1977 Canadian Grand Prix

  1977 Canadian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 16 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Date	October 9, 1977
Location	Mosport Park, Canada
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.957 km (2.459 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 316.56 km (196.72 mi)
Weather	Dry
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 9 October 1977 at Mosport Park.

Report

The field arrived in Canada without Niki Lauda who, having clinched the championship at the previous race, and already announced his intention to drive for Brabham the following year, abruptly quit Ferrari following the team's decision to run a third car in Canada for Gilles Villeneuve. In qualifying, Mario Andretti took yet another pole ahead of James Hunt, with Ronnie Peterson's six-wheeled Tyrrell in third. But the safety of the high-speed Mosport Park track was in question- with the very bumpy surface causing problems. Ian Ashley had a huge accident during practice, when he went over a bump, flipped his Hesketh, vaulted the barrier and crashed into a television tower. He was seriously injured and never raced in Formula One again.

Both Andretti and Hunt kept their positions at the start, with Hunt's teammate Jochen Mass charging up to third. Andretti and Hunt then proceeded to demolish the entire field, but they themselves were separated by nothing as they ran nose-to-tail. With less than 20 laps left, they came to lap third-placed Mass during with there was a misunderstanding between the McLarens who collided and spun off, Hunt retiring and Mass pitting for repairs and rejoining fifth. Andretti was left well over a lap ahead until his engine failed with three laps left, giving the win to Jody Scheckter. Patrick Depailler finished second for Tyrell, and Mass completed the podium.

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

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 72 2 Jody Scheckter 55 3 Mario Andretti 47 4 Carlos Reutemann 36 5 James Hunt 31

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 89 (91) 2 Lotus-Ford 62 3 Wolf-Ford 55 4 McLaren-Ford 51 5 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 27

• 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.