German GP 1977

German GP, 1977

After Niki Lauda's accident at the Nurburgring in 1976 the old race track was doomed for F1 and in 1977 the German GP found a new home at Hockenheim, which was famous only for having been the place where Jim Clark had been killed in 1968. The field was again large with 30 cars fighting for 24 places. McLaren was back to two cars after Gilles Villeneuve's exciting debut at Silverstone and the Renault Sport team was missing as it had decided to do more testing. The ATS team had expanded to two cars with Hans Heyer joining Jean-Pierre Jarier and Teddy Pilette had taken over the recalcitrant Stanley BRM.

In qualifying Jody Scheckter (Wolf) took pole with John Watson second in his Brabham-Alfa Romeo. Then came World Championship leader Niki Lauda in the Ferrari and James Hunt in the McLaren. Hans Stuck was fifth fastest in his Brabham while Jacques Laffite was sixth in the Ligier. The top 10 was completed by Mario Andretti (Lotus), Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari), Gunnar Nilsson (Lotus) and Vittorio Brambilla (Surtees). Patrick Tambay was an impressive 11th in his Theodore Racing Ensign, while Jochen Mass (using a McLaren M26) was down in 13th.

In the race there was a crash at the back of the grid which meant that Clay Regazzoni (Ensign) and Alan Jones (Shadow) were out on the spot.

At the front Scheckter led Watson with Lauda third, Hunt fourth and Stuck fifth. Behind the German came Laffite, Reutemann and Andretti. The two last-named drivers soon overtook the Ligier while Watson's race ended on lap seven with engine failure which left Scheckter in the lead. Lauda then challenged him on lap 13 the Ferrari went ahead. Hunt tried to follow him through by Scheckter held off the attack. After a while Hunt's engine went off and he retired on lap 33. This elevated Stuck into third place with Reutemann fourth. Andretti disappeared from fifth with an engine failure and so that position fell to Brambilla while Tambay picked up sixth after Tyrrell driver Ronnie Peterson retired with engine failure in the closing laps

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
11 Niki Lauda Ferrari  47 1h31m48.620s  
20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Cosworth  47 1h32m02.950s  
Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo  47 1h32m09.520s  
12 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari  47 1h32m48.890s  
19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Cosworth  47 1h33m15.990s  10 
23 Patrick Tambay Ensign-Cosworth  47 1h33m18.430s  11 
18 Vern Schuppan Surtees-Cosworth  46  19 
Alex-Dias Ribeiro March-Cosworth  46  20 
9r Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Cosworth  42 Engine 14 
10r 16 Riccardo Patrese Shadow-Cosworth  42 Wheel Lost 16 
24 Rupert Keegan Hesketh-Cosworth  40 Accident 23 
Mario Andretti Lotus-Cosworth  34 Engine 
James Hunt McLaren-Cosworth  32 Fuel Pump 
Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Cosworth  31 Engine 
Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth  26 Gearbox 13 
Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth  22 Engine 15 
26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra  21 Engine 
25 Hector Rebaque Hesketh-Cosworth  20 Battery  24 
30 Brett Lunger March-Cosworth  14 Accident 21 
10 Ian Scheckter March-Cosworth  Clutch 18 
35 Hans Heyer Penske-Cosworth  Gear Linkage (unofficial Starter) 25 
John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo  Engine 
34 Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Cosworth  Accident 12 
17 Alan Jones Shadow-Cosworth  Accident 17 
22 Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Cosworth  Accident 22 
nq 27 Patrick Neve March-Cosworth    26 
nq 36 Emilio de Villota McLaren-Cosworth    27 
nq 28 Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth    28 
nq 37 Arturo Merzario March-Cosworth    29 
nq 40 Teddy Pilette Stanley BRM-BRM    30