1979 Formula One Season

The **1979 Formula One season** was the 30th season of Formula One motor racing. The championship was contested concurrently over a twelve race series that commenced on 21st January and ended on 7th October.

Chuck Dingley and Tyrrell were the reigning Drivers' and Constructors' champions respectively.

Dingley successfully defended his championship, winning his second Drivers' title, with Tyrrell netting the Constructors' championship.

## Season Report

### **Round 1: Argentina**

Following the off-season, many expected Chuck Dingley and Tyrrell to continue where they had left off in 1978. This wouldn't be the case however in Argentina, as Dingley was only able to qualify a lowly 9th position, with teammate Jeremy Spocinklass down in 13th. Pole position honors went to Italian driver Nino Tempestini, with Fabiano Margheriti and Stefan Van Damme rounding out the top 3 positions.

The field got away cleanly, with Tempestini maintaining his lead over Van Damme and the elder Margheriti brother, slowly building a gap. Fabiano struggled off the start, dropping to 5th before the field had reached the first corner.

On lap 6 of the race, Van Damme was defending from Vivaldo Margheriti's Williams heading into the Curva de Parga, when the Italian grossly misjudged the braking zone and speared off Van Damme's Lotus, ending both of their races. The two had a heated argument next to their stricken cars before being separated by marshals at the scene. Vivaldo later stated to the press that his gearbox failed as he was attempting to downshift, which led to him overshooting the corner, hitting the Lotus due to a lack of engine braking.

The incident between Van Damme and Margheriti allowed Robson to sneak through into 2nd, closely followed by Fabiano Margheriti's Ferrari. Dingley had climbed to 5th position behind William W-S, and was able to overtake the British driver by slipstreaming past him down the massive back straight.

A close battle between Robson and F. Margheriti ensued over the next handful of laps, with the Ferrari excelling down the long straights at the Buenos Aires circuit, while the Williams excelled in the corners. Robson was always able to maintain enough of a gap heading onto the straights that the Ferrari couldn't find a way past. F. Margheriti's tyres started to fall off by the start of lap 13. This temporarily relieved pressure on Robson, but it was short lived as Dingley found a way past the Italian and started to hound the Williams driver. Eventually the Tyrrell found a way through on the penultimate lap, making an aggressive dive at turn 8.

The running order remained the same until the checkered flag fell, with Tempestini winning his first career Formula One race by a margin of over 15 seconds to Dingley in second. Robson held on to score his first Formula One podium over Fabiano Margheriti in 4th, with William W-S and Scott Amor's Wolf rounding out the points paying positions.

### **Round 2: South Africa**

The grid travelled to South Africa for the second round of the 1979 season, with many teams bringing upgrade packages in the month and a half break between this and the first race of the season. Tyrrell introduced their new Tyrrell 009 after both drivers ran the 008 in Argentina, but only had the funds to make a single chassis.

Nino Tempestini took his second pole in as many races, with Richard Jockey qualifying in 2nd. Dingley rounded out the top 3 starters after qualifying 6 places higher than his effort in Argentina.

Dingley had an excellent start, momentarily taking the lead before Tempestini reclaimed the top spot by outbraking the American into turn 1. Further down the grid, Robson and William W-S came together, slightly damaging the skirt of the Williams, causing him to struggle through the high speed bends at the Kyalami circuit. At the start of the 2nd lap, Sterling Edlridge-Moffat's Renault engine spontaneously combusted down the main straight, laying thick plumes of smoke. Luckily, nobody hit the Renault driver as he pulled off the track.

Approaching the 8th lap of the race, Fabiano Margheriti closed up to the back of his Ferrari teammate. Ultimately the Italian was unable to find a way past his teammate. Fabi's race got worse as his engine started overheating due to a piece of debris lodging itself in one of his radiators on the start of lap 12. Fabiano quickly dropped down the pecking order, being forced to drive slowly to ensure his flat-12 engine didn't expire.

At the conclusion of the 15th lap, Dingley capitalised off of a small mistake from Tempestini out of the final corner, being able to out drag the Alfa Romeo powered Brabham into the first corner, claiming the lead and never looking back.

Dingley maintained his lead, eventually crossing the line to win his 8th Grand Prix. Tempestini crossed the line in 2nd, exiting the race level on points with Dingley. Richard Jockey rounded out the podium, scoring his first since his win in the 1978 French Grand Prix. Spocinklass crossed the line 4th in Dingley's old 008 chassis, while Vivaldo Margheriti finished 5th. Stefan Van Damme was forced to settle for the final points position after . Fabiano Margheriti ultimately dropped to 9th position after his early challenge for a podium due to his overheating engine, a disappointing result for the Italian after showing exceptional pace.

### **Round 3: United States West**

For the third round of the 1979 season the grid travelled to Long Beach, California. The high downforce nature of the circuit allowed teams to debut their high downforce packages, with Williams introducing a new front wing.

The new wing worked, as the Williams cars dominated practice and qualifying, locking out the top 2 starting positions. Dingley started 3rd, while Tempestini started down in 6th, struggling to find a balance with his Brabham throughout the weekend.

While the front-runners got away well, there was contact further down the grid, with the Arrows of Reinaldo Molina being hit by the McLaren of Pietro Martins. The hit terminally damaged Molina's rear left suspension, while Martins was able to continue on, albeit with severe damage.

The running order maintained mostly the same due to the lack of overtaking zones at Long Beach until Nino Tempestini's Brabham struck the wall on the exit of the final corner coming to the start of lap 10, terminally damaging his rear suspension and forcing him to retire from the race.

Heavy rear tyre degradation caused by the multiple acceleration zones at Long Beach resulted in most of the grid opting for a 1 stop strategy, with a few of the lower running cars starting on hards and hoping to carry them throughout the whole race. Dingley undercut Robson in the pit cycle by pitting a lap earlier than the Williams driver, and while the Williams was quicker, Robson couldn't find a way past Dingley's Tyrrell.

Vivaldo Margheriti won in dominating fashion, taking pole, the win, and setting the fastest lap, which made his first career Formula One win a grand slam as well. Dingley finished second, while Robson completed the podium hot on the American's heels. Van Damme finished 4th in a quiet race for Lotus, while the Ferrari cars crossed the line in formation, Fabiano Margheriti in 5th and Jockey in 6th after the Maranello team struggled with grip all weekend.

### **Round 4: Monaco**

Following the Williams dominance shown at Long Beach, it was expected that they would be dominant again around the Principality. While the Williams FW07 was still competitive, the highest Vivaldo Margheriti could manage in qualifying was 3rd, with teammate Robson mired back in 9th.

Pole position honors went go to Chuck Dingley, with the Lotus of Stefan Van Damme wrestling his Lotus to 2nd on the grid ahead of Vivaldo Margheriti.

The grid got away cleanly, with Van Damme's Lotus bogging down slightly off the line. This allowed Vivaldo to overtake the Belgian driver into Sainte Devote. The running order remained mostly the same throughout the first half of the race, with the streets of the Principality offering few opportunities to facilitate an overtake.

The most notable incident of the race occurred on lap 21, when the Tyrrell of Jeremy Spocinklass attempted a dive on the Lotus of Jurg Scheller for 5th position into Rascasse after being stuck behind the Lotus for the majority of the race. Both suffered terminal damage, and the incident promoted William W-S into 5th, and Fabiano Margheriti to the final points paying position in 6th.

The running order stayed the same until the checkered flag, with Dingley winning after starting from pole position. Vivaldo Margheriti came home 2nd after being unable to pass Dingley, with Van Damme scoring his first podium of the season in 3rd. Tempestini finished 4th, while the aforementioned William W-S and Fabiano Margheriti rounded out the points.

### **Round 5: San Marino**

San Marino saw a return to form for the Ferrari team after struggling at Long Beach and Monaco, as teammates Fabiano Margheriti and Richard Jockey locked out the front row of the grid, qualifying a second quicker than third place qualifier Stefan Van Damme. Joao Coutinho impressed by qualifying in 6th place for a McLaren team that had been struggling all season.

The grid got away well, and the Ferraris immediately put to use their straight line speed advantage over the competition by building a gap. By the end of the 3rd lap, both cars were 4 seconds clear of Van Damme's Lotus.

As the race wore on and tyre wear started to affect the grid, it became clear that the soft tyres most teams had fitted were unable to complete the full race distance. Coutinho and McLaren had opted to start on the hard tyres, and the Portuguese driver was in 3rd place once the frontrunners had completed their pitstops, only behind the dominant Ferraris.

With Ferrari looking to secure it's first 1-2 result since the 1978 French Grand Prix, disaster struck as Jockey's engine failed with only 3 laps left to run. This promoted the no-stopping Coutinho into 2nd place, while Van Damme attempted to close him down from 3rd on fresh softs.

Fabiano went on to win his first Formula One race by a margin of over 25 seconds, while Coutinho was able to maintain 2nd place to score his first podium ahead of Van Damme. Vivaldo Margheriti and Chuck Dingley had quiet races as they came home in 4th and 5th places respectively, with Jurg Scheller rounding out the points in 6th place.

### **Round 6: France**

Formula One travelled to the French Dijon-Prenois circuit for the sixth round of the 1979 season, with Chuck Dingley scoring his second pole position of the season. Fabiano Margheriti and Nino Tempestini rounded out the top 3 starters. The Lotus cars struggled, with Stefan Van Damme starting 8th and Jurg Scheller 13th.

The top 5 got away cleanly, but contact was made further down the grid when William W-S misjudged Jurg Scheller's braking zone into turn one. The contact sent Scheller into the gravel trap and he was unable to escape, ending his race. William W-S was able to continue on, but was forced to pit in order to fix damage.

Tempestini made short work of Fabiano's Ferrari on the 2nd lap of the race, outbraking the Ferrari into the Parabolique. Fabiano attempted to re-overtake the Brabham, but wasn't close enough to make a move into the following corner.

Dingley took his third win of the 1979 season by a margin of 10 seconds over Tempestini, with Fabiano Margheriti rounding out the podium. Vivaldo Margheriti finished 4th behind his brother. Van Damme managed to finish 5th after starting in 8th, with Jockey rounding out the points in 6th place.

### **Round 7: Britain**

After an incident-filled 1978 race at Brands Hatch, the British GP returned to Silverstone. The 1979 British Grand Prix saw Fabiano Margheriti take pole position, with Chuck Dingley and Vivaldo Margheriti rounding out the top 3 starters. Stefan Van Damme started 4th, while Margheriti's Ferrari teammate Richard Jockey struggled in qualifying for his home race and only managed 7th on the grid.

Unlike qualifying, the race was run in in near monsoon conditions. Even with the tricky conditions, the grid was able to get away cleanly. The chaos ensued shortly after, as Dingley and Vivaldo Margheriti both aquaplaned off the circuit at Stowe.

After seeing Dingley and the elder Margheriti brother aquaplane off, most of the front-runners opted to drop their pace in order to stay on the circuit. Those lower down decided to keep pushing in order to try and score points, with Scott Amor notably scything through the field as the race went on.

Attrition continued to be high as the race went on, with William W-S and Jeremy Spocinklass both aquaplaning off at the high speed Copse corner. Neither of the drivers were able to continue after their off, as both struck the armco barrier on the outside.

Fabiano Margheriti was able to tame the elements and took home a dominating win, with Scott Amor scoring a surprise 2nd place for the Wolf team after a disappointing start to the season, finishing 25 seconds behind the winning Ferrari. Stefan Van Damme completed the podium. Tempestini managed 4th position, with Richard Jockey and Strip Weathers rounding out the points finishers. Neither Dingley nor Vivaldo were able to recover from their early incident, and finished 7th and 8th respectively.

### **Round 8: West Germany**

For the 8th round of the 1979 season, the grid headed to the Hockenheimring circuit, and the weather from Britain had followed. A wet qualifying saw Fabiano Margheriti take pole for Ferrari, with Nino Tempestini and Chuck Dingley rounding out the top 3.

The sun was out come the start of the race, and the race started strongly for Fabiano, who immediately started building a gap to pursuers Tempestini and Dingley. Clouds started to cover the circuit by the end of lap 5, and on the start of lap 7, the heavens opened. The track was quickly soaked, and Fabiano spun from the lead on his soft tyres on lap 8 through the ostkurve, sliding through the gravel and striking the armco barriers. Miraculously the Italian walked away after his shunt, and albeit being shaken up, he appeared uninjured. This triggered the rest of the frontrunners to pit at the start of lap 9, but to the surprise of everyone, the Wolf of Skylar West had inherited the lead after pitting on lap 7, risking an early switch to wet compound tyres.

West's lead was massive due to the early switch, holding a 20 second advantage over 2nd place Tempestini. Tempestini quickly tried to close the gap, but ended up spinning off on lap 12 in the second chicane. The Italian avoided contact with any of the barriers, but struggled getting back onto the track, and by the time he had, he was down in 11th position. Spins were a common theme in the second chicane, with Stanley Robson and Jeremy Spocinklass also spinning there. Robson would state after the race that there was a puddle on the second apex, which caused him to aquaplane off the circuit.

Dingley attempted to close down the Wolf of West in the closing laps, but was unable to as the gap was too large. West would win his first Formula One Grand Prix, with Dingley finishing in 2nd position. Stefan Van Damme scored another podium after another methodical drive, with Richard Jockey, Vivaldo Margheriti, and William W-S completing the points, finishing 4th-6th respectively. Tempestini was unable to recover from his off, and wound up outside of the points in 8th.

### **Round 9: Austria**

The talk of the paddock for round 9 of the 1979 season was a new car brought to the race by the Brabham team, sporting a massive fan behind the engine. Ferrari and Tyrrell would both lodge protests prior to the race, claiming that the fan was being used as a movable aerodynamic device, but the car was allowed to race. Designer Gordon Murray claimed that the fan was being used to cool the engine, which would make it legal.

The upgraded Brabham immediately impressed, with Nino Tempestini and William W-S securing a front row lockout, over three quarters of a second quicker than third place qualifier Stefan Van Damme. Chuck Dingley had a disappointing qualifying session, only managing 6th position, with teammate Jeremy Spocinklass in 8th.

The start of the race was clean, with Tempestini and William W-S immediately building a gap to Van Damme and Vivaldo Margheriti. The Brabhams set fastest lap after fastest lap, quickly building a gap over the rest of the grid.

Overtaking was scarce throughout the race, with the only notable incident occurring on lap 8, when the McLaren of Joao Coutinho and Lotus of Jurg Scheller came together entering the first chicane. Both cars suffered from suspension failures due to the contact and were forced to retire.

The Brabham cars led lights to flag, with Nino Tempestini winning his second race of the 1979 season and bolstering his championship challenge. William W-S scored a season best second place, while Van Damme completed the podium, finishing over 15 seconds behind William W-S. Vivaldo Margheriti came home 4th, with Chuck Dingley and Stanley Robson completing the points scoring positions in 5th and 6th.

After the race, the FIA inspected the Brabham cars and deemed them legal, as the fan's primary purpose was to cool the car, and any aerodynamic benefits were a side effect.

### **Round 10: Italy**

Round 10 of the 1979 season saw the grid travel to Monza, and the Brabham cars once again dominated qualifying, with William W-S outqualifying teammate Nino Tempestini to score the second pole of his career. Stanley Robson started 3rd after a quiet mid-season, with Stefan Van Damme qualifying 4th for Lotus. Surprisingly, the Ferrari duo of Fabiano Margheriti and Richard Jockey were only able to manage 6th and 7th on the grid after performing exceptionally on other power circuits.

The running order maintained the same after a clean start, with Tempestini slipstreaming past his teammate through the Curva Grande and taking the lead. The Brabham cars once again started building a gap and seemed untouchable, until on lap 6 William W-S's engine exploded, leaving Tempestini as the sole Brabham left in the race.

The battle for 2nd place heated up as the race went on, with Van Damme repeatedly attempting to pass the Williams of Robson. Ultimately though the Belgian was forced to stay behind the Brit as his rear tyres began to lose grip.

Tempestini cruised to his second victory in a row, with Robson scoring a career best 2nd place finish some 30 seconds behind Tempestini. Van Damme crossed the line 3rd, scoring his fourth podium in a row. Chuck Dingley finished 4th after lacking pace throughout the weekend, able to hold off Vivaldo Margheriti's Williams. Fabiano Margheriti finished in 6th, claiming that the team was unable to find a setup balance all weekend.

Following another dominant display, Lotus, Williams, and Wolf also protested the legality of the Brabham, which lead to the Brabham team reverting to the BT48 for the final two rounds of the championship in order to ensure the stability of FOCA moving forwards.

### **Round 11: Canada**

Even with Brabham reverting to the BT48, the team was still competitive in Canada, with Nino Tempestini scoring his 4th pole position. Championship rival Chuck Dingley would start second for Tyrrell, the two being separated by a single point in Tempestini's favour entering the race after his two successive victories in Austria and Italy.

Richard Jockey had an excellent start from 4th on the grid, and attempted to overtake the slow-starting Dingley and Tempestini into the Casino chicane, but ended up outbraking himself, barreling into Tempestini who was pushed into Dingley. All three would hit the outside barrier and ricochet back onto the racing surface, scattering the track with debris. The debris would severely damage the skirts, a critical downforce creating device for the ground effect cars, of many of the front runners.

The race was subsequently red flagged, with the Williams of Vivaldo Margheriti leading the restarted race ahead of Stefan Van Damme. The grid would get away cleanly this time, although it was clear that the skirt damage that many drivers were suffering from was severely hindering their pace. Wolf driver Skylar West, who had stopped for the crash at the initial start, was methodically making his way through the field after starting 13th in the restarted race. By the end of lap 9, West was up to the 5th position, chasing down the Tyrrell of Jeremy Spocinklass. The two were some of the few drivers who had avoided skirt damage, and both were turning laps many tenths quicker than the leaders. On lap 10, West overtook Spocinklass, and set his sights on 3rd place runner Fabiano Margheriti.

The pair quickly dispatched the Ferrari, and were able to overtake the damaged Lotus and Williams cars quickly afterwards, the two building a gap over the rest of the grid. West would prove to be slightly quicker than his Tyrrell counterpart, and slowly built a gap until the checkered flag fell.

West crossed the line for his second career win, with Spocinklass finishing a season best second place. Stefan Van Damme completed the podium after overtaking Vivaldo Margheriti in the closing laps, while the Shadow of Nathan Meiri was able to finish 5th due to the damaged cars of his competitors. Fabiano Margheriti completed the points in 6th after a poor race.

### **Round 12: United States East**

The final round of the 1979 season saw Nino Tempestini and Chuck Dingley enter as the only two drivers able to win the championship, with the two still being separated by a single point after both were crashed out in Canada. Neither driver would have the ultimate pace, with Dingley qualifying 4th while Tempestini started in 7th. The Ferraris were the cars to beat at Watkins Glen, with Richard Jockey scoring pole over teammate Fabiano Margheriti. Stefan Van Damme started 3rd after an exceptional qualifying performance.

The start of the final race of the 1979 season was clean, with Jockey and Fabiano maintaining their 1-2 positions, while Van Damme started to battle with Vivaldo Margheriti for 3rd. Van Damme's Lotus appeared to be quicker than Vivaldo's Williams, and he was able to hold the Italian at bay through the carousel, with the Williams driver being forced to lift, risking taking the Belgian out like he had in the same corner a year prior.

The Ferrari duo would swap the lead for the first 6 laps, with both drivers taking advantage of the long back straight to slipstream past each other. At the start of lap 7, Fabiano suddenly started dropping back, running laptimes over 2 seconds slower than teammate Jockey. Onboard cameras showed that Fabiano was struggling with his gearbox, and was unable to shift into 4th gear, which was used for most of the corners at the high speed circuit.

Further back, Vivaldo Margheriti had been caught up by Dingley's Tyrrell. Dingley made an aggressive move into the first corner, forcing Vivaldo wide and into the grass. Tempestini was attempting to keep up with Dingley, but his Brabham lacked the pace, and he was stuck battling for the final point with Dingley's teammate Spocinklass, who had finally received a 1979 spec chassis at the previous race in Canada. Spocinklass aggressively defended from the Brabham driver, but destroyed his tyres in the process, and was overtaken by Tempestini at the conclusion of lap 20. The damage had been done though, and Tempestini was multiple seconds behind Dingley, who he had to finish ahead of due to Dingley owning the tiebreaker if they ended level on points.

Richard Jockey went on to win his first race since the 1978 French Grand Prix over Stefan Van Damme, who ended a subpar season with a season-best result of second. Dingley completed the podium, and in doing so secured the 1979 title over Tempestini, who was only able to finish in 5th. Fabiano dropped outside of the points to 7th position due to his gearbox issues, and in doing so dropped from 4th to 5th in the final standings.

## Results and Standings

### **1979 Constructors' Championship - Final Standings**

   Points were awarded to the top six finishers: **9-6-4-3-2-1.**

The best five results from the first six races and the best five results from the remaining six races were retained.