1977 German Grand Prix

The 1977 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheimring on 31 July 1977. It was the eleventh race of the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

1977 German Grand Prix
Race 11 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date 31 July 1977
Official name XXXIX Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location Hockenheimring
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.790 km (4.219[1] miles)
Distance 47 laps, 319.083 km (198.246 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Wolf-Ford
Time 1:53.07
Fastest lap
Driver Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari
Time 1:55.99 on lap 28
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Wolf-Ford
Third Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Lap leaders

The German Grand Prix was moved to Hockenheim following Niki Lauda's accident at the Nürburgring in 1976. This was the second time the race was held at Hockenheim, the first being in 1970.

The 47-lap race was won by Lauda, driving a Ferrari. Jody Scheckter finished second in a Wolf-Ford, having started from pole position, while Hans-Joachim Stuck was third in a Brabham-Alfa Romeo.

During the race, Penske driver Hans Heyer participated despite not qualifying. Mechanical issues forced Heyer to retire on lap 9, which caused his participation to be discovered. He was disqualified, making him the only driver to not qualify, not finish and be disqualified in a single race.[2]

Report edit

In qualifying, Jody Scheckter took his first pole of the season, ahead of John Watson and then Niki Lauda who headed the second row. The start of the race was given by a green flag due to red/green lights being damaged by a service vehicle, which as a result caused an accident near the back of the grid between Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni (putting both drivers out on the spot).[3] Scheckter kept the lead at the first corner with both Watson and Lauda keeping their positions. Watson put pressure on Scheckter until his engine failed on the eighth lap, giving second to Lauda who passed Scheckter soon after and began to pull away. Scheckter battled for second with James Hunt until the defending champion retired with an engine failure which was caused by a broken fuel pump on lap 33, thus giving third to Watson's teammate and home driver Hans-Joachim Stuck. That was how it stayed to the end; Lauda winning from Scheckter and Stuck, whilst the rest of the points were rounded-out with Lauda's teammate Carlos Reutemann, Vittorio Brambilla in the Surtees and Patrick Tambay in the Ensign. This was the 100th World Championship race victory for tyre manufacturer Goodyear.[4]

Classification edit

Qualifying classification edit

Pos. Driver Constructor Time No
1   Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 1:53.07 1
2   John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:53.34 2
3   Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:53.53 3
4   James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:53.68 4
5   Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:53.91 5
6   Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:53.97 6
7   Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:53.99 7
8   Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:54.27 8
9   Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 1:54.44 9
10   Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 1:54.53 10
11   Patrick Tambay Ensign-Ford 1:54.77 11
12   Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 1:55.19 12
13   Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:55.25 13
14   Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 1:55.70 14
15   Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:55.92 15
16   Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 1:56.09 16
17   Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 1:56.22 17
18   Ian Scheckter March-Ford 1:56.35 18
19   Vern Schuppan Surtees-Ford 1:56.54 19
20   Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 1:56.63 20
21   Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:56.64 21
22   Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 1:56.68 22
23   Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 1:56.89 23
24   Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford 1:57.18 24
Cut-off
25   Patrick Nève March-Ford 1:57.26
26   Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford 1:57.39
27   Hans Heyer Penske-Ford 1:57.58 25
28   Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:58.53
29   Arturo Merzario March-Ford 1:59.13
30   Teddy Pilette B.R.M. 1:59.55

Race classification edit

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 11   Niki Lauda Ferrari 47 1:31:49.3 3 9
2 20   Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 47 + 14.33 1 6
3 8   Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 47 + 20.90 5 4
4 12   Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 47 + 1:00.27 8 3
5 19   Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 47 + 1:27.37 10 2
6 23   Patrick Tambay Ensign-Ford 47 + 1:29.81 11 1
7 18   Vern Schuppan Surtees-Ford 46 + 1 Lap 19  
8 9   Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 46 + 1 Lap 20  
9 3   Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 42 Engine 14  
10 16   Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 42 Wheel 16  
Ret 24   Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 40 Accident 23  
Ret 5   Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 34 Engine 7  
Ret 1   James Hunt McLaren-Ford 32 Fuel Pump 4  
Ret 6   Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 31 Engine 9  
Ret 2   Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 26 Gearbox 13  
Ret 4   Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 22 Engine 15  
Ret 26   Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 21 Engine 6  
Ret 25   Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford 20 Engine 24  
Ret 30   Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 14 Accident 21  
Ret 10   Ian Scheckter March-Ford 9 Clutch 18  
Ret 7   John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 8 Engine 2  
Ret 34   Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 5 Transmission 12  
Ret 17   Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 0 Accident 17  
Ret 22   Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 0 Accident 22  
DSQ 35   Hans Heyer Penske-Ford 9 Gear linkage,
took part illegally
PL  
DNQ 27   Patrick Nève March-Ford        
DNQ 36   Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford        
DNQ 28   Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford        
DNQ 37   Arturo Merzario March-Ford        
DNQ 40   Teddy Pilette BRM        
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race edit

  • 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 edit

  1. ^ "1977 German Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
  2. ^ "Strange but true: F1's weirdest and most amazing records". formula1.com. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  3. ^ "1977 German Grand Prix race report". motorsportmagazine.com. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  4. ^ "1977: Consistency secures Niki Lauda a second title". ESPN. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  5. ^ "1977 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Germany 1977 – Championship". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


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1977 British Grand Prix
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1977 Austrian Grand Prix
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