1979 Dutch Grand Prix
Zandvoort in the Netherlands was hosting the twelfth round of the season. The championship title had been decided rather unfortunately already in the previous race for
Carlos Reutemann but behind him there was still all to play for. Five drivers driving for five different teams were within 10 points in the standings, all keen to be the best of the rest.
This weekend saw one new car in the grid too as Shadow had finally dumped their
DN9 chassis from last season and brought out a brand new DN10. The team certainly wasn't expected to challenge for top positions but perhaps the new chassis could help them get closer to the points.
Pre-qualifying
Shadow's new chassis proved its worth immediately as
Rahal and
Gaillard clocked the two fastest times of the session. Ensign's
Jean-Pierre Jabouille did all he could in third but teammate
Colombo's poor pace meant an early exit for the team once again.
Qualifying
Qualifying session was a tight battle between
Piquet and the champ
Reutemann but it was the Brazilian in his Williams to finally secure the pole position.
Villeneuve and
de Angelis would start from row two. Next positions were filled by Tyrrells,
Jones, Lotuses and in tenth by a huge surprise! Patrick Gaillard showed glimpses of the new Shadow chassis' speed defeating the likes of
Arnoux and both McLarens.
Gaillard's teammate Rahal was also in promising speed in 14th, next to Brabham's
Jacky Ickx who is desperate to get good results this season. Rumours in the paddock suggest that Brabham has some financial troubles that might of course threaten Jacky's seat next season.
Further down the grid, in tenth row, were arguably the two most succesful active drivers of the decade;
Lauda and
Fittipaldi. The experienced duo would have a hard time trying to get into decent positions from there. Another upsets were
Emilio de Villota's poor 24th place and
James Hunt's even poorer 27th and subsequent failure to qualify for the race. Understandably the outspoken Englishman was not happy with his performance.
Race
Piquet held the lead at the start and was followed by
Scheckter who literally shot into second from fifth in the grid. He had to give his place back to Reutemann shortly. Villeneuve was fourth and was followed by de Angelis,
Daly,
Cheever and Jones after whom there was a small gap to
Pironi in 9th who was holding off Ickx, Arnoux and the Shadows.
Shadow's great weekend turned to worse already on lap 2 as Bobby Rahal was forced to retire following a transmission failure while trying to make his way into top 10. Scheckter was soon to join him with a similar problem.
Long straights provided lots of opportunities for drafting and overtaking. After 15/75 laps Piquet was still leading Reutemann by a few seconds. Villeneuve had dropped way down, allowing Daly to climb up to third. Cheever and de Angelis were following him closely. Jones wasn't having a race of his life as he was having to defend his sixth place from a surprise charge by Gaillard. Ickx, Pironi and
Rosberg rounded out the top 10.
After first pit stops de Angelis had passed both Lotuses but was then hit with bad luck. On lap 33 he was coming to lap a few backmarkers when
Zorzi's Ford engine exploded on the main straight and de Angelis crashed into the slow-moving Arrows. Both retired. This, along with Gaillard and Ickx's retirements earlier allowed Pironi to get into points. Villeneuve had recovered from his moment earlier and was now following the Frenchman with Rosberg,
Patrese and Lauda behind him.
Pironi caught Jones and the two fought for well over 15 laps from lap 40 onwards. Between this time Daly crashed heavily from P3. Villeneuve caught the duo and easily dispatched them both as well as Cheever, only to run into problems himself just two laps away from finish. Jones was finally able to get some gap to Pironi and on lap 60 the Frenchman's race ended when he lost the oil pressure, further adding to Tyrrell's reliability woes.
All this would have helped Brabham to earn at least one point as Patrese was battling with Rosberg but unfortunately the Italian youngster spun and dropped down to 15th, handing the last point to Alfa's
Harald Ertl whose calm drive was enough to earn the Austrian his first point in his fifth season in Formula 1. Rosberg sneaked into fifth - a great result considering McLaren's truobles all weekend long. Cheever was close to getting his first podium finish but Jones' late charge prevented it.
The battle for the lead though - it really intensified towards the end! Piquet had lead all day long ad was looking a sure winner as late as with 10 laps to go. However, Reutemann was not giving up. He was on a mission and gradually ate away Piquet's lead, caught him on the final lap, had the guts to wait until the final straight, pulled on the side and crossed the line an incredible 0,070 seconds ahead of the Brazilian who's still looking his first victory in F1. Ferrari's 1-3 finish also meant that the Maranello have now officially sealed the constructor's championship!
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The development market for the thirteenth race is open! You have until Friday 14:00 EEST to make/modify your investments.
![Luca [OT]](/data/avatars/s/3235/3235113.jpg?1697196734){kind=avatar}
