1979 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1979 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 May 1979 at Zolder. It was the sixth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

1979 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 6 of 15 in the 1979 Formula One season
Race details
Date13 May 1979
LocationCircuit Zolder
Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
Course length4.262 km (2.648 miles)
Distance70 laps, 298.340 km (185.380 miles)
WeatherDry
Pole position
DriverLigier-Ford
Time1:21.13
Fastest lap
DriverCanada Gilles VilleneuveFerrari
Time1:23.09 on lap 63
Podium
FirstFerrari
SecondLigier-Ford
ThirdTyrrell-Ford
Lap leaders

The 70-lap race was won by Jody Scheckter, driving a Ferrari. Jacques Laffite finished second in a Ligier-Ford, having started from pole position, while Didier Pironi achieved his first podium finish with third in a Tyrrell-Ford.

The race also saw the first appearance of Alfa Romeo as a works team since 1951. Driving the Alfa Romeo 177, Bruno Giacomelli qualified 14th, ahead of both Renaults and both McLarens, before retiring following a collision with Elio de Angelis in the Shadow-Ford.

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

PosDriverConstructorTimeNo
1Jacques LaffiteLigier-Ford1:21,131
2Patrick DepaillerLigier-Ford1:21,202
3Nelson PiquetBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:21,353
4Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:21,594
5Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:21,835
6Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:22,086
7Jody ScheckterFerrari1:22,097
8Clay RegazzoniWilliams-Ford1:22,408
9James HuntWolf-Ford1:22,559
10Carlos ReutemannLotus-Ford1:22,5610
11Jean-Pierre JarierTyrrell-Ford1:22,6811
12Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:22,8512
13Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:22,8713
14Bruno GiacomelliAlfa Romeo1:23,1514
15Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:23,6315
16Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:23,9216
17Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:24,0217
18René ArnouxRenault1:24,3318
19John WatsonMcLaren-Ford1:24,3719
20Hans-Joachim StuckATS-Ford1:24,6220
21Jan LammersShadow-Ford1:24,7621
22Jochen MassArrows-Ford1:25,0822
23Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:25,1823
24Elio de AngelisShadow-Ford1:25,4824
DNQPatrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:25,69
DNQArturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:25,92
DNQDerek DalyEnsign-Ford1:27,83
DNQGianfranco BrancatelliKauhsen-Ford1:34,48

Race

Classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
111 Jody ScheckterFerrariM701:39:59.5379
226 Jacques LaffiteLigier-FordG70+ 15.3616
33 Didier PironiTyrrell-FordG70+ 35.17124
42 Carlos ReutemannLotus-FordG70+ 46.49103
529 Riccardo PatreseArrows-FordG70+ 1:04.31162
67 John WatsonMcLaren-FordG70+ 1:05.85191
712 Gilles VilleneuveFerrariM69+ 1 Lap6
89 Hans-Joachim StuckATS-FordG69+ 1 Lap20
914 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-FordG68+ 2 Laps23
1017 Jan LammersShadow-FordG68+ 2 Laps21
114 Jean-Pierre JarierTyrrell-FordG67+ 3 Laps11
Ret25 Patrick DepaillerLigier-FordG46Accident2
Ret20 James HuntWolf-FordG40Accident9
Ret27 Alan JonesWilliams-FordG39Electrical4
Ret1 Mario AndrettiLotus-FordG27Brakes5
Ret6 Nelson PiquetBrabham-Alfa RomeoG23Engine3
Ret5 Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa RomeoG23Engine13
Ret16 René ArnouxRenaultM22Turbo18
Ret35 Bruno GiacomelliAlfa RomeoG21Collision14
Ret18 Elio de AngelisShadow-FordG21Collision24
Ret30 Jochen MassArrows-FordG17Spun Off22
Ret31 Héctor RebaqueLotus-FordG13Transmission15
Ret15 Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenaultM13Turbo17
Ret28 Clay RegazzoniWilliams-FordG1Collision8
DNQ8 Patrick TambayMcLaren-FordG
DNQ24 Arturo MerzarioMerzario-FordG
DNQ22 Derek DalyEnsign-FordG
DNQ36 Gianfranco BrancatelliKauhsen-FordG
Source:[1][2]

Championship standings after the race

Constructors' Championship standings
PosConstructorPoints
1 Ferrari45
2 Ligier-Ford44
3 Lotus-Ford33
4 Tyrrell-Ford15
5 McLaren-Ford5
Source: [3]

  • 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


Previous race:
1979 Spanish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1979 season
Next race:
1979 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous race:
1978 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand PrixNext race:
1980 Belgian Grand Prix