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had been a change at Tyrrell with Derek Daly being brought in to stand-in for the unwell Jean-Pierre Jarier (who had been replaced by Geoff Lees at Hockenheim).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
27 Alan Jones Williams-Cosworth  54 1h27m38.010s  
12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari  54 1h28m14.060s  
26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Cosworth  54 1h28m24.780s  
11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari  54 1h28m25.220s  
28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Cosworth  54 1h28m26.930s  
16 Rene Arnoux Renault  53  
Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Cosworth  53  10 
Derek Daly Tyrrell-Cosworth  53  11 
John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  53  16 
10 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Cosworth  53  14 
Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo  45 Oil Pressure 
22 Patrick Gaillard Ensign-Cosworth  42 Front Suspension 24 
18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Cosworth  34 Engine 22 
29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Cosworth  34 Rear Suspension 13 
Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo  32 Engine 
Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Cosworth  28 Engine 18 
25 Jacky Ickx Ligier-Cosworth  26 Engine 21 
Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Cosworth  22 Handling 17 
15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault  16 Clutch/ Transmission 
14 Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth  15 Brakes 19 
20 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Cosworth  15 Electrics 12 
17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Cosworth  Accident 23 
30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Cosworth  Engine 20 
Mario Andretti Lotus-Cosworth  Clutch 15 
nq 31 Hector Rebaque Lotus-Cosworth    25 
nq 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Cosworth    26