Roberto Pistarino

South African GP
Kyalami
March 3, 1979

78 Laps, 4.104 km

The battle for control of the sport between the Formula One Constructors Association and the newly-formed FISA under Jean-Marie Balestre was heating up but the South African race went ahead.

Since the dominant Ligier performances in South America the opposition had been working hard to perfect ground-effect technology and Ferrari had two of the new 312 T4 chassis ready for Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve. There were no changes in the driver lineup but after practice there was the rather surprising sight of the old Renault RS1 of Jean-Pierre Jabouille on pole position. This was largely due to the extra horsepower the car had at high altitude. Jabouille was ahead of the Ferraris of Scheckter and Villeneuve. Niki Lauda was fourth fastest in the Brabham while the two Ligiers were fifth and sixth, Patrick Depailler setting a faster time than Jacques Laffite. The top 10 was completed by Didier Pironi's Tyrrell, Mario Andretti's Lotus, Jean-Pierre Jarier's Tyrrell and the second Renault of Rene Arnoux.

It was overcast when the race started but Jabouille stayed ahead of Scheckter and Villeneuve. Within a few moments however a cloudburst resulted in the race being stopped but before that happened Villeneuve had managed to get ahead of Scheckter and Jabouille. As a result he was on pole for the restart. The weather was still uncertain and several drivers (notably Scheckter, Depailler, Patrick Tambay (McLaren) and Nelson Piquet (Brabham) decided to race on slicks. At the restart Villeneuve was able to build up a lead but as the track dried it became clear that the men who had gambled on slicks were in a much better position and Scheckter took the lead when Villeneuve pitted on lap 15. He rejoined second ahead of Tambay and Piquet. Villeneuve charged after Scheckter. Piquet began to suffer engine trouble and fell behind Jarier and Andretti and a few laps later the pair were also ahead of Tambay. Jabouille then moved back up to fifth with Reutemann and Laffite following him until the Renault engine failed again. With Laffite having spun off because of a puncture, Reutemann moved to fifth.

On lap 52 Scheckter pitted for new tires and so Villeneuve took the lead with Scheckter now chasing him. The gap closed to within four seconds at the flag but victory went to Villeneuve. Jarier was a distant third with Andretti fourth, Reutemann fifth and Lauda sixth.
POS NO DRIVER ENTRANT LAPS TIME/RETIREMENT QUAL POS
1 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 78 1h41m49.960s 3
2 11 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 78 1h41m53.380s 2
3 4 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Cosworth 78 1h42m12.070s 9
4 1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Cosworth 78 1h42m17.840s 8
5 2 Carlos Reutemann Lotus-Cosworth 78 1h42m56.930s 11
6 5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 77 4
7 6 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Alfa Romeo 77 12
8 20 James Hunt Wolf-Cosworth 77 13
9 28 Clay Regazzoni Williams-Cosworth 76 22
10 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Cosworth 75 17
11 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Cosworth 75 16
12 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Cosworth 74 20
13 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth 74 18
14r 31 Hector Rebaque Lotus-Cosworth 71 Engine 23
r 16 Rene Arnoux Renault 67 Puncture 10
r 27 Alan Jones Williams-Cosworth 63 Rear Suspension 19
r 7 John Watson McLaren-Cosworth 61 Ignition 14
r 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck ATS-Cosworth 57 Accident 24
r 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 47 Valve Spring 1
r 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Cosworth 45 Accident 6
r 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Cosworth 25 Throttle Linkage 7
r 18 Elio de Angelis Shadow-Cosworth 16 Accident 15
r 25 Patrick Depailler Ligier-Cosworth 4 Accident 5
r 17 Jan Lammers Shadow-Cosworth 2 Accident 21
nq 22 Derek Daly Ensign-Cosworth 25
nq 24 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Cosworth 26

South African GP, Kyalami, March 3, 1979, Round: 3, Race Number: 316