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1977 French Grand Prix
1977 French Grand Prix
Race 9 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date	3 July 1977
Location	Dijon-Prenois, Dijon, France
Course length	3.801 km (2.361 miles)
Distance	80 laps, 304.08 km (188.88 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti;
Time	1:12.21
Fastest lap
Driver	Mario Andretti
Time	1:13.75 on lap 76
Podium
First	Mario Andretti;
Second	John Watson;
Third	James Hunt;
	Lap leaders ;

The 1977 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Dijon-Prenois near Dijon, France on 3 July 1977. It was race 9 of 17 in both the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 80-lap race was won by American driver Mario Andretti, driving a Lotus-Ford, after he started from pole position. Northern Irishman John Watson led for most of the race in his Brabham-Alfa Romeo, before Andretti passed him on the final lap. Watson finished 1.55 seconds behind the American, with Englishman James Hunt third in his McLaren-Ford.

Austrian Niki Lauda finished fifth in his Ferrari to take the lead of the Drivers' Championship from South African Jody Scheckter, who failed to finish in his Wolf-Ford.

Report

Once again it was Mario Andretti on pole with James Hunt second and Gunnar Nilsson third on the grid. Hunt got the best start and led into the first corner from John Watson and Jacques Laffite, with Andretti dropping down to fourth. However, Watson passed Hunt on the fifth lap and started to build a gap until Andretti got up to second and began to reel him in. During the final few laps, leader Watson and Andretti were running nose-to-tail but Watson held him off till the last lap when his engine missed a beat and immediately Andretti was past. Andretti thus took the win ahead of a crestfallen Watson and Hunt.

Classification

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:12.21
2	1	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1:12.73	+0.52
3	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	1:12.79	+0.58
4	7	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:12.83	+0.62
5	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:13.30	+1.09
6	12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1:13.36	+1.15
7	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1:13.41	+1.20
8	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1:13.45	+1.24
9	11	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1:13.52	+1.31
10	17	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	1:13.56	+1.35
11	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1:13.61	+1.40
12	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1:13.66	+1.45
13	8	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:13.67	+1.46
14	24	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	1:13.71	+1.50
15	16	Riccardo Patrese	Shadow-Ford	1:13.87	+1.66
16	22	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	1:13.90	+1.69
17	3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	1:13.92	+1.71
18	37	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	1:13.92	+1.71
19	34	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Penske-Ford	1:14.17	+1.96
20	10	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	1:14.24	+2.03
21	31	David Purley	LEC-Ford	1:14.39	+2.18
22	28	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:14.45	+2.24
Cut-off
23	9	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford	1:14.60	+2.39
24	27	Patrick Nève	March-Ford	1:14.74	+2.53
25	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	1:14.83	+2.62
26	25	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1:15.06	+2.85
27	18	Larry Perkins	Surtees-Ford	1:15.13	+2.92
28	39	Héctor Rebaque	Hesketh-Ford	1:15.88	+3.67
29	18	Patrick Tambay	Surtees-Ford	1:16.06	+3.85
30	35	Conny Andersson	BRM	1:16.17	+3.96

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	80	1:39:40.13	1	9
2	7	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	80	+ 1.55	4	6
3	1	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	80	+ 33.87	2	4
4	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	80	+ 1:11.08	3	3
5	11	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	80	+ 1:14.15	9	2
6	12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	79	+ 1 Lap	6	1
7	22	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	16
8	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	78	+ 2 Laps	5
9	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	7
10	24	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	14
11	28	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	22
12	3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	17
13	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	11
NC	10	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	69	+ 11 Laps	20
Ret	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	66	Accident	8
Ret	8	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	64	Accident	13
Ret	17	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	60	Transmission	10
Ret	37	Arturo Merzario	March-Ford	27	Gearbox	18
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	21	Accident	12
Ret	16	Riccardo Patrese	Shadow-Ford	6	Engine	15
Ret	31	David Purley	LEC-Ford	5	Accident	21
Ret	34	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Penske-Ford	4	Accident	19
DNQ	9	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford
DNQ	27	Patrick Nève	March-Ford
DNQ	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford
DNQ	25	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford
DNQ	18	Larry Perkins	Surtees-Ford
DNQ	39	Héctor Rebaque	Hesketh-Ford
DNQ	18	Patrick Tambay	Surtees-Ford
DNQ	35	Conny Andersson	BRM
Source:^[1]

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French driver and future Grand Prix winner Patrick Tambay.
This was the 5th Grand Slam for an American driver.
This race marked the 200th Grand Prix start for a Swedish driver. In those 200 races, Swedish drivers had won 10 Grands Prix, achieved 24 podium finishes, 12 pole positions, and 6 fastest laps.
This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Ligier.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Niki Lauda	33
2	Mario Andretti	32
3	Jody Scheckter	32
4	Carlos Reutemann	28
5	Gunnar Nilsson	16
Source: ^[2]

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	50 (52)
2	Lotus-Ford	43
3	Wolf-Ford	32
4	McLaren-Ford	25
5	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	17
Source: ^[2]

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 8 results from the first 9 races and the best 7 results from the remaining 8 races were retained. Numbers without parentheses are retained points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

^ "1977 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
^ ^a ^b "France 1977 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.

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