German GP 1979

German GP, 1979

The entry was the same as it had been at Silverstone, where Clay Regazzoni had given the Williams team its first victory, but Tyrrell's Jean-Pierre Jarier was in hospital with a liver problem and so the team had replaced him with Formula 2 driver Geoff Lees.

Qualifying resulted in Jean-Pierre Jabouille taking pole for Renault on the fast Hockenheim track but Alan Jones was second in the Williams and Jacques Laffite seemed to be rather off than usual in the Ligier. Nelson Piquet was fourth in his Brabham, ahead of Jody Scheckter (Ferrari), Regazzoni, Niki Lauda (Brabham), Didier Pironi (Tyrrell), Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) and Rene Arnoux (Renault).

In the race Jones took the lead at the start with Jabouille second, Laffite third, Scheckter fourth and Regazzoni fifth. Jabouille looked challenging and was about to take the lead on the eighth lap when he spun off. Regazzoni then closed up on Laffite and went into second place on lap 13. The Williams 1-2 lasted all the way to the finish with Laffite third and Scheckter fourth. For much of the race fifth place belonged to Villeneuve but he had to pit to have a rear wing adjusted and that gave Lauda the position for a brief moment before he suffered engine failure. Piquet then took the place but he too suffered engine failure and so the position went to John Watson (McLaren) with Jochen Mass of Arrows in sixth place, just ahead of Lees.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
27 Alan Jones Williams-Cosworth  45 1h24m48.830s  
28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Cosworth  45 1h24m51.740s  
26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Cosworth  45 1h25m07.220s  
11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari  45 1h25m20.030s  
John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  45 1h26m26.630s  12 
30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Cosworth  44  18 
Geoff Lees Tyrrell-Cosworth  44  16 
12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari  44  
Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Cosworth  44  
10 17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Cosworth  44  20 
11 18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Cosworth  43  21 
12r Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo  42 Engine 
29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Cosworth  34 Puncture 19 
Patrick Tambay McLaren-Cosworth  30 Rear Suspension 15 
20 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Cosworth  29 Engine 17 
Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo  27 Engine 
25 Jacky Ickx Ligier-Cosworth  24 Puncture 14 
31 Hector Rebaque Lotus-Cosworth  22 Handling 24 
Mario Andretti Lotus-Cosworth  16 Cv Joint 11 
16 Rene Arnoux Renault  Puncture 10 
15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault  Spin 
14 Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth  Electrics 22 
Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Cosworth  Accident 13 
Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Cosworth  Suspension 23 
nq 22 Patrick Gaillard Ensign-Cosworth    25 
nq 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Cosworth    26