Quick start

Jacques Laffite and Patrick Depailler appeared to have suffered from the heat during the 1979 Brazilian Grand Prix (pictured above), but this didn’t stop them from celebrating a sensational one-two finish with engineer Gérard Ducarouge and the Ligier team.

The Ligier team and its highly efficient JS11-Cosworth effectively dominated this Grand Prix held at the Autódromo de Interlagos, São Paolo. Jacques Laffite dominated this race weekend, first taking pole position, then setting the fastest lap and leading every lap of the event.

His teammate Patrick Depailler started from second on the grid and finished 5 seconds behind the winner. The French team’s dominance in South America was complete, as Laffite had also won in Argentina two weeks earlier and firmly took the championship lead with 18 points from two races.