The 1979 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 July 1979 at the Hockenheimring. The race, contested over 45 laps, was the tenth race of the 1979 Formula One season and was won by Alan Jones, driving a Williams-Ford, with team-mate Clay Regazzoni second and Jacques Laffite third in a Ligier-Ford. This was the second consecutive win for the Williams team, following Regazzoni's triumph at Silverstone two weeks previously.
Jean-Pierre Jabouille had taken pole position in his Renault, but out-braked himself and spun off chasing Jones into the Sachskurve on the seventh lap. Jones had a leaky rear tire for the last twenty laps of the race, but Regazzoni received orders to stay behind. The one-two finish moved Williams into third place in the Constructors' Championship.
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Car Lap Gap 1 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault Renault RS10 1:48.48 2 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford Williams FW07 1:48.75 +0.27 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford Ligier JS11 1:49.43 +0.95 4 6 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo Brabham BT48 1:49.50 +1.02 5 11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari Ferrari 312 T4 1:50.00 +1.52 6 28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford Williams FW07 1:50.12 +1.64 7 5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo Brabham BT48 1:50.37 +1.89 8 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford Tyrrell 009 1:50.40 +1.92 9 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari Ferrari 312 T4 1:50.41 +1.93 10 16 René Arnoux Renault Renault RS10 1:50.48 +2.00 11 1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford Lotus 79 1:50.68 +2.20 12 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford McLaren M29 1:50.86 +2.38 13 2 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford Lotus 79 1:50.94 +2.46 14 25 Jacky Ickx Ligier-Ford Ligier JS11 1:51.07 +2.59 15 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford McLaren M29 1:51.47 +2.99 16 4 Geoff Lees Tyrrell-Ford Tyrrell 009 1:51.50 +3.02 17 20 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford Wolf WR7 1:52.01 +3.53 18 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford Arrows A2 1:52.74 +4.26 19 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford Arrows A2-1 1:52.93 +4.45 20 17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford Shadow DN9B 1:53.59 +5.11 21 18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford Shadow DN9B 1:53.73 +5.25 22 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford Fittipaldi F6A 1:54.01 +5.53 23 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford ATS D2 1:54.47 +5.99 24 31 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford Lotus 79 1:55.86 +7.38 22 Patrick Gaillard Ensign-Ford Ensign N179 1:55.95 +7.47 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford Merzario A2 2:01.84 +13.36
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 45 1:24:48.83 2 9 2 28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford 45 +2.91 6 6 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 45 +18.39 3 4 4 11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 45 +31.20 5 3 5 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 45 +1:37.80 12 2 6 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 44 +1 Lap 18 1 7 4 Geoff Lees Tyrrell-Ford 44 +1 Lap 16 8 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 44 +1 Lap 9 9 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 44 +1 Lap 8 10 17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford 44 +1 Lap 20 11 18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford 43 +2 Laps 21 12 6 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 42 Engine 4 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 34 Tyre 19 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 30 Suspension 15 20 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 29 Engine 17 5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 27 Engine 7 25 Jacky Ickx Ligier-Ford 24 Tyre 14 31 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 22 Handling 24 1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 16 Transmission 11 16 René Arnoux Renault 9 Tyre 10 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 7 Spun Off 1 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 4 Electrical 22 2 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford 1 Accident 13 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford 0 Suspension 23 22 Patrick Gaillard Ensign-Ford 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford
Notes
This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Arrows. This was the 5th and 6th podium finish for Williams.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jody Scheckter* 35 (39) 2 Jacques Laffite* 28 3 Gilles Villeneuve* 26 2 4 Clay Regazzoni* 22 1 5 Patrick Depailler* 20 (22)Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari* 65 2 Ligier-Ford* 51 1 3 Williams-Ford* 38 1 4 Lotus-Ford* 37 5 Tyrrell-Ford* 21Source:
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. Competitors marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References