1979 Italian Grand Prix
Race 13 of 15 in the 1979 Formula One season
Race details
Date 9 September 1979
Official name 50º Gran Premio d'Italia[1]
Location Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.800 km (3.60 miles)
Distance 50 laps, 290.000 km (180.20 miles)
Weather Dry and sunny
Pole position
Driver
Renault
Time 1:34.580
Fastest lap
Driver Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford
Time 1:35.60 on lap 46
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Ferrari
Third
Williams-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1979 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 9 September 1979 at Monza. It was the thirteenth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 50-lap race was won by South African Jody Scheckter, driving a Ferrari, with Canadian team-mate Gilles Villeneuve second and Swiss Clay Regazzoni third in a Williams-Ford. Scheckter claimed the Drivers' Championship in the process, while Ferrari clinched the Constructors' Championship. The race also marked Scheckter's final race win; he retired after the following season.

This race marked Scuderia Ferrari's 300th start in a World Championship event as a team.[2]

Report

Background

Monza was revamped for 1979, with the track re-surfaced and run-off areas added to the Curva Grande and the Lesmo curves.

The entry list was enlarged by the return of the Alfa Romeo team, which had participated in the Belgian and French Grands Prix earlier in the season. Alfa Romeo fielded two cars: a new 179 chassis for Bruno Giacomelli, and the old 177 for Vittorio Brambilla, back in action for the first time since the crash in the previous year's race at Monza that had claimed the life of Ronnie Peterson. Meanwhile, Mexican Héctor Rebaque had his HR100 chassis ready for the first time, while Switzerland's Marc Surer, having won the Formula Two championship the previous month, made his first Formula One appearance as Ensign took him on in place of Patrick Gaillard.

Qualifying

The turbo-powered Renaults were quick in qualifying and filled the front row of the grid, with Jean-Pierre Jabouille ahead of René Arnoux. It was Jabouille's fourth pole position of the season, and Renault's sixth. Scheckter and Alan Jones in the Williams made up the second row, while on the third were their respective teammates, Gilles Villeneuve and Clay Regazzoni. The top ten was completed by Jacques Laffite in the Ligier, the Brabhams of Nelson Piquet and Niki Lauda, and Mario Andretti in the Lotus.

Race

The Renaults were slow off the start line and so Scheckter took the lead, with Arnoux holding on to second. Jones also made a poor start and dropped to the back of the field, putting Villeneuve third and the fast-starting Laffite fourth. On lap 2, Arnoux passed Scheckter for the lead, while Piquet crashed out after tangling with Regazzoni. Regazzoni was slow out of Curva Grande and Piquet took an outside line to keep his speed. Regazzoni moved across, possibly unaware Piquet was there, and sent the Brazilian heavily into the barriers, with the Brabham ending in two halves either side of the track. Fortunately Piquet was unhurt, and Regazzoni continued in the race.

For the next eleven laps Arnoux, Scheckter, Villeneuve, Laffite and Jabouille ran nose-to-tail, with Regazzoni a distant sixth. Then, on lap 13, Arnoux's engine began to misfire, leading to his retirement. Scheckter thus regained the lead, with Villeneuve dutifully following him. Later in the race, Laffite and Jabouille also suffered engine failures, promoting Regazzoni to third.

Scheckter eventually took the chequered flag half a second ahead of Villeneuve and, with it, the Drivers' Championship. This one-two finish for Ferrari in their home race also secured them the Constructors' Championship. Regazzoni finished four seconds behind Villeneuve and 50 ahead of Lauda, with the final points going to Andretti and Jean-Pierre Jarier in the Tyrrell.

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Pos. Driver Constructor Time No
1 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:34.580 1
2 René Arnoux Renault 1:34.704 2
3 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 1:34.830 3
4 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:34.914 4
5 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:34.989 5
6 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford 1:35.333 6
7 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 1:35.443 7
8 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:35.587 8
9 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:36.219 9
10 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:36.655 10
11 Jacky Ickx Ligier-Ford 1:37.114 11
12 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 1:37.181 12
13 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford 1:37.202 13
14 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 1:37.231 14
15 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford 1:37.297 15
16 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 1:37.581 16
17 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:37.674 17
18 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:38.053 18
19 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:38.093 19
20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:38.136 20
21 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 1:38.163 21
22 Vittorio Brambilla Alfa Romeo 1:38.601 22
23 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 1:38.854 23
24 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford 1:39.149 24
DNQ Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford 1:39.313 —
DNQ Marc Surer Ensign-Ford 1:40.821 —
DNQ Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 1:42.002 —
DNQ Héctor Rebaque Rebaque-Ford 1:42.769 —

Race

Classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 11 South Africa Jody Scheckter Ferrari M 50 1:22:00.22 3 9
2 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 50 + 0.46 5 6
3 28 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford G 50 + 4.78 6 4
4 5 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 50 + 54.40 9 3
5 1 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 50 + 59.70 10 2
6 4 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford G 50 + 1:01.55 16 1
7 2 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford G 50 + 1:24.14 13
8 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 49 + 1 Lap 20
9 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 49 + 1 Lap 4
10 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford G 49 + 1 Lap 12
11 9 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford G 49 + 1 Lap 15
12 36 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Alfa Romeo G 49 + 1 Lap 22
13 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford G 47 + 3 Laps 17
14 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 45 Engine 1
Ret 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford G 41 Engine 7
Ret 20 Finland Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford G 41 Engine 23
Ret 25 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ligier-Ford G 40 Engine 11
Ret 18 Italy Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford G 33 Clutch 24
Ret 35 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo G 28 Spun Off 18
Ret 16 France René Arnoux Renault M 13 Engine 2
Ret 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford G 13 Accident 19
Ret 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford G 3 Engine 14
Ret 30 West Germany Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford G 3 Suspension 21
Ret 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 1 Accident 8
DNQ 17 Netherlands Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford G
DNQ 22 Switzerland Marc Surer Ensign-Ford G
DNQ 24 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford G
DNQ 31 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Rebaque-Ford G
Source:[3][4]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 4 results from the first 7 races and the best 4 results from the last 8 races counted towards the Drivers' Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

  1. ↑ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1979". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  2. ↑ Scuderia Ferrari did not participate in the 1950 French Grand Prix; Peter Whitehead's privateer entry in this race does not count towards the team's participation tally.
  3. ↑ "1979 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "1979 Italian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 9 September 1979. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Italy 1979 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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