1977 United States Grand Prix

The 1977 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 2, 1977, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was the fifteenth race of the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on April 3, 1977, in Long Beach, California. It was covered on American radio by Motor Racing Network.

1977 United States Grand Prix
Race 15 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date	October 2, 1977
Official name	XX Toyota United States Grand Prix
Location	Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course Watkins Glen, New York
Course	Permanent road course
Course length	5.435 km (3.377 miles)
Distance	59 laps, 320.67 km (199.24 miles)
Weather	Rain with temperatures reaching up to 17 °C (63 °F); Winds gusting up to 23.69 km/h (14.72 mph)
Pole position
Driver	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford
Time	1:40.863
Fastest lap
Driver	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford
Time	1:51.85 on lap 56
Podium
First	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford
Second	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Third	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford
Lap leaders

The 59-lap race was won from pole position by James Hunt, driving a McLaren-Ford. In wet conditions, Hunt held off a late charge from Mario Andretti in the Lotus-Ford to take his second consecutive Watkins Glen victory. Jody Scheckter was third in the Wolf-Ford, while Niki Lauda clinched his second Drivers' Championship by finishing fourth in his Ferrari.

Report

For the first time, the American race was being held before the Canadian Grand Prix, which would follow a week later. Lauda led the championship with 69 points, while Jody Scheckter was second with 42 points. With nine points being awarded for a win, Lauda needed only to score one point in any of the final three races to clinch the title, while Scheckter needed to win them all to have a chance (both would be on 69 points, but Scheckter would have the tiebreaker on wins with 5, compared to Lauda's 3).

From the start of practice on Friday, Hunt's McLaren was dominant, setting a track record of 1:40.863. Brabham teammates Hans-Joachim Stuck and John Watson were a quarter of a second back, followed by Andretti, Ronnie Peterson and the Ferraris of Carlos Reutemann and Lauda. On Saturday morning there was rain just before the end of untimed practice, and so the afternoon session served only as practice for a possible wet race on Sunday, as Friday's times determined the grid.

Sunday began cold but dry, with a crowd over 100,000. Before the warmup, however, it began to drizzle, and by the five-minute signal, it had picked up enough that only John Watson was willing to gamble on starting with slicks. At the flag, everyone got away from the grid and through the first turn without incident, but the spray was so heavy that nothing was visible after the first five cars. Stuck quickly jumped ahead of Hunt, and after one lap, they were followed by Andretti, Reutemann, Peterson, Lauda, Scheckter, Jacques Laffite and Gunnar Nilsson.

Immediately, Scheckter began to take advantage of the others' uncertainty in the conditions and, by lap five had moved from ninth to fourth. Stuck was also going well in the wet, and, despite losing his clutch cable in the first few laps, pulled away from Hunt. Lauda passed his teammate Reutemann for fifth spot when the Argentine spun. On lap 15, with Hunt four seconds behind, Stuck, struggling to make gear changes without a clutch, popped out of gear entering a corner and went straight on. He retired with damage to the monocoque.

Hunt now led Andretti by 10.5 seconds, with Scheckter 14 seconds further back in third. The rain stopped, and drivers sought the wet sections of a drying track to cool their tires. With 10 laps remaining and the lead at 22 seconds, Hunt backed off in response to a pit signal. Lauda was coasting in fourth, a position sufficient to clinch the Championship. Scheckter had slowed in third to preserve his tires.

With two laps to go, Andretti, who had been closing while Hunt cruised home, was only 6.7 seconds behind. As they began the last lap, the margin had closed to 1.5 seconds, but Hunt increased his lead slightly to win by just over two seconds. The McLaren pit had not informed him how close the Lotus was until the start of the final lap, when Teddy Mayer gave him a frantic wave to pick up the pace.

Lauda thus took his second title, and Ferrari took their third consecutive Constructor's Championship. For Lauda, it was the culmination of a comeback from the life-threatening injuries he had sustained at the Nürburgring in 1976. Almost immediately, the Austrian quit Ferrari, having already announced his intention to move to Brabham for 1978.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	James Hunt	McLaren–Ford	1:40.863
2	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham–Alfa Romeo	+0.275
3	John Watson	Brabham–Alfa Romeo	+0.330
4	Mario Andretti	Lotus–Ford	+0.618
5	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell–Ford	+1.045
6	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	+1.089
7	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	+1.226
8	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell–Ford	+1.375
9	Jody Scheckter	Wolf–Ford	+1.452
10	Jacques Laffite	Ligier–Matra	+1.777
11	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees–Ford	+1.923
12	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus–Ford	+1.952
13	Alan Jones	Shadow–Ford	+2.156
14	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	+2.206
15	Jochen Mass	McLaren–Ford	+2.379
16	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow–Ford	+2.653
17	Brett Lunger	McLaren–Ford	+2.835
18	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi–Ford	+3.075
19	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign–Ford	+3.345
20	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh–Ford	+3.687
21	Ian Scheckter	March–Ford	+3.839
22	Ian Ashley	Hesketh–Ford	+4.237
23	Alex Ribeiro	March–Ford	+4.610
24	Patrick Nève	March–Ford	+4.982
25	Hans Binder	Surtees–Ford	+5.017
26	Danny Ongais	Penske–Ford	+5.207
Cut-off
27	Patrick Tambay	Ensign–Ford	+8.572
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	G	59	1:58:23.267	1	9
2	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	59	+ 2.026	4	6
3	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	G	59	+ 1:18.879	9	4
4	11	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	G	59	+ 1:40.615	7	3
5	22	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	G	59	+ 1:48.138	19	2
6	12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	G	58	+ 1 Lap	6	1
7	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	G	58	+ 1 Lap	10
8	24	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	G	58	+ 1 Lap	20
9	16	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	G	58	+ 1 Lap	16
10	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	G	57	+ 2 Laps	17
11	18	Hans Binder	Surtees-Ford	G	57	+ 2 Laps	25
12	7	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	57	+ 2 Laps	3
13	28	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	57	+ 2 Laps	18
14	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	G	56	+ 3 Laps	8
15	9	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford	G	56	+ 3 Laps	23
16	3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	G	56	+ 3 Laps	5
17	25	Ian Ashley	Hesketh-Ford	G	55	+ 4 Laps	22
18	27	Patrick Nève	March-Ford	G	55	+ 4 Laps	24
19	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	G	54	+ 5 Laps	11
Ret	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	M	30	Alternator	14
Ret	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	G	17	Accident	12
Ret	8	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	14	Accident	2
Ret	10	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	G	10	Accident	21
Ret	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	G	8	Fuel Pump	15
Ret	14	Danny Ongais	Penske-Ford	G	6	Accident	26
Ret	17	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	G	3	Accident	13
DNQ	23	Patrick Tambay	Ensign-Ford	G
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Niki Lauda	72
2	Mario Andretti	47
3	Jody Scheckter	46
4	Carlos Reutemann	36
5	James Hunt	31
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	89 (91)
2	Lotus-Ford	62
3	McLaren-Ford	47
4	Wolf-Ford	46
5	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	27
Source:

• 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.

Further reading

• Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and grand prize races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-1263-1
• Rob Walker (January, 1978). "18th United States Grand Prix: Wet But Not Wild". Road & Track, 82-86.