1979
SEASON

Team and driver changes

Several high-profile changes happened among the leading teams for this season, as the death of Swedish driver Ronnie Peterson the previous September precipitated a merry-go-round of some of the most highly regarded drivers on the grid:

Pre-season

The domination of the Lotus 79 meant that all the teams had to build new " ground-effect " cars for the 1979 season. Team Lotus , aiming to stay one step ahead, was designing the new Lotus 80 . Cigarette maker John Player Special withdrew from F1 and Olympus moved to Wolf and Lotus landed a new sponsorship package with Martini , Tissot and Essex Petroleum . Mario Andretti was retained and Carlos Reutemann had been signed to drive even before Ronnie Peterson 's death at Monza . Peterson had signe... Ligier expanded to two cars with Patrick Depailler being hired from Tyrrell to partner Jacques Laffite . The team gave up with the old Matra engine and ran Cosworths instead and Gerard Ducarouge designed the JS11 . Williams also expanded to two cars and signed Clay Regazzoni to partner Alan Jones while Patrick Head finished off the new FW07 design. Also expanding was Renault Sport which hired Rene Arnoux to partner Jean-Pierre Jabouille . The pair started the year with the old RS1 while the new ...

Race 1: Argentina

Like in previous years, the opening race of the season was in Argentina at the Buenos Aires circuit located on the outskirts of the capital city. Most people expected the Lotus cars driven by defending champion Mario Andretti , and his new teammate Carlos Reutemann to dominate but, to many people's surprise, it was the Ligier team that dominated qualifying, with Jacques Laffite on pole ahead of Patrick Depailler , leaving home favorite Reutemann to qualify third, with Jarier fourth ahead of Sche... The race restarted after the mess was cleared, and this time Depailler set off into the lead with Jean-Pierre Jarier's Tyrrell and Watson (in his spare car ) following him. But soon Laffite was up to second, and a few laps later he took the lead from Depailler. The Ligiers drove away, whereas Jarier struggled and dropped down the order with engine troubles, leaving Watson third before he was passed by a recovering Reutemann. Reutemann drove a stirring race in front of his home crowd, but it wasn...

Race 2: Brazil

The drivers stayed in South America for the second round which was held in Brazil, returning to the 5-mile Interlagos circuit in São Paulo ; the longest circuit on the calendar. The Ligiers were in top form again, Laffite taking pole comfortably with Depailler alongside, with the Lotuses led by Reutemann on the second row. The second row featured the Lotuses of Carlos Reutemann and Mario Andretti and the third row featured the Ferraris of Gilles Villeneuve and Jody Scheckter. Jean-Pierre Jabouille put his Renault seventh, just ahead of Didier Pironi's Tyrrell. The top 10 was completed by Emerson Fittipaldi ( Fittipaldi ) and James Hunt ( Wolf ). Brabham was in trouble on this occasion with Niki Lauda down in 12th place and the hobbling Nelson Piquet 22nd. This time, Laffite was able to lead right from the first corner with Reutemann taking second from Depailler, but Depailler regained the place soon after and Andretti also passed his teammate to take third. Andretti however soon retired with a misfire, and so Reutemann was back in third. In the race Laffite took the lead while Reutemann briefly grabbed second place before Depailler seized it back again. Reutemann lost third place as well as Andretti went past him. Behind them came Scheckter and F...

Race 3: South Africa

There was a four-week break between the Brazilian and South African GPs and the battle for control of the sport between the Formula One Constructors Association and the newly formed FISA under Jean-Marie Balestre was heating up but the South African race went ahead anyway. At the high-altitude Kyalami circuit between Johannesburg and Pretoria , Ferrari debuted their new ground-effect 312T4 to replace the 312T3 at this race, which had been used for the South American rounds; teams often debuted t... It was overcast when the race started but Jabouille stayed ahead of Scheckter and Villeneuve, even banging wheels through the fast Barbecue and Jukskei corners. Within a few moments however a cloudburst resulted in the race being stopped but before that happened Villeneuve had managed to get ahead of Scheckter and Jabouille. As a result, he was on pole for the restart. The weather was still uncertain and several drivers (notably Scheckter, Depailler, Patrick Tambay (McLaren) and Nelson Piquet (B... When the race restarted, most drivers were on wets, but Scheckter and a few others opted for slicks. Villeneuve led at the restart and built up a gap, but the track dried and he had to pit for slicks along with most of the field. This left Scheckter leading comfortably, and he looked well set for a home win until he had to pit for new tyres, handing the lead back to Villeneuve and in behind, Patrick Tambay briefly ran third in his McLaren, until he was passed by Jarier. It was Villeneuve who won...

Race 4: United States West

Five weeks after the South African race, the field went to the United States to compete at the gruelling Long Beach street circuit near Los Angeles , California . There were no changes in the driver lineup for Long Beach and South African GP winner Gilles Villeneuve took pole position in his 312T4. His former Ferrari teammate Reutemann was second in the Lotus while Scheckter was third quickest ahead of the two Ligiers of Depailler and Laffite. Home favorite Mario Andretti completed the top six i... The starting procedure was a mess with Reutemann being forced to start from the pits half a lap behind because of an electrical failure. Villeneuve overshot his grid position and decided to lead the field around again. When the grid arrived on the grid for the second time, Laffite's car locked up and turned sideways and so Villeneuve led half the field around again, the rest having been stopped by officials. The leaders had to then weave through the backmarkers to take up their positions. Finall... Villeneuve thus led Depailler, Scheckter and Jarier and Andretti but it was Jarier who was on the move and he soon overtook both Scheckter and Depailler to run second. Depailler then dropped behind Scheckter and the Ferrari driver then attacked Jarier and finally on lap 27 he moved to second place. The two Ferraris were out ahead and interest centered on the battle for third with Jarier under pressure from Depailler, Andretti and Jones. The Williams driver managed to get ahead of Andretti and al... One week after Long Beach, the Race of Champions at the fast, undulating Brands Hatch circuit in southern England featured another victory for Gilles Villeneuve.

Race 5: Spain

After another long break, this time for three weeks, the Spanish Grand Prix was next, at the tight and twisty Jarama circuit near the Spanish capital of Madrid , starting a trilogy of Grands Prix at tight and twisty circuits. Lotus had the new 80 ready for Mario Andretti while Renault had a new RS10 and Williams had a pair of the new FW07s . McLaren had modified the M28 after a disappointing start to the year. The Kauhsen team made its first appearance with driver Gianfranco Brancatelli but the ... At the start Depailler took the lead from Laffite while Villeneuve tried to challenge the Ligiers and dropped behind the fast-starting Reutemann. Keen to win back his place Villeneuve spun and dropped down the order. Laffite tried to find a way to pass Depailler but eventually missed a gear and blew up his engine. This left Reutemann second with Scheckter third until lap 60 when he dropped behind Lauda. The Austrian then went out with an engine failure, matching Piquet's early exit so Scheckter ...

Race 6: Belgium

The Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder was 2 weeks after Spain, and the F1 field had grown to 28 cars with the appearance of Bruno Giacomelli in the new Alfa Romeo F1 car, the company 's first official entry in the World Championship since the end of 1951 . This was using the old flat-12 engines while a new car was being built for the new V12 , which was being run by the Brabham team. The entry was otherwise unchanged although Tyrrell had managed to find some much-needed sponsorship from Italian domes... At the start of the race Depailler went into the lead with Jones grabbing second from Piquet while Laffite dropped to fourth. On the second lap Scheckter collided with Clay Regazzoni's Williams and Villeneuve was also involved as he snagged the rear wheel of the Williams at the chicane. Both Ferraris were able to keep going by Regazzoni was out. Villeneuve had to pit for a new nose cone. On the fourth lap, Laffite overtook Piquet, while behind them Scheckter was able to get ahead of Andretti and...