1977 Belgian Grand Prix

1977 Belgian Grand Prix
1977 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 7 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date	5 June 1977
Location	Circuit Zolder ; Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
Course length	4.262 km (2.648 miles)
Distance	70 laps, 298.340 km (185.380 miles)
Weather	Wet
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti ;
Time	1:24.64
Fastest lap
Driver	Gunnar Nilsson
Time	1:27.36 on lap 53
Podium
First	Gunnar Nilsson ;
Second	Niki Lauda ;
Third	Ronnie Peterson ;
	Lap leaders ;

Last updated September 03, 2025

The 1977 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 5 June 1977. It was the seventh race of the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 70-lap race was won by Swedish driver Gunnar Nilsson, driving a Lotus-Ford. Austrian driver Niki Lauda finished second in a Ferrari, while Nilsson's fellow Swede, Ronnie Peterson, finished third in the six-wheeled Tyrrell-Ford. This was to be Nilsson's only Formula One victory, before his career was cut short by cancer and he died in October 1978.

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Pos.	Driver	Constructor	Time	No
1	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:24.64	1
2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:26.18	2
3	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	1:26.45	3
4	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1:26.48	4
5	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1:26.71	5
6	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1:26.81	6
7	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1:26.85	7
8	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	1:26.95	8
9	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1:27.04	9
10	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:27.05	10
11	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1:27.11	11
12	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1:27.23	12
13	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	1:27.28	13
14	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	1:27.33	14
15	Riccardo Patrese	Shadow-Ford	1:27.35	15
16	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:27.47	16
17	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	1:27.55	17
18	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:27.75	18
19	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	1:28.02	19
20	David Purley	LEC-Ford	1:28.10	20
21	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	1:28.50	21
22	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	1:28.51	22
23	Larry Perkins	Surtees-Ford	1:28.53	23
24	Patrick Nève	March-Ford	1:28.67	24
25	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1:29.02	25
26	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Penske-Ford	1:29.11	26
Cut-off
27	Boy Hayje	March-Ford	1:29.46	27
28	Emilio de Villota	McLaren-Ford	1:30.12	—
29	Conny Andersson	BRM	1:30.24	—
30	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford	1:30.24	—
31	Bernard de Dryver	March-Ford	1:30.42	—
32	Héctor Rebaque	Hesketh-Ford	1:33.30	—

Race

Report

In qualifying Mario Andretti took a comfortable pole position with John Watson just beating the second Lotus of Gunnar Nilsson to second. The race was wet due to rain earlier in the day. Watson took the lead into the first corner, but later in the lap, Andretti locked up into the chicane and ran into the back of the Brabham, knocking both drivers out of the race with Jody Scheckter taking over the lead.

Scheckter led the early stages ahead of Nilsson, whereas Carlos Reutemann made an early charge but spun off. The track began to dry and everyone had to pit for tyres, and those who stopped early were the ones who benefited, as now Niki Lauda was leading from Jochen Mass and Scheckter was down to fifth. Mass spun off from second, handing it to Nilsson who then went on to catch and pass Lauda before driving away to his first career victory. Behind second-placed Lauda, Ronnie Peterson completed the podium for Team Tyrrell after Scheckter retired with an engine failure. This remains the only F1 race in which two Swedes shared the podium.

David Purley stayed out later than most drivers and was running third by lap 21.^[1] After he finally pitted, he emerged in front of race leader Lauda. He was likely unaware that Lauda was a lap ahead and did not let him through, holding the leader up for a few laps. This may have cost Lauda victory and the two were involved in an argument after the race.^[2]

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	70	1:55:05.71	3	9
2	11	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	70	+14.19	11	6
3	3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	70	+19.95	8	4
4	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	70	+24.98	12	3
5	17	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	70	+1:15.47	17	2
6	8	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	69	+1 lap	18	1
7	1	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	69	+1 lap	9
8	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	69	+1 lap	5
9	25	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	69	+1 lap	25
10	27	Patrick Nève	March-Ford	68	+2 laps	24
11	34	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Penske-Ford	68	+2 laps	26
12	18	Larry Perkins	Surtees-Ford	67	+3 laps	23
13	31	David Purley	LEC-Ford	67	+3 laps	20
14	37	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	65	+5 laps	14
NC	33	Boy Hayje	March-Ford	63	+7 laps	27
Ret	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	62	Engine	4
Ret	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	39	Accident	6
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	32	Engine	10
Ret	22	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	29	Engine	13
Ret	12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	14	Accident	7
Ret	24	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	14	Accident	19
Ret	16	Riccardo Patrese	Shadow-Ford	12	Accident	15
Ret	10	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	8	Accident	21
Ret	28	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	2	Electrical	16
Ret	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	0	Collision	1
Ret	7	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	0	Collision	2
DNS	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford		Engine	22
DNQ	36	Emilio de Villota	McLaren-Ford
DNQ	9	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford
DNQ	35	Conny Andersson	BRM
DNQ	38	Bernard de Dryver	March-Ford
DNQ	39	Héctor Rebaque	Hesketh-Ford
Source:^[3]

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Mexican driver Héctor Rebaque and Belgian driver Bernard de Dryver.
This was the 25th pole position set by an American driver.
This was the 10th Grand Prix win for a Swedish driver.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Jody Scheckter	32
2	Niki Lauda	31
3	Carlos Reutemann	23
4	Mario Andretti	22
5	Gunnar Nilsson	13
Source: ^[4]

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	46
2	Lotus-Ford	33
3	Wolf-Ford	32
4	McLaren-Ford	15
5	Tyrrell-Ford	11
Source: ^[4]

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

↑ "Belgium 1977 – Lap by lap". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
↑ Widdows, Rob (June 2008). "Run rabbit!". Motor Sport. p. 85. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
↑ "1977 Belgian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
1 2 "Belgium 1977 – Championship". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

Previous race: 1977 Monaco Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1977 season	Next race: 1977 Swedish Grand Prix
Previous race: 1976 Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian Grand Prix	Next race: 1978 Belgian Grand Prix

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[statsf1-1977-Belgium-1] "Belgium 1977 – Lap by lap". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 16 May 2021.

[Run_rabbit-2] Widdows, Rob (June 2008). "Run rabbit!". Motor Sport. p. 85. Retrieved 16 May 2021.

[3] "1977 Belgian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.

[champ-4] 1 2 "Belgium 1977 – Championship". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

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[3]

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v t e « previous Formula One Grands Prix (1970–1979) next »
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1971	RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1972	ARG RSA ESP MON BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1973	ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR NED GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1974	ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
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1978	ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN
1979	ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA