From inside the garage

Jacques Laffite climbs out of his Ligier JS 11 (pictured above) after qualifying for the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix at the Île Notre-Dame circuit in Montreal. The Frenchman set the fifth fastest time and will start from the third row, while the second Ligier driven by Jacky Ickx is a distant 16th.

During practice, Niki Lauda suddenly announced his retirement from Formula 1. He declared that he was fed up “with going around in circles” and the Brabham team replaced him with the Argentinian rookie Ricardo Zunino.

The race came down to a duel between Alan Jones (Williams) and Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari), a duel that lasted the entire race, and ended with the Australian winning by just a second over the Canadian, disappointed not to win at home.

The two Ligiers did not finish in the top six, having been stopped by mechanical problems. Rookie Ricardo Zunino finished seventh in his Brabham BT49-Cosworth (photo below), but four laps behind the winner.