The 1979 South African Grand Prix (formally the XXV Simba Grand Prix of South Africa) was a Formula One motor race held on 3 March 1979 at Kyalami. The race, contested over 78 laps, was the third race of the 1979 Formula One season and was won by Gilles Villeneuve, driving a Ferrari. Teammate and local driver Jody Scheckter finished second, while Jean-Pierre Jarier finished third in a Tyrrell-Ford.
| 1979 South African Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 15 in the 1979 Formula One season | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 3 March 1979 | ||
| Official name | XXV Simba Grand Prix of South Africa | ||
| Location |
Kyalami Transvaal Province, South Africa | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.104 km (2.550 miles) | ||
| Distance | 78 laps, 320.112 km (198.908 miles) | ||
| Weather | Wet | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Renault | ||
| Time | 1:11.80 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:14.412 on lap 23 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Tyrrell-Ford | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
Qualifying edit
Qualifying classification edit
Race edit
Classification edit
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Tyre | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Gilles Villeneuve
|
Ferrari | M | 78 | 1:41:49.96 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | 11 |  Jody Scheckter
|
Ferrari | M | 78 | + 3.42 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 4 |  Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
Tyrrell-Ford | G | 78 | + 22.11 | 9 | 4 |
| 4 | 1 |  Mario Andretti
|
Lotus-Ford | G | 78 | + 27.88 | 8 | 3 |
| 5 | 2 |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Lotus-Ford | G | 78 | + 1:06.97 | 11 | 2 |
| 6 | 5 |  Niki Lauda
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | G | 77 | + 1 Lap | 4 | 1 |
| 7 | 6 |  Nelson Piquet
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | G | 77 | + 1 Lap | 12 | |
| 8 | 20 |  James Hunt
|
Wolf-Ford | G | 77 | + 1 Lap | 13 | |
| 9 | 28 |  Clay Regazzoni
|
Williams-Ford | G | 76 | + 2 Laps | 22 | |
| 10 | 8 | Patrick Tambay
|
McLaren-Ford | G | 75 | + 3 Laps | 17 | |
| 11 | 29 |  Riccardo Patrese
|
Arrows-Ford | G | 75 | + 3 Laps | 16 | |
| 12 | 30 |  Jochen Mass
|
Arrows-Ford | G | 74 | + 4 Laps | 20 | |
| 13 | 14 | Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | G | 74 | + 4 Laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 31 |  Héctor Rebaque
|
Lotus-Ford | G | 71 | Engine | 23 | |
| Ret | 16 | René Arnoux
|
Renault | M | 67 | Tyre | 10 | |
| Ret | 27 |  Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford | G | 63 | Suspension | 19 | |
| Ret | 7 | John Watson
|
McLaren-Ford | G | 61 | Ignition | 14 | |
| Ret | 9 | Hans-Joachim Stuck
|
ATS-Ford | G | 57 | Accident | 24 | |
| Ret | 15 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|
Renault | M | 47 | Engine | 1 | |
| Ret | 26 | Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Ford | G | 45 | Accident | 6 | |
| Ret | 3 | Didier Pironi
|
Tyrrell-Ford | G | 25 | Throttle | 7 | |
| Ret | 18 | Elio de Angelis
|
Shadow-Ford | G | 16 | Accident | 15 | |
| Ret | 25 | Patrick Depailler
|
Ligier-Ford | G | 4 | Accident | 5 | |
| Ret | 17 |  Jan Lammers
|
Shadow-Ford | G | 2 | Accident | 21 | |
| DNQ | 22 |  Derek Daly
|
Ensign-Ford | G | ||||
| DNQ | 24 | Arturo Merzario
|
Merzario-Ford | G | ||||
Championship standings after the race edit
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References edit
- ^ "1979 South African Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
- ^ "1979 South African Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 3 March 1979. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
- ^ a b "South Africa 1979 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.