuck open on his LEC. He suffered multiple fractures and spent many months recovering. He later returned to racing but never appeared in a World Championship Formula One race again.[4] The fastest five drivers after both sessions were Villeneuve, Tambay, Jarier, Lunger and Henton, all of whom went through to the full qualifying sessions. Merzario and Nève were subsequently also allowed through, as was de Villota, who replaced Harald Ertl when the Austrian driver withdrew his entry.[3]

Qualifying

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Henton and de Villota were eliminated after the qualifying sessions, along with Alex Ribeiro and Clay Regazzoni. James Hunt took pole position by less than 3 tenths from Northern Irish racing driver John Watson in the Brabham, whilst the rest of the top 10 qualifiers were Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Gunnar Nilsson, Mario Andretti, Hans Joachim Stuck, Vittorio Brambilla, Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson in the leading Tyrrell. It was also proven to be a relief for Hunt to secure pole position in front of the home crowd, this was because British racing drivers had not been lucky all season up to this point.

Classification

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Pre-qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 40 Canada Gilles Villeneuve McLaren-Ford 1:19.48
2 23 France Patrick Tambay Ensign-Ford 1:19.55 +0.07
3 34 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 1:19.63 +0.15
4 30 United States Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:19.72 +0.24
5 38 United Kingdom Brian Henton March-Ford 1:19.82 +0.34
6 37 Italy Arturo Merzario March-Ford 1:19.86 +0.38
7 27 Belgium Patrick Nève March-Ford 1:19.97 +0.49
8 36 Spain Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford 1:20.38 +0.90
9 31 United Kingdom David Purley LEC-Ford 1:20.63 +1.15
10 33 United Kingdom Andy Sutcliffe March-Ford 1:21.93 +2.45
11 35 United Kingdom Guy Edwards BRM 1:22.62 +3.14
12 44 United Kingdom Tony Trimmer Surtees-Ford 1:22.80 +3.32
13 45 Australia Brian McGuire McGuire-Ford 1:23.76 +4.28
14 32 Finland Mikko Kozarowitzky March-Ford 1:25.16 +5.68

Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 1 United Kingdom James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:18.49
2 7 United Kingdom John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:18.77 +0.28
3 11 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:18.84 +0.35
4 20 South Africa Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 1:18.85 +0.36
5 6 Sweden Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:18.95 +0.46
6 5 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:19.11 +0.62
7 8 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:19.16 +0.67
8 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 1:19.20 +0.71
9 40 Canada Gilles Villeneuve McLaren-Ford 1:19.32 +0.83
10 3 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.42 +0.93
11 2 West Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:19.55 +1.06
12 17 Australia Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 1:19.60 +1.11
13 24 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 1:19.64 +1.15
14 12 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:19.64 +1.15
15 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:19.75 +1.26
16 23 France Patrick Tambay Ensign-Ford 1:19.81 +1.32
17 37 Italy Arturo Merzario March-Ford 1:19.88 +1.39
18 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.90 +1.41
19 30 United States Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:20.06 +1.57
20 34 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 1:20.10 +1.61
21 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:20.11 +1.62
22 28 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:20.20 +1.71
23 18 Australia Vern Schuppan Surtees-Ford 1:20.24 +1.75
24 10 South Africa Ian Scheckter March-Ford 1:20.31 +1.82
25 16 Italy Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 1:20.35 +1.86
26 27 Belgium Patrick Nève March-Ford 1:20.36 +1.87
27 9 Brazil Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 1:20.46 +1.97
28 22 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 1:20.79 +2.30
29 38 United Kingdom Brian Henton March-Ford 1:20.79 +2.30
30 36 Spain Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford 1:21.53 +3.04

Race

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James Hunt had started from pole position with John Watson alongside him. But, Hunt did not get a good start due to clutch problems and dropped back to 4th as a result. This allowed Watson to take the lead into the first corner ahead of Niki Lauda's Ferrari and Jody Scheckter's Wolf. However, as the race had slowly progressed Hunt eventually managed to re-overtake Lauda and Scheckter and re-passed Watson for the race lead as the British drivers were running first and second. But the order of the top 2 did not stay the same as Watson started to slow when his fuel system failed on lap 53 and retired only 8 laps later. With Watson dropping out of contention this promoted Niki Lauda to second and Jody Scheckter to third. But Scheckter was also forced to retire later on when his engine failed on lap 60 which gave Mario Andretti in the leading Lotus third before his engine had also failed 3 laps later but was classified 14th. As Gunnar Nilsson in the remaining Lotus was given 3rd place and stayed there. James Hunt had finally managed to take his first win of the season for McLaren to the delight of the British fans, ahead of championship leader Niki Lauda, Gunnar Nilsson, Jochen Mass in the second McLaren, Hans Joachim Stuck in the remaining Brabham and Jacques Laffite in the only Ligier.

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 United Kingdom James Hunt McLaren-Ford G 68 1:31:46.06 1 9
2 11 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari G 68 + 18.31 3 6
3 6 Sweden Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford G 68 + 19.57 5 4
4 2 West Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford G 68 + 47.76 11 3
5 8 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 68 + 1:11.73 7 2
6 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra G 67 + 1 Lap 15 1
7 17 Australia Alan Jones Shadow-Ford G 67 + 1 Lap 12  
8 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford G 67 + 1 Lap 8  
9 34 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford G 67 + 1 Lap 20  
10 27 Belgium Patrick Nève March-Ford G 66 + 2 Laps 26  
11 40 Canada Gilles Villeneuve McLaren-Ford G 66 + 2 Laps 9  
12 18 Australia Vern Schuppan Surtees-Ford G 66 + 2 Laps 23  
13 30 United States Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford G 64 + 4 Laps 19  
14 5 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 62 Engine 6  
15 12 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari G 62 + 6 Laps 14  
Ret 7 United Kingdom John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 60 Fuel System 2  
Ret 20 South Africa Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford G 59 Engine 4  
Ret 28 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 42 Throttle 22  
Ret 37 Italy Arturo Merzario March-Ford G 28 Transmission 17  
Ret 16 Italy Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford G 20 Fuel Pressure 25  
Ret 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford G 16 Brakes 18  
Ret 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 16 Turbo 21  
Ret 10 South Africa Ian Scheckter March-Ford G 6 Accident 24  
Ret 3 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford G 3 Engine 10  
Ret 23 France Patrick Tambay Ensign-Ford G 3 Electrical 16  
Ret 24 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford G 0 Accident 13  
DNQ 9 Brazil Alex Ribeiro March-Ford G        
DNQ 22 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford G        
DNQ 38 United Kingdom Brian Henton March-Ford G        
DNQ 36 Spain Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford G        
DNPQ 31 United Kingdom David Purley LEC-Ford G   Accident    
DNPQ 33 United Kingdom Andy Sutcliffe March-Ford G        
DNPQ 35 United Kingdom Guy Edwards BRM G        
DNPQ 44 United Kingdom Tony Trimmer Surtees-Ford G        
DNPQ 45 Australia Brian McGuire McGuire-Ford G        
DNPQ 32 Finland Mikko Kozarowitzky March-Ford G   Accident    
WD 25 Austria Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford G        
WD 39 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford G        
WD 43 United Kingdom Derek Bell Penske-Ford G        
WD 46 Belgium Bernard de Dryver March-Ford G        
Source:[5][6]

Notes

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  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Australian driver Brian McGuire, British driver Andy Sutcliffe and Canadian driver and future Grand Prix winner Gilles Villeneuve.
  • This was the 25th podium finish for a Swedish driver.
  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Renault as a constructor and as engine supplier and for Australian constructor McGuire - the first Australian constructor in Formula One.
  • This race marked the 10th Grand Prix start for Wolf.
  • This was the 10th British Grand Prix win for a Ford-powered car.

Championship standings after the race

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  • 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

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  1. ^ "1977 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes". The Programme Covers Project.
  2. ^ "British Grand Prix 1977". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 10 January 2007. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Grand Prix Results: British GP, 1977". Grandprix.com. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  4. ^ Tremayne, David (1991). Racers Apart: Memories of motorsport heroes. UK: Motor Racing Publications Ltd. p. 293. ISBN 0-947981-58-6.
  5. ^ "1977 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. ^ "1977 British Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 16 July 1977. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Britain 1977 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.


Previous race:
1977 French Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1977 season
Next race:
1977 German Grand Prix
Previous race:
1976 British Grand Prix
British Grand Prix Next race:
1978 British Grand Prix
Previous race:
1976 Dutch Grand Prix
European Grand Prix
(Designated European Grand Prix)
Next race:
1983 European Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by
1976 United States Grand Prix West
Formula One Promotional Trophy
for Race Promoter

1977
Succeeded by
1978 British Grand Prix