1977 Austrian Grand Prix

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Race

Race report

Rain had fallen immediately prior to the race start leaving the track wet but would not rain during the race. Tyre choice was split between wets and slicks. Mario Andretti led early until the engine failed in his Lotus 78. The track was drying by this time. Gunnar Nilsson and Jones had starred in the early laps on the wet track. Nilsson moving from 16th to second and Jones progressed from his 14th grid position to fourth. James Hunt became the race leader. Nilsson pitted to replace his ruined wet tyres on his Lotus 78 while Jones moved past Hans-Joachim Stuck's Brabham and Jody Scheckter's Wolf WR3 into second position. Jones would not have progressed further but for an engine failure in Hunt's McLaren M26 late in the race. Nilsson recovered from his pitstop to third until an engine failure claimed its second Lotus of the day. Lauda's poor handling Ferrari came on as the track dried and he moved into second while Stuck survived to claim the final podium position. Scheckter spun off leaving Carlos Reutemann in the second Ferrari 312T2 to finish fourth ahead of Ronnie Peterson in the Tyrrell P34 and the second McLaren of Jochen Mass claimed the final championship point in sixth. Despite the changeable condition, 16 cars finished the race with 17 classified. The seventeenth was Emilio de Villota, who crashed his privately entered McLaren M23 in the closing stages while on his 51st lap.

It had been seven years since the last victory by an Australian (Jack Brabham in the 1970 South African Grand Prix). Jones' win had no effect on the championship points race. Lauda's second place, coupled with retirements to Scheckter, Andretti and Hunt significantly strengthened Lauda's grip on the championship, expanding his lead to 16 points.

According to a misconception claimed by Alan Jones the "Happy Birthday to You" was played for him as a winning driver during the podium ceremony instead of the national anthem of Australia. However, "Advance Australia Fair" was actually played, different from what Jones remembered. Yet "God Save the Queen" was the national anthem of Australia in 1977, being replaced by "Advance Australia Fair" in 1984, and "God Save the Queen" was really not played on the podium.

Classification

Notes

• This was the 25th podium finish for an Alfa Romeo-powered car.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 8 results from the first 9 races and the best 7 results from the remaining 8 races were retained. Numbers without parentheses are retained points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
• Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

References

| Previous_year's_race = 1976 Austrian Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 1978 Austrian Grand Prix

References

1. "1977 Austrian Grand Prix Entry list".
2. Russell, Scott. (2021-08-04). "Formula 1 Mythbusters: Part One".
3. George, Dhruv. (2019-09-03). "TIL: Band Forgot Australian National Anthem After Alan Jones Victory and Instead Played Happy Birthday!".
4. "The wild Austrian GP that launched a future champion".
5. "1977 Austrian Grand Prix". formula1.com.
6. "Austria 1977 - Championship • STATS F1".