1977 Canadian Grand Prix

Previous race

At Watkins Glen, Hunt led in wet conditions and held off a late charge by Andretti to take his second consecutive victory there. Scheckter was third and Lauda fourth — enough for the Austrian to clinch his second Drivers’ Championship.

Between-race developments

Having clinched the title at Watkins Glen and already announced his intention to join Brabham in 1978, Lauda abruptly quits Ferrari, unwilling to continue the season. Gilles Villeneuve — who made a one-off appearance at the British Grand Prix in a McLaren — takes Lauda’s seat in the Ferrari for Canada and Japan, in preparation for a full 1978 campaign with the team.

Entrants

Villeneuve starts seventeenth after a qualifying crash at Mosport.

Safety concerns surround the Mosport Park circuit. During practice, Ian Ashley’s Hesketh crested a bump on the main straight and flipped over the barrier, crashing into a television tower. Ashley was seriously injured; it took 40 minutes to extract him from the car and a further 30 minutes before a helicopter arrived. Jochen Mass also crashed at the first corner into a barrier that flattened on impact. Both incidents highlight the track’s bumpy surface and limited run-off.