The 1977 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 9 October 1977, at Mosport Park. It was the 16th and penultimate race of the 1977 Formula One season.
Background
The field arrived in Canada without Niki Lauda who, having clinched the Drivers' Championship at the previous race at Watkins Glen, and having already announced his intention to drive for Brabham in , abruptly quit Ferrari upon learning that the team would bet on the 312T3 model, more conservative, but still technically more outdated in relation to cars with ground effect (which was becoming popular in the category thanks to the success of the Lotus 78). Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve who had made a one-off appearance for McLaren earlier in the season at the British Grand Prix took Lauda's place in the Ferrari team. This was the 100th Grand Prix start for Surtees. In those 100 races, Surtees achieved 2 podium finishes and 3 fastest laps.
Qualifying
Qualifying report
In qualifying, Lotus's Mario Andretti took his sixth pole position of the season, with McLaren's James Hunt alongside him on the front row. Ronnie Peterson was third in his six-wheeled Tyrrell, ahead of Gunnar Nilsson in the second Lotus. The top ten was completed by Jochen Mass in the second McLaren, Patrick Depailler in the second Tyrrell, the Shadows of Alan Jones and Riccardo Patrese, Jody Scheckter in the Wolf, and John Watson in the Brabham. But the safety of the bumpy, high-speed Mosport Park track was in question: during practice Ian Ashley's Hesketh crested one of these bumps on the Mario Andretti straight; it flipped, vaulted the barrier and crashed into a television tower, seriously injuring Ashley and ending his Formula One career. The Englishman survived, but it took 40 minutes to remove him from the car and an additional 30 minutes passed until a helicopter arrived. These problems were underlined later that day when Mass crashed at the first corner into a barrier that flattened upon impact.
Qualifying classification
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%;"
!Pos.
!Driver
!Constructor
!Time
!No
|-
!1
|data-sort-value="and"| Mario Andretti
|Lotus-Ford
|1:11.385
|1
|-
!2
|data-sort-value="hun"| James Hunt
|McLaren-Ford
|1:11.942
|2
|-
!3
|data-sort-value="pet"| Ronnie Peterson
|Tyrrell-Ford
|1:12.752
|3
|-
!4
|data-sort-value="nil"| Gunnar Nilsson
|Lotus-Ford
|1:12.975
|4
|-
!5
|data-sort-value="mas"| Jochen Mass
|McLaren-Ford
|1:13.116
|5
|-
!6
|data-sort-value="dep"| Patrick Depailler
|Tyrrell-Ford
|1:13.207
|6
|-
!7
|data-sort-value="jon"| Alan Jones
|Shadow-Ford
|1:13.347
|7
|-
!8
|data-sort-value="pat"| Riccardo Patrese
|Shadow-Ford
|1:13.435
|8
|-
!9
|data-sort-value="sch,j"| Jody Scheckter
|Wolf-Ford
|1:13.497
|9
|-
!10
|data-sort-value="wat"| John Watson
|Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|1:13.500
|10
|-
!11
|data-sort-value="laf"| Jacques Laffite
|Ligier-Matra
|1:13.739
|11
|-
!12
|data-sort-value="reu"| Carlos Reutemann
|Ferrari
|1:13.890
|12
|-
!13
|data-sort-value="stu"| Hans-Joachim Stuck
|Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|1:13.953
|13
|-
!14
|data-sort-value="reg"| Clay Regazzoni
|Ensign-Ford
|1:13.999
|14
|-
!15
|data-sort-value="bra"| Vittorio Brambilla
|Surtees-Ford
|1:14.229
|15
|-
!16
|data-sort-value="tam"| Patrick Tambay
|Ensign-Ford
|1:14.464
|16
|-
!17
|data-sort-value="vil"| Gilles Villeneuve
|Ferrari
|1:14.465
|17
|-
!18
|data-sort-value="sch,i"| Ian Scheckter
|March-Ford
|1:14.855
|18
|-
!19
|data-sort-value="fit"| Emerson Fittipaldi
|Fittipaldi-Ford
|1:14.857
|19
|-
!20
|data-sort-value="lun"| Brett Lunger
|McLaren-Ford
|1:14.930
|20
|-
!21
|data-sort-value="nev"| Patrick Nève
|March-Ford
|1:15.510
|21
|-
!22
|data-sort-value="ong"| Danny Ongais
|Penske-Ford
|1:15.599
|22
|-
!23
|data-sort-value="rib"| Alex Ribeiro
|March-Ford
|1:15.770
|23
|-
!24
|data-sort-value="bin"| Hans Binder
|Surtees-Ford
|1:16.568
|24
|-
!25
|data-sort-value="ash"| Ian Ashley
|Hesketh-Ford
|1:16.640
| data-sort-value="26" |
|-
!26
|data-sort-value="kee"| Rupert Keegan
|Hesketh-Ford
|1:17.000
|25
|-
!data-sort-value="27"|
|data-sort-value="jab"| Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|Renault
|1:18.999
| data-sort-value="27" |—
|-
! colspan="5" |Source:
|}
Race
Race report
At the start of the race, Andretti led away from Hunt, with Mass charging up to third. Andretti and Hunt then proceeded to pull away from the rest of the field, such that by three-quarter distance, they were coming up to lap third-placed Mass. As they did so, Hunt pulled ahead of Andretti, only to collide with his McLaren team-mate after a misunderstanding. Unable to continue, a visibly furious and agitated Hunt waved his fist at Mass, before punching a marshal and immediately then apologize who was trying to usher him away. He was subsequently fined $2000 for assaulting a marshal and $750 for walking back to the pit lane in an "unsafe manner". Gilles Villeneuve made his debut with Ferrari at this race and started seventeenth after a qualifying crash leading into Moss corner. He had risen to eighth place before spinning in Moss corner on lap 72, dropping back to tenth.
|}
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
!
! Pos
! Driver
! Points
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 1
| Niki Lauda*
| 72
|-
|align="left"| 10px 1
|align="center"| 2
| Jody Scheckter
| 55
|-
|align="left"| 10px 1
|align="center"| 3
| Mario Andretti
| 47
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 4
| Carlos Reutemann
| 36
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 5
| James Hunt
| 31
|-
!colspan=4|Source:
|}
;Constructors' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
!
! Pos
! Constructor
! Points
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 1
| Ferrari*
| 89 (91)
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 2
| Lotus-Ford
| 62
|-
|align="left"| 10px 1
|align="center"| 3
| Wolf-Ford
| 55
|-
|align="left"| 10px 1
|align="center"| 4
| McLaren-Ford
| 51
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 5
| Brabham-Alfa Romeo
| 27
|-
!colspan=4|Source: