1977 Canadian Grand Prix

1977 Canadian Grand Prix
Race 16 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date	October 9, 1977
Location	Mosport Park, Canada
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	3.957 km (2.459 miles)
Distance	80 laps, 316.56 km (196.72 miles)
Weather	Cold with temperatures approaching 12 °C (54 °F); wind speeds up to 12.8 kilometres per hour (8.0 mph)
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:11.385
Fastest lap
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:13.299 on lap 56
Podium
First	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford
Second	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford
Third	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1977 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 9, 1977, at Mosport Park. It was the 16th and penultimate race of the 1977 Formula One season.

Report

The field arrived in Canada without Niki Lauda who, having clinched the Drivers' Championship at the previous race at Watkins Glen, and having already announced his intention to drive for Brabham in 1978, abruptly quit Ferrari upon learning that the team would bet on the 312T3 model, more conservative, but still technically more outdated in relation to cars with ground effect (which was becoming popular in the category thanks to the success of the Lotus 78).

In qualifying, Lotus's Mario Andretti took his sixth pole position of the season, with McLaren's James Hunt alongside him on the front row. Ronnie Peterson was third in his six-wheeled Tyrrell, ahead of Gunnar Nilsson in the second Lotus. The top ten was completed by Jochen Mass in the second McLaren, Patrick Depailler in the second Tyrrell, the Shadows of Alan Jones and Riccardo Patrese, Jody Scheckter in the Wolf, and John Watson in the Brabham. But the safety of the bumpy, high-speed Mosport Park track was in question: during practice Ian Ashley's Hesketh crested one of these bumps on the Mario Andretti straight; it flipped, vaulted the barrier and crashed into a television tower, seriously injuring Ashley and ending his Formula One career. The Englishman survived, but it took 40 minutes to remove him from the car and an additional 30 minutes passed until a helicopter arrived. These problems were underlined later that day when Mass crashed at the first corner into a barrier that flattened upon impact.

At the start of the race, Andretti led away from Hunt, with Mass charging up to third. Andretti and Hunt then proceeded to pull away from the rest of the field, such that by three-quarter distance, they were coming up to lap third-placed Mass. As they did so, Hunt pulled ahead of Andretti, only to collide with his McLaren team-mate after a misunderstanding. Unable to continue, a visibly furious and agitated Hunt waved his fist at Mass, before punching a marshal and immediately then apologize who was trying to usher him away. He was subsequently fined $2000 for assaulting a marshal and $750 for walking back to the pit lane in an "unsafe manner". Gilles Villeneuve made his debut with Ferrari at this race and started seventeenth after a qualifying crash leading into Moss corner. He had risen to eighth place before spinning in Moss corner on lap 72, dropping back to tenth.

There was drama in the final four laps. On lap 77, Andretti's engine blew and laid oil in turn 9 as he pulled into the pits. Patrese spun his Shadow in the turn 9 oil and into the second Hesketh of Rupert Keegan, which had crashed earlier in the race and had been left on the side of the track. Vittorio Brambilla then hit the oil and also spun his Surtees, collecting the wreckages of Keegan's and Patrese's cars. Danny Ongais was next in the Interscope Penske, but was able to continue. Finally Villeneuve spun, staying on the track only to break a driveshaft trying to pull away and retiring.

Andretti's retirement meant that Scheckter inherited the win, with Depailler second and the recovered Mass completing the podium. Jones was fourth ahead of Patrick Tambay in the Ensign, while Brambilla was classified sixth, just ahead of Ongais.

This was the last Formula One race at Mosport Park. Although reasonably popular with drivers and fans, there was criticism that the track was cracked due to the cold Canadian forest weather later in the year (when the race was originally held) and that the drainage was poor, putting the safety of the drivers at risk, and so the Canadian Grand Prix was moved to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Notre Dame Island in Montreal from 1978 onwards, where it has remained ever since.

Classification

Qualifying classification

Pos.	Driver	Constructor	Time	No
1	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:11,385	1
2	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1:11,942	2
3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	1:12,752	3
4	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	1:12,975	4
5	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1:13,116	5
6	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1:13,207	6
7	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	1:13,347	7
8	Riccardo Patrese	Shadow-Ford	1:13,435	8
9	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1:13,497	9
10	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:13,500	10
11	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:13,739	11
12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1:13,890	12
13	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:13,953	13
14	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	1:13,999	14
15	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1:14,229	15
16	Patrick Tambay	Ensign-Ford	1:14,464	16
17	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:14,465	17
18	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	1:14,855	18
19	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:14,857	19
20	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	1:14,930	20
21	Patrick Nève	March-Ford	1:15,510	21
22	Danny Ongais	Penske-Ford	1:15,599	22
23	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford	1:15,770	23
24	Hans Binder	Surtees-Ford	1:16,568	24
25	Ian Ashley	Hesketh-Ford	1:16,640	DNS
26	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	1:17,000	25
Cut-off
27	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1:18,999	—

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	G	80	1:40:00.00	9	9
2	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	G	80	+ 6.77	6	6
3	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	G	80	+ 15.76	5	4
4	17	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	G	80	+ 46.69	7	3
5	23	Patrick Tambay	Ensign-Ford	G	80	+ 1:03.26	16	2
6	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	G	78	Accident	15	1
7	14	Danny Ongais	Penske-Ford	G	78	+2 Laps	22
8	9	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford	G	78	+2 Laps	23
9	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	77	Engine	1
10	16	Riccardo Patrese	Shadow-Ford	G	76	Spun Off	8
11	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	G	76	Engine	20
12	21	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	G	76	Transmission	17
Ret	1	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	G	61	Accident	2
Ret	27	Patrick Nève	March-Ford	G	56	Engine	21
Ret	3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	G	34	Fuel Leak	3
Ret	24	Rupert Keegan	Hesketh-Ford	G	32	Accident	25
Ret	18	Hans Binder	Surtees-Ford	G	31	Accident	24
Ret	10	Ian Scheckter	March-Ford	G	29	Engine	18
Ret	28	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	29	Engine	19
Ret	12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	G	20	Fuel System	12
Ret	8	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	19	Engine	13
Ret	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	G	17	Accident	4
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	G	12	Transmission	11
Ret	7	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	1	Suspension	10
Ret	22	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	G	0	Accident	14
DNS	25	Ian Ashley	Hesketh-Ford	G		Driver Injured
DNQ	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	M
Source:

Notes

• This was the 200th Grand Prix in which an Australian driver participated. In those 200 races, Australian drivers won 15 Grands Prix, achieved 34 podium finishes, 13 pole positions, 12 fastest laps, 3 Grand Slams and won 3 World Championships.
• This was also the 100th Grand Prix start for Surtees. In those 100 races, Surtees achieved 2 podium finishes and 3 fastest laps.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Niki Lauda	72
2	Jody Scheckter	55
3	Mario Andretti	47
4	Carlos Reutemann	36
5	James Hunt	31
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	89 (91)
2	Lotus-Ford	62
3	Wolf-Ford	55
4	McLaren-Ford	51
5	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	27
Source:

• 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.