1977 United States Grand Prix

Championship standings

Lauda leads with 69 points. Scheckter is second with 42 points. With nine points for a win and three races remaining, Lauda needs only a single championship point in any of them to clinch the title.

Championship permutations

Scheckter must win all three remaining races to have a chance. If he does, both drivers would finish on 69 points — but Scheckter would hold the tiebreaker on wins, with five to Lauda’s three. Lauda needs only to score once.

Previous race

At Monza, Andretti took a dominant victory from Lauda; Ferrari clinched the Constructors’ Championship with three races left. Jones was third. Scheckter retired when his engine failed.

Entrants

American driver Danny Ongais makes his Formula 1 World Championship debut. This is Tyrrell’s 100th Grand Prix start.

Practice

Hunt’s McLaren was dominant throughout practice, setting a track record of 1:40.863 on Friday. The Brabham pair of Stuck and Watson were a quarter of a second back, followed by Andretti, Peterson, and the two Ferraris.

For the first time, the United States Grand Prix is held before the Canadian round, following the calendar swap between the two races this year.