The 1977 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 5 June 1977. It was the seventh race of the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors.
The 70-lap race was won by Swedish driver Gunnar Nilsson, driving a Lotus-Ford. Austrian driver Niki Lauda finished second in a Ferrari, while Nilsson's fellow Swede, Ronnie Peterson, finished third in the six-wheeled Tyrrell-Ford. This was to be Nilsson's only Formula One victory, before his career was cut short by cancer and he died in October 1978.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos. Driver Constructor Time No1 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:24.6412 John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:26.1823 Gunnar NilssonLotus-Ford1:26.4534 Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:26.4845 Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:26.7156 Jochen MassMcLaren-Ford1:26.8167 Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:26.8578 Ronnie PetersonTyrrell-Ford1:26.9589 James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:27.04910 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:27.051011 Niki LaudaFerrari1:27.111112 Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:27.231213 Clay RegazzoniEnsign-Ford1:27.281314 Arturo MerzarioMarch-Ford1:27.331415 Riccardo PatreseShadow-Ford1:27.351516 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:27.471617 Alan JonesShadow-Ford1:27.551718 Hans-Joachim StuckBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:27.751819 Rupert KeeganHesketh-Ford1:28.021920 David PurleyLEC-Ford1:28.102021 Ian ScheckterMarch-Ford1:28.502122 Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:28.512223 Larry PerkinsSurtees-Ford1:28.532324 Patrick NèveMarch-Ford1:28.672425 Harald ErtlHesketh-Ford1:29.022526 Jean-Pierre JarierPenske-Ford1:29.1126 Cut-off27 Boy HayjeMarch-Ford1:29.462728 Emilio de VillotaMcLaren-Ford1:30.12—29 Conny AnderssonBRM1:30.24—30 Alex RibeiroMarch-Ford1:30.24—31 Bernard de DryverMarch-Ford1:30.42—32 Héctor RebaqueHesketh-Ford1:33.30—
Race
Report In qualifying Mario Andretti took a comfortable pole position with John Watson just beating the second Lotus of Gunnar Nilsson to second. The race was wet due to rain earlier in the day. Watson took the lead into the first corner, but later in the lap, Andretti locked up into the chicane and ran into the back of the Brabham, knocking both drivers out of the race with Jody Scheckter taking over the lead.
Scheckter led the early stages ahead of Nilsson, whereas Carlos Reutemann made an early charge but spun off. The track began to dry and everyone had to pit for tyres, and those who stopped early were the ones who benefited, as now Niki Lauda was leading from Jochen Mass and Scheckter was down to fifth. Mass spun off from second, handing it to Nilsson who then went on to catch and pass Lauda before driving away to his first career victory. Behind second-placed Lauda, Ronnie Peterson completed the podium for Team Tyrrell after Scheckter retired with an engine failure. This remains the only F1 race in which two Swedes shared the podium.
David Purley stayed out later than most drivers and was running third by lap 21. After he finally pitted, he emerged in front of race leader Lauda. He was likely unaware that Lauda was a lap ahead and did not let him through, holding the leader up for a few laps. This may have cost Lauda victory and the two were involved in an argument after the race.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 70 1:55:05.71 3 9 2 11 Niki Lauda Ferrari 70 +14.19 11 6 3 3 Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 70 +19.95 8 4 4 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 70 +24.98 12 3 5 17 Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 70 +1:15.47 17 2 6 8 Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 69 +1 lap 18 1 7 1 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 69 +1 lap 9 8 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 69 +1 lap 5 9 25 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 69 +1 lap 25 10 27 Patrick Nève March-Ford 68 +2 laps 24 11 34 Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 68 +2 laps 26 12 18 Larry Perkins Surtees-Ford 67 +3 laps 23 13 31 David Purley LEC-Ford 67 +3 laps 20 14 37 Arturo Merzario March-Ford 65 +5 laps 14 33 Boy Hayje March-Ford 63 +7 laps 27 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 62 Engine 4 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 39 Accident 6 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 32 Engine 10 22 Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 29 Engine 13 12 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 14 Accident 7 24 Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford 14 Accident 19 16 Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Ford 12 Accident 15 10 Ian Scheckter March-Ford 8 Accident 21 28 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 2 Electrical 16 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 0 Collision 1 7 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 0 Collision 2 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford Engine 22 36 Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford 9 Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 35 Conny Andersson BRM 38 Bernard de Dryver March-Ford 39 Héctor Rebaque Hesketh-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Mexican driver Héctor Rebaque and Belgian driver Bernard de Dryver. This was the 25th pole position set by an American driver. This was the 10th Grand Prix win for a Swedish driver.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jody Scheckter 32 2 Niki Lauda 31 3 Carlos Reutemann 23 4 Mario Andretti 22 5 5 Gunnar Nilsson 13Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 46 1 2 Lotus-Ford 33 1 3 Wolf-Ford 32 4 McLaren-Ford 15 2 5 Tyrrell-Ford 11Source:
References