1977 British Grand Prix

Championship standings

Lauda takes the championship lead from Scheckter after France. Scheckter did not finish at Dijon-Prenois, while Lauda picked up useful points.

Previous race

At Dijon-Prenois, Watson led most of the race for Brabham before Andretti passed him on the final lap when the Brabham’s Alfa Romeo engine ran dry of fuel. Watson finished second, Hunt third.

Entrants

Gilles Villeneuve makes his Formula 1 World Championship debut. Jean-Pierre Jabouille drives the Renault RS01 — the first turbocharged car to appear in the World Championship — powered by Renault’s factory-developed 1.5-litre turbo engine.

Owing to the unusually large number of entries, a pre-qualifying session takes place on the Wednesday before the race. David Purley suffered a serious accident in pre-qualifying when the throttle stuck open on his LEC, sending him head-on into a wall and subjecting him to a recorded deceleration of 179.8g. He sustained multiple fractures and will spend many months recovering. Purley would never return to a World Championship race. Five drivers from pre-qualifying advance to the full sessions: Villeneuve, Tambay, Jarier, Lunger, and Henton.

Track changes

The British Grand Prix moves to Silverstone after two years at Brands Hatch, as part of the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits.