The 1979 Formula One season was the 33rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1979 World Championship of F1 DriversFIA Yearbook 1980, Grey Section, page 84 and the 1979 International Cup for F1 ConstructorsFIA Yearbook 1980, Grey Section, page 85 which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-round series which commenced on 21 January 1979, and ended on 7 October 1979. The season also included three non-championship Formula One races.
Jody Scheckter won the Drivers' Championship and, with teammate Gilles Villeneuve in second place, Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship. This was the team's fourth Constructors' Championship in five years, and more would follow, but it would be their last Drivers' Championship for the next 21 years. As of 2026, Scheckter remains the first and only driver from an African country to win the World Championship.
This was the final season for 1976 F1 world champion James Hunt.
Drivers and constructors The following drivers and constructors contested the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.
Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Tyres No Driver Rounds Martini Racing Team Lotus Lotus-Ford 7980 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 1 Mario Andretti All 2 Carlos Reutemann All Team Tyrrell Candy Tyrrell Team Tyrrell-Ford 009 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 3 Didier Pironi All 4 Jean-Pierre Jarier 1–9, 12–15 Geoff Lees 10 Derek Daly 11 33 14–15 Parmalat Racing Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46BT48 Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12Alfa Romeo 1260 3.0 V12 5 Niki Lauda 1–13 6 Nelson Piquet 1–13 Brabham-Ford BT49 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 5 Ricardo Zunino 14–15 6 Nelson Piquet 14–15 Marlboro Team McLaren Löwenbräu Team McLaren McLaren-Ford M26M28M28BM28CM29 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 7 John Watson All 8 Patrick Tambay All ATS Wheels ATS-Ford D2D3 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck All SEFAC Ferrari Ferrari 312T3312T4312T4B Ferrari 015 3.0 F12 11 Jody Scheckter All 12 Gilles Villeneuve All Fittipaldi Automotive Fittipaldi-FordOfficial records of the 1979 International Cup as published in the 1980 FIA Yearbook refer to Fittipaldi as Copersucar, after the team's main sponsor. F5AF6F6A Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 14 Emerson Fittipaldi All 19 Alex Ribeiro 14–15 Équipe Renault Elf Renault RS01RS10 Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6 t 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille All 16 René Arnoux All Samson Shadow Racing Interscope Shadow Racing Shadow Racing Shadow-Ford DN9 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 17 Jan Lammers All 18 Elio de Angelis All Olympus Cameras Wolf Racing Michelob Wolf Racing Wolf-Ford WR7WR8WR9 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 20 James Hunt 1–7 Keke Rosberg 8–15 Team Ensign Ensign-Ford N177N179 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 22 Derek Daly 1–7 Patrick Gaillard 8–12 Marc Surer 13–15 Team Merzario Merzario-Ford A1BA2A4 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 24 Arturo Merzario 1–6, 8–15 Gianfranco Brancatelli 7 Ligier Gitanes Ligier-Ford JS11 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 25 Patrick Depailler 1–7 Jacky Ickx 8–15 26 Jacques Laffite All Albilad-Saudia Racing Team Williams-Ford FW06FW07 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 27 Alan Jones All 28 Clay Regazzoni All Warsteiner Arrows Racing Team Arrows-Ford A1A2 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 29 Riccardo Patrese All 30 Jochen Mass All Team Rebaque Lotus-Ford 79 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 31 Héctor Rebaque 1–6, 8–12 Rebaque-Ford HR100 13–15 Autodelta Alfa Romeo 177179 Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12Alfa Romeo 1260 3.0 V12 35 Bruno Giacomelli 6, 8, 13, 15 36 Vittorio Brambilla 13–15 Willi Kauhsen Racing Team Kauhsen-Ford WK Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 36 Gianfranco Brancatelli 5–6
Team and driver changes Several high-profile changes happened among the leading teams for this season, as the death of Swedish driver Ronnie Peterson the previous September precipitated a merry-go-round of some of the most highly regarded drivers on the grid:
Reigning champions Team Lotus signed Carlos Reutemann from Ferrari to replace Peterson. Ferrari took on Jody Scheckter to fill the gap, and the Wolf team hired James Hunt in his place. McLaren had originally signed Peterson to replace Hunt but when Peterson was killed, fellow British contender John Watson was signed instead. His place at Brabham was taken by the highly regarded but inexperienced Nelson Piquet, who had driven for them at the final race of last season. Tyrrell attracted ex-Lotus driver Jean-Pierre Jarier instead of Patrick Depailler, who moved to Ligier. The French team had acquired Matra's assets for their entrance in Formula 1, but lost their factory support before the 1979 season. They secured a deal for Ford-Cosworth engines, just like the majority of teams. Clay Regazzoni moved from Shadow to Williams, while René Arnoux moved to Renault for his second season. Both teams expanded their operations to two cars for the first time. Hans-Joachim Stuck had moved to ATS, so Shadow had two open seats. They signed Jan Lammers and Elio de Angelis, both making their F1 debuts. Arrows replaced Rolf Stommelen with Jochen Mass.
Mid-season changes Following a string of races in which he failed to finish, James Hunt retired from driving halfway through the season to join BBC Sport as a commentator. His seat was taken by future champion Keke Rosberg. Patrick Depailler suffered a hang gliding accident in June and broke both legs. Ligier, who were supported by the French government, were forced to find a French replacement driver, which they found in French-speaking Belgian Jacky Ickx.Motor Sports, Washington Post, 24 June 1979, Page A1. It was Ickx's last F1 drive. Derek Daly was let go by the Ensign team and replaced by debutant Patrick Gaillard, who did not provide better results. Finally, Formula Two champion Marc Surer picked up the drive. He did not deliver, but for him, it was a good entry into the sport and he would eventually spend eight years in F1. Jean-Pierre Jarier missed two races due to liver issues. After driving a privatised Lotus 79, Héctor Rebaque debuted with his self-made chassis, the Rebaque HR100 in the Italian Grand Prix. In , Alfa Romeo returned to F1 as engine supplier to Brabham, but designer Carlo Chiti persuaded the manufacturer to develop their own chassis. The Alfa Romeo 177 made its debut at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix. They quit the supply deal with Brabham, leaving them to switch to Ford-Cosworth V8's with two races to go in the year. According to Niki Lauda, this was not a step forward: during the first practice session with the V8, the Austrian suddenly retired the car and quit the team, as he had no more desire to "continue the silliness of driving around in circles". Test driver Ricardo Zunino took his place. Fittipaldi expanded to two cars with two races to go in the season.
Calendar Round Grand Prix Circuit Date 1 Argentine Grand Prix Autodromo de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires 21 January 2 Brazilian Grand Prix Autodromo de Interlagos, São Paulo 4 February 3 South African Grand Prix Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, Midrand 3 March 4 United States Grand Prix West Long Beach Street Circuit, Long Beach 8 April 5 Spanish Grand Prix Circuito Permanente del Jarama, Madrid 29 April 6 Belgian Grand Prix Circuit Zolder, Heusden-Zolder 13 May 7 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 27 May 8 French Grand Prix Dijon-Prenois, Prenois 1 July 9 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 14 July 10 German Grand Prix Hockenheimring, Hockenheim 29 July 11 Austrian Grand Prix Österreichring, Spielberg 12 August 12 Dutch Grand Prix Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort 26 August 13 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 9 September 14 Canadian Grand Prix Île Notre-Dame Circuit, Montréal 30 September 15 United States Grand Prix Watkins Glen Grand Prix Course, New York 7 October
Calendar changes The Spanish Grand Prix was moved up six weeks, ahead of the Belgian and Monaco Grand Prix. Those two races also swapped places compared to . The Swedish Grand Prix was originally scheduled to be held on 17 June at Anderstorp Raceway, but was cancelled as enthusiasm for Formula One in Sweden had faded as a result of the deaths of Swedish drivers Ronnie Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson. There was never another Swedish Grand Prix.David Hayhoe, Formula 1: The Knowledge – 2nd Edition, 2021, page 35. The French Grand Prix was moved from Circuit Paul Ricard to Dijon-Prenois, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits. Likewise, the British Grand Prix was moved from Brands Hatch to Silverstone. The United States Grand Prix and Canadian Grand Prix swapped places on the calendar. The race at Watkins Glen now hosted the season finale.
Regulation changes The cockpit opening was to be made bigger. It was stipulated for the first time that an F1 car had to have two rear-view mirrors.
Season report Pre-season The domination of the Lotus 79 meant that all the teams had to build new "ground-effect" cars for the 1979 season. Team Lotus, aiming to stay one step ahead, was designing the new Lotus 80. Cigarette maker John Player Special withdrew from F1 and Olympus moved to Wolf and Lotus landed a new sponsorship package with Martini, Tissot and Essex Petroleum. Mario Andretti was retained and Carlos Reutemann had been signed to drive even before Ronnie Peterson's death at Monza. Peterson had signed a deal to join McLaren, to replace James Hunt. After Peterson was killed McLaren turned to John Watson, who was out of work having been dropped by Brabham. The McLaren team produced a new McLaren M28 for Watson and Patrick Tambay to drive. Hunt had received a huge offer to drive for Wolf Racing with Harvey Postlethwaite designing a new WR7. Jody Scheckter had joined Gilles Villeneuve at Ferrari and the team produced the ungainly 312T4, which was handicapped aerodynamically by the flat-12 engine, which made ground-effect difficult. The engine was however very powerful.
Ligier expanded to two cars with Patrick Depailler being hired from Tyrrell to partner Jacques Laffite. The team gave up with the old Matra engine and ran Cosworths instead and Gerard Ducarouge designed the JS11. Williams also expanded to two cars and signed Clay Regazzoni to partner Alan Jones while Patrick Head finished off the new FW07 design. Also expanding was Renault Sport which hired Rene Arnoux to partner Jean-Pierre Jabouille. The pair started the year with the old RS1 while the new RS10 was finished. Brabham had a new Alfa Romeo V12 engine and Niki Lauda was joined by rising star Nelson Piquet in the Parmalat-sponsored team. Tyrrell was struggling for money as Elf had decided to put its money behind Renault and First National City Travelers Checks had decided not to continue. The team had hired Jean-Pierre Jarier to partner Didier Pironi and Maurice Philippe designed a new 008 chassis. Arrows hired Jochen Mass to partner Riccardo Patrese and continued with the A1 chassis, although the bullet-nosed A2 was under development. ATS hired Hans Stuck to drive its new D3 chassis while Ensign had Derek Daly, Fittipaldi continued with his own car while Shadow was left without any drivers and so hired youngsters Elio de Angelis and Jan Lammers to drive. Surtees and Theodore disappeared while Hector Rebaque bought a 1978 Lotus and pushed ahead with his own car. Arturo Merzario was also struggling on with his own design, while Kauhsen and Alfa Romeo were both preparing their own teams.
Race 1: Argentina