South African Grand Prix
1979 · Round 3 · Midrand, South Africa · Mar 3, 1979Race summary
Victory went to Villeneuve (from 3rd on the grid), with a 3.420s margin. Regazzoni made the biggest gain, from 22nd on the grid to 9th (up 13 places). Lauda had a difficult race, dropping from 4th to 6th.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Grid | Laps | Time / status | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 3 | 78 | 1:41:49.960 | 9 |
| 2 | Jody Scheckter | Ferrari | 2 | 78 | +3.420 | 6 |
| 3 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Tyrrell | 9 | 78 | +22.110 | 4 |
| 4 | Mario Andretti | Team Lotus | 8 | 78 | +27.880 | 3 |
| 5 | Carlos Reutemann | Team Lotus | 11 | 78 | +1:06.970 | 2 |
| 6 | Niki Lauda | Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 4 | 77 | +1 Lap | 1 |
| 7 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 12 | 77 | +1 Lap | 0 |
| 8 | James Hunt | Wolf | 13 | 77 | +1 Lap | 0 |
| 9 | Clay Regazzoni | Williams | 22 | 76 | +2 Laps | 0 |
| 10 | Patrick Tambay | McLaren | 17 | 75 | +3 Laps | 0 |
| 11 | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows | 16 | 75 | +3 Laps | 0 |
| 12 | Jochen Mass | Arrows | 20 | 74 | +4 Laps | 0 |
| 13 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Fittipaldi | 18 | 74 | +4 Laps | 0 |
| – | Hector Rebaque | Team Lotus | 23 | 71 | Engine | 0 |
| – | René Arnoux | Renault | 10 | 67 | Tyre | 0 |
| – | Alan Jones | Williams | 19 | 63 | Suspension | 0 |
| – | John Watson | McLaren | 14 | 61 | Ignition | 0 |
| – | Hans-Joachim Stuck | ATS | 24 | 57 | Accident | 0 |
| – | Jean-Pierre Jabouille | Renault | 1 | 47 | Engine | 0 |
| – | Jacques Laffite | Ligier | 6 | 45 | Accident | 0 |
| – | Didier Pironi | Tyrrell | 7 | 25 | Throttle | 0 |
| – | Elio de Angelis | Shadow | 15 | 16 | Accident | 0 |
| – | Patrick Depailler | Ligier | 5 | 4 | Accident | 0 |
| – | Jan Lammers | Shadow | 21 | 2 | Accident | 0 |