Formula one. Season 1979. Review
English | 52min | 720 x 576 | video: 8.6 Mbps | MPEG 2 | 3.43 GB
CONSISTENCY WINS THE DOUBLE
This final year of the decade gave Ferrari the coveted 'double' - the Drivers' Championship, with Jody Scheckter in his first year with the team and Gilles Villeneuve as runner-up, and the Constructors' Cup as well. Winning three races each and seven second places between them, the duo failed to score only once, in Argentina. It was consistency rather than outright domination that did the job though, and many fans thought Villeneuve should have been champion. No-one of course guessed at the time, but Ferrari would have to wait until the following century to regain the Drivers' title.
For season-long speed the Williams-Cosworth FW07, with Saudia Airlines sponsorship, led the field, but seven retirements for Alan Jones blunted the attack despite his four victories. Team-mate Clay Regazzoni gave Frank Williams his first-ever GP victory at Silverstone but also endured five retirements. Ligier joined the enemy, used Cosworth power and, for a brief period, looked to have the best car, with Laffite winning the first two GPs of the year and new man Patrick Depailler triumphing in Spain. However, their form slumped when, after Monaco, Depailler sustained injuries in a hang-gliding accident and missed the rest of the season.
Perhaps the most technically interesting result was the winning of the French GP by the twin-turbocharged Renault Elf RS in the hands of Jean-Pierre Jabouille. It was the first-ever GP win for a turbocharged car and only the second in modern times for an all-French car and team.
The year was significant for the change in the championship scoring system, introduced to help keep the result open until the final races. Previously the organisers of the North American rounds, held in October, felt cheated when the championship was, as often happened, decided by the Italian GP the previous month. Now the season was divided into two halves, with the drivers counting their best four scores from each. This meant that, supposing Jones had won all eight races in the second half, he would not necessarily have taken the title. As it was he won four to Scheckter's three but had only four points from the first half, so even under the old system his final tally would have been lower.
Meantime, ground-effects and the search for more downforce continued apace. One development again pioneered by Lotus, Chapman and his engineers, was a measure to seal the underbody airflow within the wheelbase, namely rigid body 'skirts'. Thanks to clever interpretation of the regulations, they made contact with the track surface by moving vertically in slides. Unfortunately the Lotus 80 proved unsuccessful despite these skirts, introduced for the Spanish GP. Although Andretti finished third in that race, after a couple more tries Chapman reverted to the Type 79, now without JPS sponsorship but backed instead by Martini and Essex Petroleum. But the 79 had lost its edge.
Perhaps the most significant political move was the re-constitution of the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers' Association) and, regarding safety, at least 1979 was free from fatal accidents.
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