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
Course length	3.957 km (2.459 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 316.56 km (196.72 mi)
Weather	Cold with temperatures approaching 12 °C (54 °F); wind speeds up to 12.8 kilometres per hour (8.0 mph)[1]
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 motor race held on October 9, 1977 at Mosport Park. It was the 16th and penultimate race of the 1977 Formula One season.

Report

The field arrived in Canada without Niki Lauda who, having clinched the Drivers' Championship at the previous race at Watkins Glen, and having already announced his intention to drive for Brabham in 1978, abruptly quit Ferrari following the team's decision to run a third car for Gilles Villeneuve.

In qualifying, Lotus's Mario Andretti took his sixth pole position of the season, with McLaren's James Hunt alongside him on the front row. Ronnie Peterson was third in his six-wheeled Tyrrell, ahead of Gunnar Nilsson in the second Lotus. The top ten was completed by Jochen Mass in the second McLaren, Patrick Depailler in the second Tyrrell, the Shadows of Alan Jones and Riccardo Patrese, Jody Scheckter in the Wolf, and John Watson in the Brabham. But the safety of the bumpy, high-speed Mosport Park track was in question: during practice Ian Ashley's Hesketh crested one of these bumps on the Mario Andretti straight; it flipped, vaulted the barrier and crashed into a television tower, seriously injuring Ashley and ending his Formula One career. The Englishman survived, but it took 40 minutes to remove him from the car and an additional 30 minutes passed until a helicopter arrived. These problems were underlined later that day when Mass crashed at the first corner into a barrier that flattened upon impact.^[2]

At the start of the race, Andretti led away from Hunt, with Mass charging up to third. Andretti and Hunt then proceeded to pull away from the rest of the field, such that by three-quarter distance, they were coming up to lap third-placed Mass. As they did so, Hunt pulled ahead of Andretti, only to collide with his McLaren team-mate after a misunderstanding. Unable to continue, a visibly furious Hunt waved his fist at Mass, before punching a marshal who was trying to usher him away. He was subsequently fined $2,750.^[3] Gilles Villeneuve made his debut with Ferrari at this race; it ended with a crash on the uphill sweeper that leads into Moss corner.^[2]

There was drama in the final four laps. On lap 77, Patrese spun his Shadow into the second Hesketh of Rupert Keegan, which had crashed earlier in the race and had been left on the side of the track. The following lap, Andretti's engine blew and laid oil. Vittorio Brambilla hit this oil and spun his Surtees, collecting the wreckages of Keegan's and Patrese's cars. Finally, Danny Ongais spun his Interscope Penske on the same oil, but was able to continue.^[4]

Andretti's retirement meant that Scheckter inherited the win, with Depailler second and the recovered Mass completing the podium. Jones was fourth ahead of Patrick Tambay in the Ensign, while Brambilla was classified sixth, just ahead of Ongais.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	80	1:40:00.00	9	9
2	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	80	+ 6.77	6	6
3	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	80	+ 15.76	5	4
4	17	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	80	+ 46.69	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
Source:[5]

Notes

• Lap Leaders: Mario Andretti 77 laps (1-60, 62-78); James Hunt 1 lap (61); Jody Scheckter 2 laps (79-80).
• Final Formula One entry for Ian Ashley.
• Final Formula One podium finish for Jochen Mass.
• It was the only race of the season in which Ferrari failed to score.
• This was the final Canadian Grand Prix held at Mosport. For 1978, the race would move to the Circuit Île Notre-Dame in Montreal, where it has been held ever since.

Championship 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