The 1979 South African Grand Prix (formally the XXV Simba Grand Prix of South Africa) was a Formula One motor race held on 3 March 1979 at Kyalami. The race, contested over 78 laps, was the third race of the 1979 Formula One season and was won by Gilles Villeneuve, driving a Ferrari. Teammate and local driver Jody Scheckter finished second, while Jean-Pierre Jarier finished third in a Tyrrell-Ford.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.No.DriverConstructorTimeGrid115 Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:11,801211 Jody ScheckterFerrari1:12.042312 Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:12.07345 Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:12.124525 Patrick DepaillerLigier-Ford1:12.155626 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Ford1:12.26673 Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:12,33781 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:12,36894 Jean-Pierre JarierTyrrell-Ford1:12,5591016 René ArnouxRenault1:12,6910112 Carlos ReutemannLotus-Ford1:12,7511126 Nelson PiquetBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:13,07121320 James HuntWolf-Ford1:14,2113147 John WatsonMcLaren-Ford1:14,44141517 Elio de AngelisShadow-Ford1:14,44151629 Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:14,5416178 Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:14,58171814 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:14,61181927 Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:14,64192030 Jochen MassArrows-Ford1:15,00202118 Jan LammersShadow-Ford1:15,35212228 Clay RegazzoniWilliams-Ford1:15,68222331 Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:16,1523249 Hans-Joachim StuckATS-Ford1:16.312422 Derek Daly Ensign-Ford1:16.64—24 Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:18.14—
Race
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 78 1:41:49.96 3 9 2 11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 78 + 3.42 2 6 3 4 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 78 + 22.11 9 4 4 1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 78 + 27.88 8 3 5 2 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford 78 + 1:06.97 11 2 6 5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 77 + 1 Lap 4 1 7 6 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 77 + 1 Lap 12 8 20 James Hunt Wolf-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 13 9 28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 22 10 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 75 + 3 Laps 17 11 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 75 + 3 Laps 16 12 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 74 + 4 Laps 20 13 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 74 + 4 Laps 18 31 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 71 Engine 23 16 René Arnoux Renault 67 Tyre 10 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 63 Suspension 19 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 61 Ignition 14 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford 57 Accident 24 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 47 Engine 1 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 45 Accident 6 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 25 Throttle 7 18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford 16 Accident 15 25 Patrick Depailler Ligier-Ford 4 Accident 5 17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford 2 Accident 21 22 Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford
Notes
This was the first pole position set by Renault and a Renault-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jacques Laffite 18 2 Carlos Reutemann 12 4 3 Gilles Villeneuve 11 1 4 Patrick Depailler 9 3 5 Jody Scheckter 7Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ligier-Ford 27 3 2 Ferrari 18 1 3 Lotus-Ford 17 4 Tyrrell-Ford 7 2 5 McLaren-Ford 4Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References