1977 United States Grand Prix

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1977 United States Grand Prix
Race 15 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Watkins Glen 1975-1983.png
Race details
DateOctober 2, 1977
Official name XX Toyota United States Grand Prix
Location Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Watkins Glen, New York
Course Permanent road course
Course length 5.435 km (3.377 miles)
Distance 59 laps, 320.67 km (199.24 miles)
Weather Rain with temperatures reaching up to 17 °C (63 °F);
Winds gusting up to 23.69 km/h (14.72 mph) [1]
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Ford
Time 1:40.863
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Sweden.svg Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:51.85 on lap 56
Podium
First McLaren-Ford
Second Lotus-Ford
Third Wolf-Ford
Lap leaders
  • 1977 United States Grand Prix

The 1977 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 2, 1977, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was the fifteenth race of the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on April 3, 1977, in Long Beach, California. It was covered on American radio by Motor Racing Network.

Contents

The 59-lap race was won from pole position by James Hunt, driving a McLaren-Ford. In wet conditions, Hunt held off a late charge from Mario Andretti in the Lotus-Ford to take his second consecutive Watkins Glen victory. Jody Scheckter was third in the Wolf-Ford, while Niki Lauda clinched his second Drivers' Championship by finishing fourth in his Ferrari.

Report

For the first time, the American race was being held before the Canadian Grand Prix, which would follow a week later. Lauda led the championship with 69 points, while Jody Scheckter was second with 42 points. With nine points being awarded for a win, Lauda needed only to score one point in any of the final three races to clinch the title, while Scheckter needed to win them all to have a chance (both would be on 69 points, but Scheckter would have the tiebreaker on wins with 5, compared to Lauda's 3).

From the start of practice on Friday, Hunt's McLaren was dominant, setting a track record of 1:40.863. Brabham teammates Hans-Joachim Stuck and John Watson were a quarter of a second back, followed by Andretti, Ronnie Peterson and the Ferraris of Carlos Reutemann and Lauda. On Saturday morning there was rain just before the end of untimed practice, and so the afternoon session served only as practice for a possible wet race on Sunday, as Friday's times determined the grid.

Sunday began cold but dry, with a crowd over 100,000. Before the warmup, however, it began to drizzle, and by the five-minute signal, it had picked up enough that only John Watson was willing to gamble on starting with slicks. At the flag, everyone got away from the grid and through the first turn without incident, but the spray was so heavy that nothing was visible after the first five cars. Stuck quickly jumped ahead of Hunt, and after one lap, they were followed by Andretti, Reutemann, Peterson, Lauda, Scheckter, Jacques Laffite and Gunnar Nilsson.

Immediately, Scheckter began to take advantage of the others' uncertainty in the conditions and, by lap five had moved from ninth to fourth. Stuck was also going well in the wet, and, despite losing his clutch cable in the first few laps, pulled away from Hunt. Lauda passed his teammate Reutemann for fifth spot when the Argentine spun. On lap 15, with Hunt four seconds behind, Stuck, struggling to make gear changes without a clutch, popped out of gear entering a corner and went straight on. He retired with damage to the monocoque.

Hunt now led Andretti by 10.5 seconds, with Scheckter 14 seconds further back in third. The rain stopped, and drivers sought the wet sections of a drying track to cool their tires. With 10 laps remaining and the lead at 22 seconds, Hunt backed off in response to a pit signal. Lauda was coasting in fourth, a position sufficient to clinch the Championship. Scheckter had slowed in third to preserve his tires.

With two laps to go, Andretti, who had been closing while Hunt cruised home, was only 6.7 seconds behind. As they began the last lap, the margin had closed to 1.5 seconds, but Hunt increased his lead slightly to win by just over two seconds. The McLaren pit had not informed him how close the Lotus was until the start of the final lap, when Teddy Mayer gave him a frantic wave to pick up the pace.

Lauda thus took his second title, and Ferrari took their third consecutive Constructor's Championship. For Lauda, it was the culmination of a comeback from the life-threatening injuries he had sustained at the Nürburgring in 1976. Almost immediately, the Austrian quit Ferrari, having already announced his intention to move to Brabham for 1978.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.DriverConstructorTime
1 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg James Hunt McLarenFord 1:40.863
2 Flag of Germany.svg Hans-Joachim Stuck BrabhamAlfa Romeo +0.275
3 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Watson BrabhamAlfa Romeo +0.330
4 Flag of the United States.svg Mario Andretti LotusFord +0.618
5 Flag of Sweden.svg Ronnie Peterson TyrrellFord +1.045
6 Flag of Argentina.svg Carlos Reutemann Ferrari +1.089
7 Flag of Austria.svg Niki Lauda Ferrari +1.226
8 Flag of France.svg Patrick Depailler TyrrellFord +1.375
9 Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg Jody Scheckter WolfFord +1.452
10 Flag of France.svg Jacques Laffite LigierMatra +1.777
11 Flag of Italy.svg Vittorio Brambilla SurteesFord +1.923
12 Flag of Sweden.svg Gunnar Nilsson LotusFord +1.952
13 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alan Jones ShadowFord +2.156
14 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault +2.206
15 Flag of Germany.svg Jochen Mass McLarenFord +2.379
16 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Jarier ShadowFord +2.653
17 Flag of the United States.svg Brett Lunger McLarenFord +2.835
18 Flag of Brazil.svg Emerson Fittipaldi FittipaldiFord +3.075
19 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Clay Regazzoni EnsignFord +3.345
20 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Rupert Keegan HeskethFord +3.687
21 Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg Ian Scheckter MarchFord +3.839
22 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ian Ashley HeskethFord +4.237
23 Flag of Brazil.svg Alex Ribeiro MarchFord +4.610
24 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Patrick Nève MarchFord +4.982
25 Flag of Austria.svg Hans Binder SurteesFord +5.017
26 Flag of the United States.svg Danny Ongais PenskeFord +5.207
Cut-off
27 Flag of France.svg Patrick Tambay EnsignFord +8.572
Source: [2]

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
11 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg James Hunt McLaren-Ford G 591:58:23.26719
25 Flag of the United States.svg Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 59+ 2.02646
320 Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford G 59+ 1:18.87994
411 Flag of Austria.svg Niki Lauda Ferrari G 59+ 1:40.61573
522 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford G 59+ 1:48.138192
612 Flag of Argentina.svg Carlos Reutemann Ferrari G 58+ 1 Lap61
726 Flag of France.svg Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra G 58+ 1 Lap10 
824 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Ford G 58+ 1 Lap20 
916 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford G 58+ 1 Lap16 
1030 Flag of the United States.svg Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford G 57+ 2 Laps17 
1118 Flag of Austria.svg Hans Binder Surtees-Ford G 57+ 2 Laps25 
127 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 57+ 2 Laps3 
1328 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 57+ 2 Laps18 
144 Flag of France.svg Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford G 56+ 3 Laps8 
159 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Alex Ribeiro March-Ford G 56+ 3 Laps23 
163 Flag of Sweden.svg Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford G 56+ 3 Laps5 
1725 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ian Ashley Hesketh-Ford G 55+ 4 Laps22 
1827 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Patrick Nève March-Ford G 55+ 4 Laps24 
1919 Flag of Italy.svg Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford G 54+ 5 Laps11 
Ret15 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 30Alternator14 
Ret6 Flag of Sweden.svg Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford G 17Accident12 
Ret8 Flag of Germany.svg Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 14Accident2 
Ret10 Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg Ian Scheckter March-Ford G 10Accident21 
Ret2 Flag of Germany.svg Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford G 8Fuel Pump15 
Ret14 Flag of the United States.svg Danny Ongais Penske-Ford G 6Accident26 
Ret17 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alan Jones Shadow-Ford G 3Accident13 
DNQ23 Flag of France.svg Patrick Tambay Ensign-Ford G    
Source: [3] [4]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. "Weather information for the 1977 United States Grand Prix". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  2. "1977 Formula One United States Grand Prix – Qualifying". Motorsport Stats . Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  3. "1977 USA East Grand Prix". formula1.com. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  4. "1977 United States Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. October 2, 1977. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  5. 1 2 "United States 1977 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved March 21, 2019.

Further reading

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1977 Italian Grand Prix
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1977 Canadian Grand Prix
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1978 United States Grand Prix