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.
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 . 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 PosDriverConstructorTimeNo1Jacques LaffiteLigier-Ford1:21,1312Patrick DepaillerLigier-Ford1:21,2023Nelson PiquetBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:21,3534Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:21,5945Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:21,8356Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:22,0867Jody ScheckterFerrari1:22,0978Clay RegazzoniWilliams-Ford1:22,4089James HuntWolf-Ford1:22,55910Carlos ReutemannLotus-Ford1:22,561011Jean-Pierre JarierTyrrell-Ford1:22,681112Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:22,851213Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:22,871314Bruno GiacomelliAlfa Romeo1:23,151415Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:23,631516Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:23,921617Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:24,021718René ArnouxRenault1:24,331819John WatsonMcLaren-Ford1:24,371920Hans-Joachim StuckATS-Ford1:24,622021Jan LammersShadow-Ford1:24,762122Jochen MassArrows-Ford1:25,082223Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:25,182324Elio de AngelisShadow-Ford1:25,4824Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:25,69—Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:25,92—Derek DalyEnsign-Ford1:27,83—Gianfranco BrancatelliKauhsen-Ford1:34,48—
Race
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 70 1:39:59.53 7 9 2 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 70 + 15.36 1 6 3 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 70 + 35.17 12 4 4 2 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford 70 + 46.49 10 3 5 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 70 + 1:04.31 16 2 6 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 70 + 1:05.85 19 1 7 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 69 + 1 Lap 6 8 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 20 9 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 23 10 17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 21 11 4 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 67 + 3 Laps 11 25 Patrick Depailler Ligier-Ford 46 Accident 2 20 James Hunt Wolf-Ford 40 Accident 9 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 39 Electrical 4 1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 27 Brakes 5 6 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 23 Engine 3 5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 23 Engine 13 16 René Arnoux Renault 22 Turbo 18 35 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 21 Collision 14 18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford 21 Collision 24 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 17 Spun Off 22 31 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 13 Transmission 15 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 13 Turbo 17 28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford 1 Collision 8 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 22 Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 36 Gianfranco Brancatelli Kauhsen-Ford
Notes
This race saw the 10th pole position set by a French driver and the 5th fastest lap set by a Canadian driver. This was the 50th Grand Prix start for a Dutch driver. This was the 5th pole position for Ligier.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 2 1 Jacques Laffite 24 3 2 Jody Scheckter 24 (25) 2 3 Gilles Villeneuve 20 2 4 Patrick Depailler 20 1 5 Carlos Reutemann 19 (21)Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 Ferrari 45 1 2 Ligier-Ford 44 3 Lotus-Ford 33 4 Tyrrell-Ford 15 5 McLaren-Ford 5Source:
References