The 1977 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires, Argentina on 9 January 1977. It was the first round of the 1977 Formula One season.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo1 James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:48.6812 John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:48.9623 Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:49.1334 Niki LaudaFerrari1:49.7345 Jochen MassMcLaren-Ford1:49.8156 Carlos PaceBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:49.9767 Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:50.0278 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:50.1389 Tom PryceShadow-Ford1:50.65910 Gunnar NilssonLotus-Ford1:50.6611 Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:50.761012 Clay RegazzoniEnsign-Ford1:50.971113 Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:51.031214 Ronnie PetersonTyrrell-Ford1:51.341315 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:51.521416 Emerson FittipaldiCopersucar-Ford1:51.531517 Ian ScheckterMarch-Ford1:52.401618 Hans BinderSurtees-Ford1:53.111719 Ingo HoffmannCopersucar-Ford1:53.281820 Alex RibeiroMarch-Ford1:53.541921 Renzo ZorziShadow-Ford1:54.1920
Race
Report The 1977 season started in Argentina, and it was reigning world champion James Hunt who started off his title defence with pole position in his McLaren. Countryman John Watson shared the front row with him in the Brabham, and Patrick Depailler in the six-wheeled Tyrrell was third on the grid.
Watson took the lead at the start with Hunt second. Watson led for the first 10 laps until Hunt moved ahead and pulled away, with Mario Andretti's Lotus third, but soon the other McLaren of Jochen Mass took the place. Mass had to retire soon after with an engine failure which caused him to spin, and a suspension failure took teammate and race leader Hunt out three laps later. Watson took the lead again, but he also had suspension failures and let teammate Carlos Pace through. Watson eventually retired, and Pace struggled towards the end due to heat in his cockpit and was passed by Jody Scheckter's Wolf and Andretti, but the latter retired then with a wheel bearing failure. Scheckter took the first win of 1977, with Pace second, and home hero Carlos Reutemann completing the podium for Ferrari.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 53 1:40:11.19 11 9 2 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Alfa Romeo 53 + 43.24 6 6 3 12 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 53 + 46.02 7 4 4 28 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 53 + 55.48 16 3 5 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 51 Wheel bearing 8 2 6 22 Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 51 + 2 laps 12 1 7 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 48 Out of fuel 13 10 Ian Scheckter March-Ford 45 Electrical 17 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 45 + 8 laps 9 7 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 41 Suspension 2 9 Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 39 Transmission 20 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 37 + 16 laps 15 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 32 Overheating 3 1 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 31 Suspension 1 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 28 Spun off 5 3 Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 28 Spun off 14 29 Ingo Hoffmann Fittipaldi-Ford 22 Engine 19 11 Niki Lauda Ferrari 20 Fuel system 4 18 Hans Binder Surtees-Ford 18 Accident 18 17 Renzo Zorzi Shadow-Ford 2 Gearbox 21 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 10
Notes
This was the 100th fastest lap set by a British driver. This race marked the 5th Grand Prix win for a South African driver. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Canadian constructor Walter Wolf Racing, and also the debut Grand Prix win for Wolf - the first Canadian constructor to do so.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jody Scheckter 9 2 Carlos Pace 6 3 Carlos Reutemann 4 4 Emerson Fittipaldi 3 5 Mario Andretti 2Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Wolf-Ford 9 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 6 3 Ferrari 4 4 Fittipaldi-Ford 3 5 Lotus-Ford 2Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References