Austrian GP 1979

Austrian GP, 1979

The entry was the same as it had been in Hockenheim (where Williams scored a 1-2 finish) but there had been a change at Tyrrell with Derek Daly being brought in to stand-in for the unwell Jean-Pierre Jarier (who had been replaced by Geoff Lees at Hockenheim). ATS had undergone a restructuring with former Grand Prix driver Vic Elford becoming team manager and the team had the brand new D2, which had been designed by Nigel Stroud.

As Austria is high up in the Austrian mountains, the Renault turbo had an advantage and Rene Arnoux was on pole position with Alan Jones second. Then came Jean-Pierre Jabouille (Renault) and Niki Lauda in the fastest of the two Brabham-Alfa Romeos. The third row featured Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) and Clay Regazzoni (Williams) and the top 10 was completed by Nelson Piquet (Brabham-Alfa Romeo), Jacques Laffite (Ligier), Jody Scheckter (Ferrari) and Didier Pironi (Tyrrell).

Villeneuve made an amazing start to take the lead from Jones, Lauda and Arnoux. Jabouille lost his clutch at the start and dropped to ninth but quickly caught up. Villeneuve stayed ahead until the third lap when Jones breezed ahead, while Arnoux quickly dispensed with Lauda. On lap 11 Arnoux moved to second place but he was then overtaken by Jabouille. The Renault team leader lasted only a couple of laps before the clutch finally stopped him and so Arnoux settled into second place with Villeneuve third, Scheckter fourth, Regazzoni fifth and Laffite sixth. Laffite soon moved ahead of Regazzoni and the order then stayed unchanged up front until the closing laps when Arnoux began to have fuel pickup problems in the final laps and had to pit. He dropped to sixth place. On the last lap Laffite overtook Scheckter to grab third place behind Jones and Villeneuve. Scheckter added to his World Championship total with fourth place and the final points went to Regazzoni and Arnoux.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 27 Alan Jones Williams-Cosworth  54 1h27m38.010s  2 
2 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari  54 1h28m14.060s  5 
3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Cosworth  54 1h28m24.780s  8 
4 11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari  54 1h28m25.220s  9 
5 28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Cosworth  54 1h28m26.930s  6 
6 16 Rene Arnoux Renault  53  1 
7 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Cosworth  53  10 
8 4 Derek Daly Tyrrell-Cosworth  53  11 
9 7 John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  53  16 
10 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Cosworth  53  14 
r 5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo  45 Oil Pressure 4 
r 22 Patrick Gaillard Ensign-Cosworth  42 Front Suspension 24 
r 18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Cosworth  34 Engine 22 
r 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Cosworth  34 Rear Suspension 13 
r 6 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo  32 Engine 7 
r 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Cosworth  28 Engine 18 
r 25 Jacky Ickx Ligier-Cosworth  26 Engine 21 
r 2 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Cosworth  22 Handling 17 
r 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault  16 Clutch/ Transmission 3 
r 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth  15 Brakes 19 
r 20 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Cosworth  15 Electrics 12 
r 17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Cosworth  3 Accident 23 
r 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Cosworth  1 Engine 20 
r 1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Cosworth  0 Clutch 15 
nq 31 Hector Rebaque Lotus-Cosworth    25 
nq 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Cosworth    26