1979 British Grand PrixNewsflashStefan Bellof continues at Shadow, with Keke Rosberg still out of the car.
Jenkins'
Beppe Gabbiani is probably 'relaxing' at the Penthouse penthouse right about now, as he will be taking the place of
Rupert Keegan, who is in the car to please the sponsors
Qualifying
For only the 3rd time this year, a Williams did not sit on pole position - Gilles Villeneuve instead setting the fastes time to claim his second pole position of the year. Carlos Reutemann missed out on pole by just 5 hundredths of a second, ahead of Jean-Pierre Jabouille, and Callum McAllister in fourth. Rene Arnoux could only manage 5th, with Jacques Laffite and Jody Scheckter in 6th and 7th. Brabham showed improved speed, Lauda and Piquet qualifying 8th and 9th respectively. Ed Kevin couldn't quite match his team mate, managing 10th, ahead of Kevin Sutherland and Riccardo Patrese in the streamlined A2. That car is suited to fast tracks, remember Andrea de Cesaris leading at Kyalami? Mario Andretti found himself back in the car and also found his speed while he was at it, qualifying 13th, while the young Stefan Bellof continued to impress in the Shadow, setting the 14th fastest time. Both RAMs lined up ahead of both Lotuses, with the two Jonses dissapointed witht heir qualifing pace, ahead of Gauthier in the second McLaren and both Tyrrells. At the back of the grid, Marshal Jenkins qualified in a career-best 27th position, just 6 hundredths of a second faster than the debutant Rupert Keegan in 28th. Martin Rossler qualified on the grid for the first time since Spain in 29th, while Vittorio Brambilla set the 30th fastest time to qualify for the 3rd time in a row. Guidetti, Sedlak, Depault, Surer, Rebaque, Fittipaldi, Ongais, and Stuck failed to qualify.
RACE - 69 LAPS
Gilles Villeneuve got a fantastic start to lead comfortably into turn one, ahead of the squabbling pack. The Renaults swapped places,a nd Arnoux had got past McAllister, and Scheckter was alongside McAllister into Becketts. Most of the field got through in one piece, but Gianfranco Brancatelli put two wheels on the grass under braking, and slid into the corner sideways. He managed to bring the car almost to a stop, but was then collected by Geoff Lees, eager to make up positions after a bad start. Lees lost his front left, while Brancatelli was able to continue, albeit with a dented sidepod, in second to last place. John Watson was now 30 seconds off of the lead after spinning while avoiding the Brancatelli-Lees incident.
Across the line, Villeneuve still led ahead of Jabouille, Arnoux, Reutemann, and Scheckter, but approaching Becketts a second time, Jabouille slipped to the inside of Villeneuve and took the lead. Callum McAllister had fallen down to 9th place during the opening lap, behind Keiran Sutherland. Villeneuve took back the lead into Copse.
Further down the field, Guilliame Gauthier in 13th lead a train of tightly-packed cars that stretched back to Brambilla, but halfway down the Hangar straight his engine blew up in a plume of gray smoke. Faces of dissapointment in the McLaren garage turned to faces of disbeleif as through Stowe, Mario Andretti struck the back of Bellof's Shadow, dislodging Andreti's left front, forcing him out of the race! Unbeleivable! Both McLarens were out within yards of each other. Through Club, Takagi hit the back of Hunt, and Jenkins collided with Lammers, with both the Wolf and the RAM losing their rear wings.
Back at the front, Carlos Reutemann now lead from Villeneuve, Scheckter, Arnoux and Laffite. Into the Woodcote chicane, Scheckter passe Villeneuve for second place, and as the field crossed the line, Hunt and Brancatelli were still in the pits and now a lap down. McAllister had found a way past Laffite. At the start of lap 5, Reutemann was still in the lead, ahead of Arnoux, Villeneuve, Scheckter, and McAllister. It didn't stay that way for long, as Arnoux went around the outside of Reutemann through Club to take the lead! Meanwhile, Laffite had fallen down to 11th place, and Kevin was in 14th, not where the Ligier belongs.
More drama unfolded for Hunt and Lammers into Copse. Hunt was a little slow through Copse, and Lammers, going to pass him on the inside, collected Hunt's right rear wheel, tearing it off, along with Brancatelli's front left. Both cars were out of the race.
Scheckter was in 3rd on lap 8, Villeneuve in 4th, and Jabouille in 5th, as Riccardo Patrese retired his Arrows in the catch fencing at the Woodcote Chicane. Rene Arnnox lead from Gilles Villeneuve, Reutemann and Jabouille, but by lap 15, Reutemann and Jabouille had found their way past Villeneuve. At Becketts, John Watson's turbocharged Ford engine again blew up while in 17th, sending the Englishamn spinning into the gravel, and out of the race. Meanwhile, his team-mate, Stefan Bellof, was in 6th, ahead of Scheckter's Williams.
Two laps later, Reutemann passed Arnoux for the lead into Stowe, and into the Woodcote Chicane, McAllister passed Jabouille for 3rd, and into Becketts on lap 19, passed Arnoux for second place. By the end of the lap however, he had been repassed by Arnoux and Villeneuve, and along the straight between Stowe and Club on lap 20, was passed by Jabouille as well.
On lap 21, Reutemann had a 1.5 second lead, from Arnoux, Villeneuve, Jabouille, McAllister, and Scheckter. Stefan Bellof in only his second race start was within a second of Jody Scheckter in 7th place. Arnoux and Villeneuve had caught Reutemann up by the end of the lap, however, and Villeneuve passed both Arnoux and Reutemann to take the lead.
On lap 23, Villeneuve lead Reutemann, Arnoux, and McAllister. Into the Woodcote chicane, McAllister outbraked himself, and touched the back of Reutemann, with McAllister losing his front wing. Arnoux had passed Reutemann and was now into second place. McAllister, without his front wing and despite the ground effects, was struggling with understeer, and on lap 24 pitted for a new front wing. The stop took 30 seconds, and McAllister rejoined in 22nd place just ahead of Rupert Keegan, but Keegan had the advantage, and forced his way past McAllister into Maggots!
Stefan Bellof's promisng day ended, not with engine failure, but with brake failure on lap 26, and a lap later, Carlos Reutemann retired with suspension failure from 2nd place.
On lap 32, Gilles Villeneuve led from Arnoux, Scheckter, Jabouille, and Kevin. The Ferrari men swapped places as Jabouille passed Scheckter for 3rd and closed the gap to the leaders.
On lap 35, Jabouille passed Villeneuve into Copse, and then passed Arnoux for the lead into the Woodcote chicane, with Scheckter diving down the inside of Villeneuve for 3rd. By lap 39, Villeneuve, Laffite, and Kevin had all found their way past Scheckter in 6th, with Jabouille leading from Arnoux. The two Ligiers passed Villeneuve on lap 40, and Arnoux was right behind Jabouille in the lead. Kevin Sutherland was in 8th, an on track for a second point.
Harvey Jones had worked his way into 5th place by lap 44, having passed Villeneuve and Scheckter, and Arnoux was past Jabouille into Copse as the leaders came up to lap Keegan. On lap 45, Ed Kevin suffered brake failure under braking for the Woodcote chicane, sending the popular Irishman into the wall. Jabouille lead from Arnoux, Scheckter and Laffite.
On lap 50, the leaders had caught Marshal Jenkisn to lap him. Jabouille got past in, but Arnoux was still behind Jenkins into the Woodcote chicane. Arnoux was faster accelerating out of the chicane, and tapped Jenkins' right rear wheel, tipping Jenkins' into a spin. Arnoux and Scheckter got past, but Jenkins span into Laffite's path, tearing Laffite's front left wheel off, and Jenkin's rear right. Both cars were out of the race, and for the first time since Long Beach, neither Ligier would finish the race.
5 laps later, the inevitable happened - Jean-Pierre Jabouille pulled over to the side of the track with black smoke pouring from the Renault engine. Jabouille hasn't finished a race for 7 races now. Villeneuve now led from Arnoux, Scheckter, Harvey and Alan Jones, and Sutherland was in a stunning 6th position. On lap 58, Arnoux passed Villeneuve for the lead into Stowe, with Scheckter not far behind.
Scheckter, Villeneuve, and Arnoux were now battling for the lead. Villeneuve led for a two laps,but made a mistake in Becketts, allowing Arnoux and Scheckter through. Arnoux now led, but Arnoux's hesitance to lap Brambilla on lap 65 allowed Scheckter into the lead exiting the Woodcote chicane. Arnoux was now under attack from Villeneuve, but through Club, Villeneuve tapped Arnoux's right rear tyre, sending the Canadian into a spin.Vileneuve kept going, but was under attack from Harvey Jones, who took thid into the Woodcote chicane. Scheckter led laps 66, 67, and 68, but into Becketts on the final lap, Arnoux dived down the inside of Scheckter to take the lead! Scheckter couldn't find a way through, and Arnoux led Scheckter across the line by a tenth of a second. HArvey Jones held on to 3rd place ahead of Villeneuve, with Alan Jones in 5th, while Kevin Sutherland finished a career best 6th. Brancatelli finished 7th and Takagi brought his Tyrrell home in one piece to claim the last point, just ahead of Callum McAllister, who managed to recover from being 40 seconds down to just 17 at the end. Lauda finished 10th ahead of Prost in 11th, the last man on the lead lap, with Brambilla, Rossler, and Keegan a lap down. Roberto Horford was classified in 15th due to completing 90% of the race distance

Gallery -
http://imageshack.us/g/254/rfactor2012081314442730.jpg/.
Driver's Championship-After 9 rounds1: Rene Arnoux - 43
2: Jody Scheckter - 34
3: Jacques Laffite - 31
4: Callum McAllister - 28
5: Ed Kevin - 26
= Gilles Villeneuve - 26
7 Jan Lammers - 21
8 Harvey Jones - 20
9: Carlos Reutemann - 18
10: Nelson Piquet - 14
= Alan Jones - 14
12: Gianfranco Brancatelli - 11
13: Hiroshi Takagi - 10
14: Mario Andretti - 8
15: James Hunt - 6
= Alain Prost - 6
17: Jean-Pierre Jabouille - 5
18: Andrea de Cesaris - 4
= Geoff Lees - 4
= Guilliame Gauthier - 4
= Derek Daly - 4
= Kieran Sutherland - 4
23: Niki Lauda - 3
= John Watson - 3
25: Roberto Horford - 2
= Thomas Nurmester - 1
Constructor's Championship-After 9 rounds1: Ferrari - 69
2: Williams-Ford - 62
3: Ligier-Ford - 57
4: Lotus-Ford - 30
5: Ram-Ferrari -27
6: Renault - 23
7: McLaren-Ford - 17
8: Brabham-Ford - 16
9: Tyrrell-Ford - 15
10: Alfa Romeo - 8
= Arrows-Ford - 8
12: Wolf-Ford - 6
13: RAM-Ford -5
14: Shadow-Ford - 3