Gran Premio de Espana 8 Maj 1977, Jarama
Ronnie Peterson känner inte de bästa förutsättningarna inför sin 97:e start i Formel 1 och årsdebut på Europamark i årets GP cirkus. Den sexhjuliga Tyrrell:en tycks inte vara fullt ut kompatibel med Ronnie och träningen inför Spaniens GP utgör inget undantag - endast 15:e bästa tid. Mario Andretti visar att Lotus 78:an är en riktig vinnarbil och tar årets första "pole position". Jacques Laffite (Ligier) är tvåa, Niki Lauda och Carlos Reutemann är trea respektive fyra i de båda Ferraribilarna.
Under söndagsmorgonens uppvärmning kommer Lauda in i depå med smärtor. Det visar sig att ett brutet revben från kraschen på Nürburgring åter har fått sig en smäll efter ett gupp och Lauda tvingas avstå från att starta.
Andretti kan utan problem ta starten och han leder loppet igenom. Laffite lurar i bakhasorna, men tvingas i depå p g a en lös hjulmutter. Reutemann kan hålla sin andraplats in i mål, dock hela femton sekunder efter. Ytterligare tio sekunder senare kan Scheckter ta sig över mållinjen som knapp trea före Mass (endast 36 hundradelar skiljer dem åt), vilket betyder att Wolf-stallets saga fortsätter - nu i ensam topp av tabellen efter fem deltävlingar.
En frenetiskt jagande Laffite klockas för bästa varvtid med 1.20,81.
Gunnar Nilsson blir dagens bäste svensk med en femteplats i Lotus 78:an, men Ronnie lyckas ändock ta sig i mål och ser kanske sin åttondeplats som en framgång i en annars hopplös säsongsupptakt...
Summary in english
With Montjuich Park banished from the World
Championship after the disastrous event in 1975, the Spanish GP found a
permanent home at Jarama. The first European race of the year resulted in a
bumper entry of cars with a total of 31 appearing, compared to the 22 which had
been in action in Long Beach five weeks earlier. Of the regulars, Ian Scheckter was back in the March
team while Brian Henton had moved to a customer
car. Hesketh reappeared with two new Frank Dernie-designed 308E chassis
for Rupert Keegan and Harald Ertl. Frank Williams, who had
started his own team (Williams Grand Prix Engineering) after falling out with Walter Wolf entered an old March in the colors
of Belle-Vue beer and Saudia Airlines. David Purley appeared in his own Mike
Pilbeam-designed Lec, which had been debuted at the Race of Champions. The
Stanley BRM team was back in action but had Conny Andersson in place of Larry Perkins while Arturo Merzario had started his own team
and bought a March 761 while Emilio de Villota had acquired an old McLaren M23.
Qualifying resulted in Mario Andretti
taking pole comfortably in the Lotus 78 (the team
beginning to master the delicate science of ground-effect aerodynamics with Jacques Laffite's Ligier second and Niki Lauda's Ferrari third, alongside Carlos Reutemann's similar car. The third
row featured Jody Scheckter
(Wolf) and John Watson (Brabham-Alfa Romeo) while James Hunt was seventh in his McLaren M26, just ahead of Clay Regazzoni's Ensign. Then came Jochen Mass in the second McLaren and the Tyrrell of Patrick Depailler. Jean-Pierre Jarier was a surprise
non-qualifier in the ATS Penske after a
combination of gearbox trouble and food poisoning.
On Sunday morning Lauda came in during the warm-up complaining of extreme pain
and was taken off to hospital where it was found that one of his broken ribs
from the Nürburgring accident has snapped when he went over a bump. He was out
of action.
At the start Andretti took the lead and remained ahead for the rest of the
afternoon to win a dominant victory for Team Lotus. In the early laps he
was chased by Laffite but the Frenchman had to pit because a rear wheel was
coming loose and so Reutemann moved to second and stayed there. Hunt dropped out
early with a misfire and Watson ran third for a time before a spin dropped him
back behind Scheckter and Mass. Watson later retired with fuel problems and so
fifth place went to Gunnar Nilsson
in the second Lotus and sixth to
Stuck in the second Brabham.
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