1977 Japanese Grand Prix

The 1977 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 23 October 1977 at Fuji.

Report

Mario Andretti and James Hunt continued their late-season battle, with the American pipping Hunt to the pole, with John Watson heading the second row. Hunt took the lead at the start, and Jody Scheckter and Jochen Mass jumped up to second and third, whereas Andretti had a terrible start and was at the tail of the top ten. On the second lap, Andretti was involved in a collision while trying to gain places, putting him out. With Andretti out, Hunt had no challengers left and he built a large gap, with teammate Mass second and Watson passing Scheckter for third. However, both Mass and Watson had to retire within one lap of each other with engine and gearbox failures, and with Scheckter dropping back, Carlos Reutemann was second until he was passed by Jacques Laffite. Hunt went on and capped off the season with a comfortable win, whereas Laffite ran of fuel on the last lap, handing over second to Reutemann and allowing Patrick Depailler to complete the podium.

Classification

Notes

• Lap Leaders: James Hunt 73 laps (1-73).
• This race was the tenth and final win for James Hunt
• A marshal and photographer were killed by debris following a collision involving Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari and Ronnie Peterson's Tyrrell P34 on lap five. They had both been standing in a prohibited area of the track when the accident occurred.
• This race was the final race of Gunnar Nilsson's career, before his death from cancer in 1978.

Standings after the race

• 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.

References

• "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1977/441/. Retrieved 2008-01-27.