1979 Italian Grand Prix

  1979 Italian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 13 of 15 in the 1979 Formula One season
Date	September 9, 1979
Official name	L Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.800 km (3.60 mi)
Distance	50 laps, 290.000 km (180.20 mi)
Weather	Dry and sunny
Pole position
Driver	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault
Time	1:34.580
Fastest lap
Driver	Clay Regazzoni	Williams-Ford
Time	1:35.60 on lap 46
Podium
First	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari
Second	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari
Third	Clay Regazzoni	Williams-Ford

The 1979 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 9 September 1979 at Monza. The 50-lap race was the thirteenth round of the 1979 Formula One season and was won by South African Jody Scheckter driving a Ferrari. Scheckter claimed the Drivers' Championship in the process, while Ferrari clinched the Constructors' Championship.

Report

Background

Monza was revamped for 1979, with the track re-surfaced and run-off areas added to the Curva Grande and the Lesmo curves.

The entry list was enlarged by the return of the Alfa Romeo team, which had participated in the Belgian and French Grands Prix earlier in the season. Alfa Romeo fielded two cars: a new 179 chassis for Bruno Giacomelli, and the old 177 for Vittorio Brambilla, back in action for the first time since the crash in the previous year's race at Monza that had claimed the life of Ronnie Peterson. Meanwhile, Mexican Héctor Rebaque had his HR100 chassis ready for the first time, while Switzerland's Marc Surer, having won the Formula Two championship the previous month, made his first Formula One appearance as Ensign took him on in place of Patrick Gaillard.

Qualifying

The turbo-powered Renaults were quick in qualifying and filled the front row of the grid, with Jean-Pierre Jabouille ahead of René Arnoux. It was Jabouille's fourth pole position of the season, and Renault's sixth. Scheckter and Alan Jones in the Williams made up the second row, while on the third were their respective team-mates, Gilles Villeneuve and Clay Regazzoni. The top ten was completed by Jacques Laffite in the Ligier, the Brabhams of Nelson Piquet and Niki Lauda, and Mario Andretti in the Lotus.

Race

The Renaults were slow off the start line and so Scheckter took the lead, with Arnoux holding on to second. Jones also made a poor start and dropped to the back of the field, putting Villeneuve third and the fast-starting Laffite fourth. On lap 2, Arnoux passed Scheckter for the lead, while Piquet crashed out after tangling with Regazzoni.

For the next eleven laps Arnoux, Scheckter, Villeneuve, Laffite and Jabouille ran nose-to-tail, with Regazzoni a distant sixth. Then, on lap 13, Arnoux's engine began to misfire, leading to his retirement. Scheckter thus regained the lead, with Villeneuve dutifully following him. Later in the race, Laffite and Jabouille also suffered engine failures, promoting Regazzoni to third.

Scheckter eventually took the chequered flag half a second ahead of Villeneuve and, with it, the Drivers' Championship. This one-two finish for Ferrari in their home race also secured them the Constructors' Championship. Regazzoni finished four seconds behind Villeneuve and 50 ahead of Lauda, with the final points going to Andretti and Jean-Pierre Jarier in the Tyrrell.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	50	1:22:00.22	3	9
2	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	50	+ 0.46	5	6
3	28	Clay Regazzoni	Williams-Ford	50	+ 4.78	6	4
4	5	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	50	+ 54.40	9	3
5	1	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	50	+ 59.70	10	2
6	4	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell-Ford	50	+ 1:01.55	16	1
7	2	Carlos Reutemann	Lotus-Ford	50	+ 1:24.14	13
8	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	49	+ 1 Lap	20
9	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	49	+ 1 Lap	4
10	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	49	+ 1 Lap	12
11	9	Hans-Joachim Stuck	ATS-Ford	49	+ 1 Lap	15
12	36	Vittorio Brambilla	Alfa Romeo	49	+ 1 Lap	22
13	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	47	+ 3 Laps	17
14	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	45	Engine	1
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Ford	41	Engine	7
Ret	20	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	41	Engine	23
Ret	25	Jacky Ickx	Ligier-Ford	40	Engine	11
Ret	18	Elio de Angelis	Shadow-Ford	33	Clutch	24
Ret	35	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	28	Spun Off	18
Ret	16	René Arnoux	Renault	13	Engine	2
Ret	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	13	Accident	19
Ret	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	3	Engine	14
Ret	30	Jochen Mass	Arrows-Ford	3	Suspension	21
Ret	6	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1	Accident	8
DNQ	17	Jan Lammers	Shadow-Ford
DNQ	22	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford
DNQ	24	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford
DNQ	31	Héctor Rebaque	Rebaque-Ford
Source:[1]

Notes

• Lap leaders: Jody Scheckter 39 laps (1, 13-50); René Arnoux 11 laps (2-12)
• This race was Scheckter's tenth and last victory in F1.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jody Scheckter 51 (57) 2 Gilles Villeneuve 38 3 Jacques Laffite 36 4 Alan Jones 34 5 Clay Regazzoni 27 (28)

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 95 2 Williams-Ford 62 3 Ligier-Ford 61 4 Lotus-Ford 39 5 Tyrrell-Ford 22

• 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.

References