1977 CANADIAN GP 9 October @ MOSPORT

The first 20 qualifiers represented 12 different nations (Labatt Archive photos)

The eighth and last F1 GP to be held at Mosport was one of the most memorable of all as the Formula One circus staged a tumultuous three-ring affair, featuring accidents, acrimony and a strong Canadian content. After 80 torrid laps Jody Scheckter was first to take the chequered flag in his Maple-Leaf bedecked Wolf and Gilles Villeneuve was classified 12th in his debut race as a Ferrari driver.

Niki Lauda, the new World Champion, had a flaming row with Ferrari and left Mosport before the cars hit the track. When they did Ian Ashley had a terrifying accident as his Hesketh somersaulted off the circuit at 180mph and hit a 30 foot high TV tower. Fortunately he suffered only broken ankles and wrists. After others crashed in practice and qualifying Mosport was looking rather the worse for wear and there were threats of a driver boycott over inadequate safety measures.

However, the race started on schedule with polesitter Mario Andretti and James Hunt running at the front, but neither finished. Hunt was left standing beside the track in a fist-shaking fury after colliding with his McLaren team mate Jochen Mass. While Hunt flattened a track marshal with a single punch (for which he was fined $2,500) Andretti's race-long lead in a Lotus ended in a cloud of engine smoke with just three laps to go, leaving an oil slick which caused several more crashes that eliminated a total of eight cars from the 25-car field.


How The Top 20 Fared In The 80 Lap Race - Grid Position-Driver (car-engine) result (laps)

1-Mario Andretti (Lotus-Ford) led from pole all but last three laps but retired after engine blew up in an oily cloud of smoke (77)

2-James Hunt (McLaren-Ford) crashed into team mate Mass, punched a track marshal trying to help him, fined $2,750 for his outburst (61)

3-Ronnie Peterson (Tyrrell-Ford) retired with a fuel leak (34)

4-Gunnar Nilsson (Lotus-Ford) suffered a stuck throttle and crashed (17)

5-Jochen Mass (McLaren-Ford) finished 3rd, despite contretemp with team mate Hunt
who called him Herman The German (80)

6-Patrick Depailler (Tyrrell-Ford) finished 2nd (80)

7-Alan Jones (Shadow-Ford) finished 4th (80)

8-Riccardo Patrese (Shadow-Ford) spun on oil, crashed violently into previously crashed car (76)

9-Jody Scheckter (Wolf-Ford) 1st for Canadian citizen Walter Wolf Racing (80)

10-John Watson (Brabham-Alfa Romeo) retired on first lap crash damage after hitting Peterson (1)

11-Jacques Lafitte (Ligier-Matra) retired with broken drive shaft (12)

12-Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari) retired with fuel pressure problem (20)

13-Hans Stuck (Brabham-Alfa Romeo) retired with engine problem (19)

14-Clay Regazzoni (Ensign-Ford) crashed terminally at  the first corner of the first lap (0)

15-Vittorio Brambilla (Surtees-Ford) finished 6th despite late-race crash (78)

16-Patrick Tambay (Ensign-Ford) finished 5th (80)

17-Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) 12th, last finisher (in Ferrari debut) despite broken drive shaft (76)

18-Ian Scheckter (March-Ford) retired with engine problem (29)

19-Emerson Fittipaldi (Fittipaldi-Ford) retired with engine problem (29)

20-Brett Lunger (McLaren-Ford) finished 11th (76)

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-excerpt from The Canadian Grand Prix, by Gerald Donaldson