The 1977 Formula One season was the 31st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 28th World Championship of Drivers and the 20th International Cup for Formula 1 Constructors.Championship conditions were published by the FIA in the "World Championship of Drivers" and the "International Cup for Formula 1 Constructors" sections of the 1977 FIA Yearbook of Automobile Sport The season commenced on 9 January 1977 and ended on 23 October after seventeen races, making it the longest Formula One season in the sport's history at the time (which was not matched until 1995). The season also included a single non-championship race for Formula One cars, the 1977 Race of Champions.
Niki Lauda won his second championship, despite Mario Andretti winning more races. Lauda did not complete the season, departing Scuderia Ferrari after securing the title at the 1977 United States Grand Prix. Ferrari won its third consecutive Constructors' title, with new driver Carlos Reutemann having a solid season.
The season was marred by a horrific accident during the South African GP: Tom Pryce was unable to avoid hitting 19-year-old race marshal Frederik Jansen van Vuuren, who had tried to cross the track. The latter was killed in the collision, while his fire extinguisher struck and killed Pryce. His car proceeded to the end of the straight where it collided with Jacques Laffite's Ligier. There was further tragedy as Carlos Pace lost his life in an aviation accident only a couple of weeks later.
At the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix, the last race of the season, Gilles Villeneuve's second race driving for Ferrari ended in tragedy as well when, on lap 6, after colliding with Ronnie Peterson's six-wheel Tyrrell P34, Villeneuve's car became airborne and collided with track marshal Kengo Yuasa, who was trying to have trespassing spectators move away from a restricted area of the track. Villeneuve's car also hit photographer Kazuhiro Ohashi. Villeneuve's Ferrari was completely destroyed and while he escaped uninjured, both Yuasa and Ohashi were killed instantly.
Drivers and constructors The following drivers and constructors contested the World Championship of Drivers and the International Cup for Formula 1 Constructors: EntrantConstructorChassisEngineTyresNoDriverRounds Marlboro Team McLarenMcLaren-FordM23EM26Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V81 James HuntAll2 Jochen MassAll14 Bruno Giacomelli1440 Gilles Villeneuve10 First National CIty Travelers Checks Elf Team TyrrellTyrrell-FordP34Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V83 Ronnie PetersonAll4 Patrick DepaillerAll John Player Team LotusLotus-Ford78Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V85 Mario AndrettiAll6 Gunnar NilssonAll Martini RacingBrabham-Alfa RomeoBT45BT45BAlfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F127 John WatsonAll8 Carlos Pace1–3 Hans-Joachim Stuck4–1721 Giorgio Francia14 Hollywood March Racing Rothmans International Racing Lexington RacingMarch-Ford761B771Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V89 Alex RibeiroAll10 Ian Scheckter1–2, 5–16 Hans-Joachim Stuck3 Brian Henton4 SEFAC FerrariFerrari312T2BFerrari 015 3.0 F1211 Niki Lauda1–15 Gilles Villeneuve1712 Carlos ReutemannAll21 Gilles Villeneuve16 Rotary Watches Stanley-BRM Stanley-BRMBRMP207P201BBRM P202 3.0 V12 BRM P200 3.0 V1214 Larry Perkins2–329 Teddy Pilette1335 Conny Andersson5, 7–9 Guy Edwards10 Teddy Pilette144011 Interscope RacingPenske-FordPC4Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V814 Danny Ongais15–16 Équipe Renault ElfRenaultRS01Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6t15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille10, 13–16 Ambrosio Shadow Racing Ambrosio Tabatip Shadow Racing Ambrosio Villiger Shadow RacingShadow-FordDN5BDN8Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V816 Tom Pryce1–3 Renzo Zorzi4–5 Riccardo Patrese6–7, 9–11, 13–14, 16–17 Jackie Oliver8 Arturo Merzario12 Jean-Pierre Jarier1517 Renzo Zorzi1–3 Alan Jones4–17 Durex Team Surtees Beta Team SurteesSurtees-FordTS19Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V818 Hans Binder1–6, 15–17 Larry Perkins7–9 Patrick Tambay9 Vern Schuppan10–13 Lamberto Leoni1419 Vittorio BrambillaAll Walter Wolf RacingWolf-FordWR1WR2WR3Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V820 Jody ScheckterAll Team Tissot Ensign with Castrol Theodore Racing Hong KongEnsign-FordN177Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V822 Clay RegazzoniAll Jacky Ickx623 Patrick Tambay10–17 Penthouse Rizla+. Racing Hesketh RacingHesketh-Ford308EFord Cosworth DFV 3.0 V824 Rupert Keegan5–1625 Harald Ertl5–9 Héctor Rebaque11–13 Ian Ashley14–1639 Héctor Rebaque7–9 Ian Ashley12–13 Ligier GitanesLigier-MatraJS7Matra MS76 3.0 V1226 Jacques LaffiteAll27 Jean-Pierre Jarier17 Williams Grand Prix EngineeringMarch-Ford761Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V827 Patrick Nève5, 7–16 Fittipaldi AutomotiveFittipaldi-FordFD04F5Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V828 Emerson Fittipaldi1–1629 Ingo Hoffmann1–2 Chesterfield Racing Liggett Group with BS FabricationsMarch-Ford761Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V830 Brett Lunger3–5McLaren-FordM237–16 LEC Refrigeration RacingLEC-FordCRP1Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V831 David Purley5, 7–10 F&S Properties Racing F&S Properties Racing with Marlboro RAM RacingMarch-Ford761Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V832 Mikko Kozarowitzky8, 101333 Boy Hayje3, 5–8, 13 Andy Sutcliffe10 ATS Racing TeamPenske-FordPC4Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V833 Hans Binder12, 1434 Jean-Pierre Jarier4–1435 Hans Binder13 Hans Heyer11 Iberia AirlinesMcLaren-FordM23Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V836 Emilio de Villota5, 7–8, 10–12, 14 Team MerzarioMarch-Ford761BFord Cosworth DFV 3.0 V837 Arturo Merzario5–7, 9–11, 13 British Formula One TeamMarch-Ford761Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V838 Bernard de Dryver7 Brian Henton5, 10, 12 HB Bewaking AlarmsystemenBoro-Ford001Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V838 Brian Henton13–14 Jolly Club of SwitzerlandApollon-FordFlyFord Cosworth DFV 3.0 V841 Loris Kessel14 Melchester RacingSurtees-FordTS19Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V844 Tony Trimmer10 Brian McGuireMcGuire-FordBM1Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V845 Brian McGuire10 Meiritsu Racing TeamTyrrell-Ford007Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V850 Kunimitsu Takahashi17 Kojima EngineeringKojima-FordKE009Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V851 Noritake Takahara17 Heros Racing CorporationKojima-FordKE009Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V852 Kazuyoshi Hoshino17
Team and driver changes Ferrari opted to sign Carlos Reutemann in the place of Clay Regazzoni, who moved to Ensign. Jacky Ickx had left Ensign after his crash at Watkins Glen. He only competed in Formula 1 sporadically after this. Tyrrell signed Ronnie Peterson instead of Jody Scheckter, who moved to Wolf. Wolf had separated with Williams after the season. The squad led by Frank Williams bought a March 761 and signed driver Patrick Nève. The Penske team was bought by ATS Wheels to form the ATS Racing Team, who signed Jean-Pierre Jarier from Shadow. Ex-Penske driver John Watson moved to Brabham and Shadow signed Renzo Zorzi. At March, Alex Ribeiro bought a seat with sponsorship from a Brazilian bank and a tobacco company, next to Ian Scheckter, older brother of Jody. Vittorio Brambilla had moved from March to Surtees.
Mid-season changes On 5 March, Tom Pryce was killed during the South African Grand Prix, as was marshal Frederik Jansen van Vuuren. And on 18 March, Carlos Pace was killed in a private light aircraft accident in Brazil. From the race at Long Beach on, Hans-Joachim Stuck replaced Pace at Brabham and Alan Jones replaced Pryce at Shadow. Hesketh Racing missed the first four races of the season, but expanded their operation to three cars. 1976 British F3 champion Rupert Keegan was their number-one driver. David Purley returned to Formula 1, after a one-off entry to the 1974 British Grand Prix, with a LEC chassis designed by Mike Pilbeam. He suffered a serious accident during practice at Silverstone when his throttle stuck open, hitting a wall head-on and enduring a 179.8g deceleration. After winning the 1977 Can-Am season with Haas Lola, Patrick Tambay debuted in Formula 1 with Surtees for one race and then finished the season with Ensign. Renault entered Formula 1 with their own chassis, powered by their factory-developed 1.5 litre turbocharged engine, and driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille. Although compression devices like turbos had been allowed since , they were the first constructor that made the investment into the technology on this level. After securing the Drivers' Championship with two races left on the calendar, Niki Lauda parted from his team and retired from the season. His place was taken by Gilles Villeneuve, in preparation for his full-season drive in .
Calendar Round Grand Prix Circuit Date 1 Argentine Grand Prix Autodromo de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires 9 January 2 Brazilian Grand Prix Autodromo de Interlagos, São Paulo 23 January 3 South African Grand Prix Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, Midrand 5 March 4 United States Grand Prix West Long Beach Street Circuit, California 3 April 5 Spanish Grand Prix Circuito Permanente del Jarama, Madrid 8 May 6 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 22 May 7 Belgian Grand Prix Circuit Zolder, Heusden-Zolder 5 June 8 Swedish Grand Prix Scandinavian Raceway, Anderstorp 19 June 9 French Grand Prix Dijon-Prenois, Prenois 3 July 10 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 16 July 11 German Grand Prix Hockenheimring, Hockenheim 31 July 12 Austrian Grand Prix Österreichring, Spielberg 14 August 13 Dutch Grand Prix Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort 28 August 14 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 11 September 15 United States Grand Prix Watkins Glen Grand Prix Course, New York 2 October 16 Canadian Grand Prix Mosport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario 9 October 17 Japanese Grand Prix Fuji Speedway, Oyama, Shizuoka 23 October
Calendar changes The Argentine Grand Prix returned to the calendar after it was cancelled in due to economic and political reasons. The Belgian Grand Prix and Monaco Grand Prix swapped places on the calendar so that the Belgian round followed the Monaco Grand Prix. 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 German Grand Prix was not held at the Nürburgring due to safety concerns.Niki Lauda's autobiography 'To Hell And Back', chapter 4, explains that the German GP switch away from Nurburgring was not prompted by his accident, but was 'wholly coincidental'. The FIA had already decided to withdraw Nurburgring's safety licence anyway. The 1977 race was held at the Hockenheimring for the first time since . The United States Grand Prix and Canadian Grand Prix swapped places on the calendar so that the Canadian round followed the US Grand Prix.
Regulation changes For the first time, the FIA set safety standards for helmets.
Season report
Race 1: Argentina
The 1977 season started in Argentina, returning after a year's absence. It was reigning world champion James Hunt who started off his title defence with pole position in his McLaren. Countryman John Watson shared the front row with him in the Brabham, and Patrick Depailler in the six-wheeled Tyrrell was third on the grid. The weather was, as was very often the case in Buenos Aires, oppressively hot, which contributed to the attrition of this race – the track temperature was 51 °C (124 °F).
Watson took the lead at the start with Hunt second. Watson led for the first 10 laps until Hunt moved ahead and pulled away, with Mario Andretti's Lotus third, but soon the other McLaren of Jochen Mass took the place. Mass had to retire soon after with an engine failure which caused him to spin, and a suspension failure took teammate and race leader Hunt out three laps later. Watson took the lead again, but he also had suspension failures and let teammate Carlos Pace through. Watson eventually retired, and Pace struggled towards the end due to heat in his cockpit and was passed by Jody Scheckter's Wolf and Andretti, but the latter retired then with a wheel bearing failure. Scheckter took the first win of 1977, with Pace second, and home hero Carlos Reutemann completing the podium for Ferrari.
Race 2: Brazil