The 1979 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on 4 February 1979. It was the second race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.No.DriverConstructorTimeGrid126 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Ford2:23.071225 Patrick DepaillerLigier-Ford2:23.99232 Carlos ReutemannLotus-Ford2:24.15341 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford2:24.284512 Gilles VilleneuveFerrari2:24.345611 Jody ScheckterFerrari2:24.486715 Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault2:24.85783 Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford2:25.168914 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford2:26.3591020 James HuntWolf-Ford2:26.37101116 René ArnouxRenault2:26.4311125 Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo2:27.57121327 Alan JonesWilliams-Ford2:27.6713147 John WatsonMcLaren-Ford2:27.8214154 Jean-Pierre JarierTyrrell-Ford2:27.89151629 Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford2:28.08161728 Clay RegazzoniWilliams-Ford2:28.8817188 Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford2:29.39181930 Jochen MassArrows-Ford2:29.42192017 Elio de AngelisShadow-Ford2:30.29202118 Jan LammersShadow-Ford2:31.6021226 Nelson PiquetBrabham-Alfa Romeo2:31.64222322 Derek DalyEnsign-Ford2:31.7823249 Hans-Joachim StuckATS-Ford2:32.272431 Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford2:32.66—24 Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford2:34.08—
Race
Race report The Ligier team dominated the race weekend with their superior ground-effect JS11. Frenchman Jacques Laffite dominated the race weekend and made the most of his superbly set-up Ligier by taking pole position, smashing Jean-Pierre Jarier's 1975 pole time by 7 seconds, setting fastest lap and leading every lap of the race up to the finish. Laffite's teammate Patrick Depailler started and finished 2nd. Laffite and the Ligier team completed their domination of the South American fortnight, Laffite also dominantly won in Argentina.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 40 1:40:09.64 1 9 2 25 Patrick Depailler Ligier-Ford 40 + 5.28 2 6 3 2 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford 40 + 44.14 3 4 4 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 40 + 1:25.88 8 3 5 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 39 + 1 Lap 5 2 6 11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 39 + 1 Lap 6 1 7 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 19 8 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 14 9 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 16 10 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 39 + 1 Lap 7 11 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 9 12 18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 20 13 22 Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 23 14 17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 21 15 28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford 38 + 2 Laps 17 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 33 Fuel System 13 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford 31 Steering 24 16 René Arnoux Renault 28 Spun Off 11 20 James Hunt Wolf-Ford 7 Steering 10 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 7 Collision 18 5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 5 Gearbox 12 6 Nelson PiquetBrabham-Alfa Romeo 5 Accident 22 1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 2 Fuel Leak 4 4 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 0 Electrical 15 31 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford
Notes
This was the 9th and 10th podium finish for Ligier.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jacques Laffite 18 2 Carlos Reutemann 10 1 3 Patrick Depailler 9 1 4 John Watson 4 16 5 Didier Pironi 3Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ligier-Ford 27 2 Lotus-Ford 12 3 McLaren-Ford 4 3 4 Tyrrell-Ford 3 5 Ferrari 3Source:
Additional notes Although the circuit length was quoted in MotorSport magazine as 7.873 km, the fastest lap's time/speed quoted are consistent with the 7.87385 km length, same as quoted in 1980 race report. Although the race distance was quoted in MotorSport magazine as 314.92 km, the winner's time/speed quoted are consistent with the 314.954 km distance, same as quoted in 1980 race report.
References