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1979 Argentine Grand Prix

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1979 Argentine Grand Prix
Race 1 of 15 in the 1979 Formula One season
Race details
Date January 21, 1979
Location Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course Permanent road course
Course length 5.81 km (3.61 miles)
Distance 53 laps, 307.93 km (191.33 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Ligier-Ford
Time 1:44.20
Fastest lap
Driver France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford
Time 1:46.91 on lap 42
Podium
First Ligier-Ford
Second Lotus-Ford
Third McLaren-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1979 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 21 January 1979 at the Autódromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires. The race had to be restarted because there was a huge crash at the second of the very fast esses after the pit straight that took off a number of drivers, including Jody Scheckter, Nelson Piquet, John Watson, Patrick Tambay and Mario Andretti.

After qualifying, James Hunt's WR7 was declared illegal, as the clutch-driven impeller blades which drew air through the air coiler were ruled an 'aerodynamic device'. Wolf mechanics modified the fan, and the car was allowed to start.[1]

Classification

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Qualifying classification

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Grid
1 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 1:44.20 1
2 25 France Patrick Depailler Ligier-Ford 1:45.24 2
3 2 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford 1:45.34 3
4 4 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 1:45.36 4
5 11 South Africa Jody Scheckter Ferrari 1:45.58 5
6 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:45.76 6
7 1 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:45.96 7
8 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 1:46,43 8
9 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 1:46.56 9
10 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:46.88 10
11 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:47.15 11
12 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:47.46 12
13 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:48.33 DNS
14 30 West Germany Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 1:48.34 13
15 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:48.44 14
16 17 Italy Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford 1:48.51 15
17 28 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford 1:48.64 16
18 20 United Kingdom James Hunt Wolf-Ford 1:48.77 17
19 31 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 1:49.36 18
20 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:49.49 19
21 18 Netherlands Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford 1:49.51 20
22 24 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 1:50.26 21
23 5 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:50.29 22
24 22 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 1:51.05 23
25 9 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford 1:51.28 DNS
26 16 France René Arnoux Renault 1:51.52 24

Race classification

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford G 53 1:36:03.21 1 9
2 2 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Ford G 53 +14.94 secs 3 6
3 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford G 53 +1:28.81 6 4
4 25 France Patrick Depailler Ligier-Ford G 53 +1:41.72 2 3
5 1 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 52 +1 Lap 7 2
6 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 52 +1 Lap 11 1
7 18 Italy Elio de Angelis Shadow-Ford G 52 +1 Lap 16
8 30 West Germany Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford G 51 +2 Laps 14
9 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 51 +2 Laps 15
10 28 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Williams-Ford G 51 +2 Laps 17
11 22 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly Ensign-Ford G 51 +2 Laps 24
Ret 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 48 Engine 10
Ret 31 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford G 46 Suspension 19
Ret 17 Netherlands Jan Lammers Shadow-Ford G 42 Transmission 21
Ret 20 United Kingdom James Hunt Wolf-Ford G 41 Electrical 18
Ret 4 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford G 15 Engine 4
Ret 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 15 Engine 12
Ret 5 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 8 Fuel System 23
Ret 16 France René Arnoux Renault M 6 Engine 26
Ret 11 South Africa Jody Scheckter Ferrari M 0 Collision 5
Ret 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford G 0 Collision 8
Ret 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford G 0 Collision 9
Ret 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 0 Collision 20
Ret 24 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford G 0 Collision 22
DNS 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford G 0 Accident 13
DNS 9 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Ford G 0 25
Source:[2][3]

Notes

[edit]
  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Dutch driver and future Le Mans winner Jan Lammers and Italian driver and future Grand Prix winner Elio de Angelis.
  • This was the 1st Grand Slam for Ligier and for a French driver.
  • This was the 50th Grand Prix start for Ligier.

Championship standings after the race

[edit]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Taylor, Simon. "Lunch with... Walter Wolf". motorsportmagazine.com. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  2. ^ "1979 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ "1979 Argentine Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 21 January 1979. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Argentina 1979 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.


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1978 Canadian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1979 season
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1979 Brazilian Grand Prix
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