1977 Japanese Grand Prix

Mario Andretti and James Hunt continued their late-season battle, with the American pipping Hunt to the pole, with John Watson heading the second row. Hunt took the lead at the start, and Jody Scheckter and Jochen Mass jumped up to second and third, whereas Andretti had a terrible start and was at the tail of the top ten. On the second lap, Andretti was involved in a collision while trying to gain places, putting him out with Binder and Takahara. With Andretti out, Hunt had no challengers left and he built a large gap, with teammate Mass second and Watson passing Scheckter for third. However, both Mass and Watson had to retire within one lap of each other with engine and gearbox failures, and with Scheckter dropping back, Carlos Reutemann was second until he was passed by Jacques Laffite. Hunt went on and capped off the season with a comfortable win, whereas Laffite ran of fuel on the last lap, handing over second to Reutemann and allowing Patrick Depailler to complete the podium.

A marshal and photographer were killed by debris following a collision involving Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari and Ronnie Peterson's Tyrrell P34 on lap six. They had both been standing in a prohibited area of the track when the accident occurred.[2] The marshal was trying to clear spectators away from the area.[3]

After the race concluded, both Hunt and Reutemann left the circuit immediately to catch a flight home, leaving Depailler and his engineer on the podium.[4][5] Rules changed shortly thereafter making the podium celebration mandatory.

March's driver Ian Scheckter was expelled from Japan due to only having a tourist visa passport (unlike his brother Jody Scheckter, who had a working visa) and Japanese objections to the South African apartheid regime.[6]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 72 2 Jody Scheckter 55 3 Mario Andretti 47 4 Carlos Reutemann 42 5 James Hunt 40 Source: [10]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 95 (97) 2 Lotus-Ford 62 3 McLaren-Ford 60 4 Wolf-Ford 55 5 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 27 Source: [10]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 8 results from the first 9 races and the best 7 results from the remaining 8 races were retained. Numbers without parentheses are retained points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.