#294 1977 Italian Grand Prix

Rescued by the rollbar, Tambay still scraped his helmet off the asphalt. Fortunately, he did not suffer any damage and was very quick to get out of his uncomfortable position. Soon after, Lauda and Peterson arrived and stopped to help. Other minor incidents have punctuated the evidence but, fortunately, nothing serious. The trouble, if anything, occurred in the pits, especially in that of Brabham where no one can explain the eleventh time of Stuck and the fourteenth of Watson. Engineer Carlo Chiti only said that it was the other drivers who went strong but it seems that the Anglo-Italian cars had problems with wing and trim and that the engines were not very bright. Patrese, however, was particularly brilliant, imitated by Brambilla who promises for tomorrow, on the home track, a nice race. The race will certainly be lively: The four or five who will lead the race at the beginning will inevitably detach the others and the victory will be played among a few. With Reutemann in the front row and Lauda in the third, who adds to the previous statements:

"Too bad, because at the start I will have to beware of the risk of accidents at the entrance to the first chicane and therefore I will have less chance of moving forward".

Ferrari will be able to fight on two fronts: that of performance and that of the reliability of the machines. The game has already succeeded on other occasions. Let’s not forget that on 300 kilometers of racing at over 200 km/h average, many engines will fail. Jody Scheckter is the last rival of Lauda in this World Championship now at the final parable. It is a rival almost only theoretical since the margin of Niki is wide, and only more a combination of results respectively positive and negative can change a result practically acquired. Yet, around the Wolf box, there is a heightened interest, not just the fever that surrounds Ferrari, but much more than logic would want. The fact is that Scheckter is not so much a character for what he can do now as because Lauda is the likely successor behind the wheel of Ferrari. 

"You say I go to Ferrari? Okay, okay. I don’t know yet. Of course no Ferrari driver refuses to go, if only he has a little intelligence, and so if they want me I’m ready". 

It is the first time that I exchange with Scheckter more than the usual words of convenience but he immediately shortens the distances, a bit because of the language that uniforms everything to you, and a lot because it is in the characteristics of man to find a direct contact between insiders, with clearly different functions. 

"I like Ferrari because it is the symbol of Formula 1. I like to race and with Ferrari I think we can run well". 

He speaks willingly, even if he distracts a little with all that gesturing he does. He is always busy checking that every part of his body is present, reaching it with his arms through strange contortions. As a pilot he is an undisputed talent, as a man he has always been considered a protester, a free spirit, and in this environment, linked to schemes euphemistically definable as authoritarian, it is more a fault than a merit. At Ferrari we know that we do not tolerate indiscipline, indeed we do not even accept individualism: what does he think? 

"I am a normal man. I was a pilot because I liked the adventure of racing. If you take away my imagination, I am no longer me. All I ask is this and in return I give everything I am capable of. No one will ever say that Jody did not commit to the race".

He is South African, a citizen of a country that has against the whole world. Do you feel different? 

"I am not responsible for the politics of my country. For my part I cannot give an answer because I am not a rich man, so I have never had too many privileges, those who probably want to defend themselves with apartheid".

Is it true that if you didn’t have the pilot, you would have joined the army? 

"I also had that idea, but only because it seemed to me a way to get out of the boredom of everyday life and to have an assured future". 

Approaching the patron Wolf, Austrian emigrated to Canada. Jody turns to him in a humming tone to say: 

"There’s another one that wants me at Ferrari". 

Wolf smiles with his large face, because behind his conspicuous mass appears none other than Niki Lauda, the polar opposite of the dilemma. Niki describes the morning incident, with his usual verve, mimicking what happened. To see them close make a strange contrast, characters very different from each other, as well as pilots with different characteristics. There will be a problem of succession also for this, for the change of environment that the rotation proposes. 

"I don’t believe in these difficulties. The important thing is that when the car gets on track it goes faster than the others. Wanting the problem is only this since all brands have new weapons, and especially Brabham has already realized the future". 

Scheckter says in more diplomatic terms what Regazzoni had said in previous days with a certain brutality. The Ferrari is a difficult car on which especially you can not make a bad impression. Niki Lauda managed to make it a winner, coming after it is difficult but not impossible. It has been said that a Formula 1 Grand Prix is the greatest spectacle in the world. In Monza it is confirmed. On the one hand the drivers who try to improve their performance in a tense atmosphere, on the other the managers of the various teams who seek advertising agreements and lead the more or less secret negotiations of the market of runners, on all the public - many young people - for whom the race is an occasion of celebration, festival and bullfighting at the same time. There is also the spectacle of the international sports executives, the last amateurs of these Grand Prix turned into a gigantic business that would require professional commitment at every level. A demeaning spectacle, because the men of the CIS talk a lot, but they seem far from the real problems of Formula 1. They did not know how to foresee the development and now they do not seem able to fill the gap that their absence has left and in which the smartest managers of the Circus have slipped. But these are problems that are of little interest to the spectators. Drivers count, cars count - maybe a little less - than cars. And it’s logical: you identify with Niki Lauda, with Mario Andretti, with James Hunt. 

You admire the ability of man, his courage, you criticize an attitude, a decision, you comment a maneuver, an overtake. And there is the eternal question of racing, is it stronger who drives or the car? A question that the divorce between Lauda and Ferrari proposes in recent weeks. Was it the Austrian, as a driver and test driver, who brought Ferrari back to the top of Formula 1, or was it Ferrari that found the road to success and allowed a young man almost unknown (whether it was Niki or not) to become champion? Sunday will not be easy for Scuderia Ferrari and its drivers to beat their rivals at Monza. The outcome of the tests, with the recovery of Hunt and the improvements of Jody Scheckter and Mario Andretti, predicts an extremely uncertain race. The gaps are minimal, there is an almost perfect balance. It may be regrettable that Hunt has mocked Lauda and Carlos Reutemann, that Niki could not keep pole position, but already in other Grands Prix, and to a much greater extent, the pair of drivers of the Maranello team had been overtaken in training and then had triumphed in the race. Lauda’s intelligence, his opponents' mistakes, the reliability of Maranello’s machines had transformed situations that seemed to be losing at the start. And this is certainly not the case today. A fact is certain: among the top six drivers who will start tomorrow in the Italian Grand Prix, five have little to lose. They are Hunt, Reutemann, Scheckter, Andretti and the young Riccardo Patrese, for the first time inserted to such level. Lauda needs safe points and will be satisfied with what the events of the race will allow him to do. 

Not very exciting, perhaps, but that’s how he’s winning the World Championship again. In Reutemann, as in the past happened to Clay Regazzoni, will have to compile to electrify Monza with his Ferrari. However, it should be added that Italian fans had always flocked to Monza with the sole purpose of following the events of the single-seaters of Maranello. This year, however, Niki Lauda and his teammates are no longer the only attraction for spectators. On this second day of testing eyes and hearts are divided between Ferrari and the Italian drivers engaged in the Grand Prix. Brambilla, Patrese, Giacomelli and Leoni present themselves determined to play a role of first plano and not to appear as the simple compamari. The reaction of the times, at the end of the day of practice, confirms the possibilities of the Italian drivers. Riccardo Patrese is the fastest, recording an excellent time, only a few cents higher than that of Lauda. He admits that Patrese:

"I had been chasing a result like this for some time, in the last few months it had all gone wrong and my morale had also suffered. Today, after I developed the Shadow, I went to the end of my skills and the time has come. The car responded well, but it is a performance desired and obtained with the heart. Tomorrow’s race, like all races, is a rebus. Anyway, I plan to make a good impression and place myself in the first". 

Vittorio Brambilla got the tenth best performance. 

"I really hope to have a good race, the car is perfectly on track and this is already a great thing. In the morning I had fitted a softer rear berrà and I had reduced the downforce both front and rear. With these modifications the Surtees became faster without losing anything in the outfit. There was a lot of discussion, in recent days, on the problem of possible overtakings with thirty-five cars on track, but I must say that I did not have these problems. For tomorrow my goal is to get into the top six, but it will be a fiery race, open to every result and who knows that some surprise is born". 

Bruno Giacomelli has defended himself well and his fifteenth time is remarkable if we take into account that the driver from Brescia is practically at his debut in Formula 1. After the tests Giacomelli is long celebrated and with the excuse that today is his twenty-fifth birthday, is forced to toast. Lamberto Leoni was disappointed. The young Romagnolo was rather unlucky and could not qualify. 

"In the first session I blocked the throttle to the maximum and to avoid getting into spin I turned off the engine. Unfortunately, I was unable to start the car again and I lost the whole hour and a half of training". 

Among the Italians also included Giorgio Francia, but the Milanese, who on Friday had had to sell the Brabham-Alfa to Stuck after just four laps, could not even get in the car. Ecclestone considered it essential to have the forklift as a spare car for Stuck and Watson. France, clearly disappointed, leaves immediately after the tests the circuit and goes to Balocco to carry out tests for the Alfa Romeo, of which it is dependent. It is unfortunately painful to see how lightly they deluded for days and days the Italian driver to then serve him this treatment on the day he long awaited the debut in Formula 1. Moreover, at the end of qualifying, the worst of the entire season of Brabham, the president of Alfa Romeo, Cortesi, writes a personal and confidential letter to Bernie Ecclestone, in which he specifies:

"When we said goodbye yesterday afternoon you told me you were sorry for our position on the starting grid; the worst to date in 1977 and, what’s worse, on our home track, where the commercial and image stakes are higher than elsewhere. Certainly Watson and Stuck did what they could yesterday, as did his organization. But why should I hide my disappointment that Alfa Romeo’s skills and judgment are often ignored? I can not understand why the other teams came to test in Monza last week, while we did not, even with a single car (among other things Balocco is always available). I’m sure we would have benefited".

Then he adds:

"What benefit can Carlo Chiti have as an observer? There is nothing personal about my reminding you, as a businessman, that your technical decisions can have a great and costly impact on our public image. For this reason, without implying that a team can be managed by two leaders, I believe I have a reasonable right to be consulted before any technical decision, and to expect all the preparation and experimentation possible before each race".

On Sunday morning the usual vast crowd pours into Monza from an early hour, banners in the public enclosures and grandstands obviously proclaiming allegiance to the Ferrari team with at least one begging Lauda not to leave Maranello to join the Brabham-Alfa set-up. Brambilla has written off TS19/06 in the morning warm up at the first chicane, but as Leoni hasn’t qualified he has taken over TS19/07 for the race, while one spectator was killed and several injured when an advertising hoarding they were spectating from collapsed under the strain of too many people. Eventually, almost half an hour prior to the half-past-three start, the cars trickle out onto their grid and Hunt definitely takes up pole position, refusing to be ruffled by the catcalls and jeers from the crowd. Meanwhile, the last race of Niki Lauda with Ferrari in Italy is being prepared. A day that, despite the triumphant second place of Bunny (nicknamed so for his protruding teeth), leaves to those who know him a little 'regret, like all goodbyes. Saturday night, Roberto Nosetto talks to Carlos Reutemann at dinner, saying: 

"Do your race, but do not forget that you run for the Ferrari".

The next day, minutes before the race, Niki Lauda asked Roberto Nosetto if he should consider Carlos Reutemann an opponent or teammate. The answer is diplomatic:

"Think of the race, and not of Carlos or the others". 

A few days before, Mauro Forghieri said: 

"Many newspapers have often treated him badly, others spoke of him in a calm tone but always with a certain detachment. He had to leave Ferrari to become the good Niki. What do they believe? We are also sorry that he is leaving and the reason is double: he is a good driver and in addition he will race for someone else and we will find him against us". 

The computer, as they called it so falsely, comes to the box and immediately the cries of the crowd are great that is crowded on the terrace above: 

"Niki. Good luck. Niki you’re the best".

Over a few isolated whistles. Then a huge applause when he passes on the straight of the stands to get to the starting grid. Ferrari team managers are not entirely calm. The front tires slightly lose air where the Goodyear brand is imprinted. 

"I have my ass wringing because after a few turns the texture dilates and becomes porous". 

Says Mauro Forghieri, before the mechanics remedy the inconvenience by brushing the spot with liquid rubber. 

While in the box there is not an inch of space even for Marlene, Lauda’s wife, even Carlos Reutemann, the man who remains, collects his dose of clapping at the entrance to the track. Then the whistles rain on Hunt that just does not collect the sympathy of Italian fans. On the wall that separates the pits from the track there is Philippe Niarkos, son of the owner with his girlfriend and, a little further on Mimicha, Reutemann’s wife, who holds the tachometer of the Grand Prix. There are a few minutes to go and still the speaker Incita some fans, entered you do not know how on the track, to get out of the way to Lauda’s car. If Niki is cold, he still managed to arouse warmth and sympathy among fans of Maranello cars. At 3:31 p.m. the race starts. Marlene takes refuge under a colorful parasol. The hand that holds it trembles slightly, the right covers her lips that chews nervously, to hide the anxiety that torments her. At each step he will try to penetrate through the wall of heads in front of him, in order to perceive the red flash of #11.

"I can’t see".

She will say almost enraged, trying to climb on the wall of the box. But she will be forced to leave in search of a better position because whoever took her place before her does not give up. Everyone wants to be there to celebrate with the team a possible victory. Slowly they depart on their pace lap and, bang on time the starting light turns to green to unleash the field. Hunt and Reutemann find themselves swallowed up by Andretti and Lauda as they sprint down to the first chicane with Regazzoni bursting through to take a brief second place. Out of the chicane it is Scheckter’s Wolf in the lead, the young South African ace not messing about or waiting for anybody and extending his lead all the way round the first lap, emerging from Parabolica with a huge advantage over Hunt’s McLaren. Andretti dives past Regazzoni at Parabolica and is third ahead of the Ensign, Reutemann, Lauda, Mass, Brambilla, Watson, Stuck, Patrese, Depailler, Peterson, Jones, Jarier, Giacomelli, Nilsson, Jabouille, Tambay, Keegan, Lunger, Ian Scheckter and Neve. Laffite’s Ligier has overheated on the grid and then stalled, so the French car has been late away after attention at the side of the track, while the Renault has bashed its left nose spoiler against somebody’s rear wheel and this is now sticking up in the air. Laffite has stopped at the end of his first lap for more water to be added, but the Ligier continues at the back of the field and races on without any further problems all the way to the finish. On the second lap Andretti shot past Hunt’s McLaren, leaving the Englishman to grapple with the two Ferraris, and made off after Scheckter. But the blue and gold Wolf is setting a tremendous pace and it takes the Lotus driver a few laps to make any ground on Scheckter at all. Then, after about five laps, the Lotus pulls steadily closer to the Wolf until, on lap nine, he seems all set to pounce. 

Anxious not to be over-enthusiastic in his passing manoeuvres (as he had been at Zandvoort), Andretti shadows the Wolf closely for just over a complete lap before running calmly right round the outside of Scheckter as they come round Parabolica for the tenth time. A few laps of weaving to get the Wolf out of his Lotus’s slipstream and Andretti is away, never to be challenged again. Meanwhile, there has been plenty of excitement going on further down the field. Watson, anxious to get up with the leaders, has tried an over ambitious pass at outbreaking Mass and Regazzoni as they rushed into the first chicane at the end of the opening lap. He has misjudged the distance and slid, in a shower of dirt, across the kerbing on the right before crashing back onto the circuit. The damage has been done; an engine casting has been cracked and the Alfa flat-12 quickly begins to overheat. Watson crawls sadly back to the pits to retire at the cnd of the second lap for the second successive race. Two laps later Nilsson comes crawling in with a cracked suspension upright, the legacy of another nudging match, and Jarier’s Penske is soon in as well requiring a fresh nose section to be fitted before he can resume. As Andretti has driven smoothly and confidently away from the Wolf, Hunt is having an increasingly hectic time fending off Reutemann and Lauda. During the morning warm-up the McLaren has been fitted with a harder compound left front tyre than has been expected owing to unexpectedly high indications of wear, and this has thrown the M26’s balance a little bit out. Hunt is having to work extremely hard to keep up and, when Jarier’s Penske appears in the way they finish their 11th lap, Reutemann attempts to squeeze out the McLaren against the Frenchman as they come up to lap him. There isn’t room for James to go through, so he spins off. 

The two Ferraris go through in third and fourth places, leaving Hunt to resume in eighth place behind team-mate Mass. He quickly passes the German driver, but then spins again before coming into the pits to have the front end of the car examined. Mechanics jack up the M26, closely examining the brake pads and steering, before returning Hunt to the fray many laps down. He does just one flying lap before the brakes go funny and he spins again, this time not rejoining. Monza certainly still shows up mechanical fragility, and engine failures come fast and furious. Lunger’s McLaren is out, its engine almost cut in two by a wayward connecting rod, on the fifth lap; Brambilla comes in with overheating after picking up debris from Watson’s moment on lap 6, and Tambay’s Ensign has succumbed on lap 19. Hans Stuck is doing his best for the Brabham-Alfa team and has got up to fifth place, pursued by Jones’ Shadow which has come through well from its lowly grid position, while Patrese has dropped right back in amongst the mid-field runners after a peculiar moment out on the circuit when has found himself in neutral and taken a few seconds to select any sort of gear. On lap 23 the Renault finally stops with engine failure, while any realistic pressure on Andretti evaporates next time round as Scheckter stops the Wolf with engine failure out on the circuit. That leaves Andretti comfortably ahead of the two Ferraris, cruising smoothly round in confident style and hoping that his newly installed Cosworth development DFV won't let him down on this occasion. Alfa Romeo challenge ends on lap 31 when Stuck’s Brabham blows its engine, but not before the press-on Alan Jones moves his Shadow through into what is now fourth place. Fifth and sixth at this stage are Mass and Regazzoni ahead of Peterson, making the most of things with his Tyrrell. A few laps later Reutemann’s engine starts to sound a little rough, the result of a cracked exhaust pipe, so Lauda takes second place from his team-mate but the Argentinian hangs on and keeps close station behind. Reutemann, after Scheckter breaks up, is second followed by Niki. Therefore Ghedini asks Nosetto to signal Reutemann to pass Lauda, but the sports director blocks the order. Later, when Nosetto also calls Enzo Ferrari, it will be discovered that Sante Ghedini has complained about the refusal of the sports director to signal Reutemann to make Lauda pass, calling the commander on the phone. Things stabilized and Ermanno Cuoghi, mechanical head of the Austrian’s car, unbuttoned when asked what Lauda really is, who, in the eyes of those who do not know him, from what they wrote and said appears like a kind of grumpy and irritable bear. 

"Nothing is true, he is not only good but also nice. Ask the boys, I lived next to him for four years, we often went out together for breakfast or lunch".

So it wasn’t just a good morning work relationship, good evening? 

"No, of course. It has its own character that you just understand. Something must not be forced upon him, but he accepts everything on the basis of reasoning and on the line of logic. On the other hand this is his strength, reason and understand, what makes him not only a great driver but also a good technician for the development of the machines". 

Marlene returns to the pits and realizes that Scheckter is gone. 

"What’s Niki’s position?"

They answer her.

"So what does he have to do to become World Champion? He just needs a second place?"

Almost. It’s not perfect math, but the title is pretty much done. It is beautiful this foolishness of Marlene who only trembles for his man without even knowing what is the mathematical calculation that will lead him to the coveted final conclusion. 

On lap 33 Forghieri, while Reutemann and Niki keep the second and third position says: 

"Now we can only hope that the race ends like this, if they lowered the checkered flag at this time they would make us happy". 

Soon after, however, he runs to the mechanics beating his forefinger on his ear. He heard a strange noise as the Argentinian passed:

"The right exhaust extension is cracked. I hope Carlos continues because it takes at least four minutes to change it. Many. Too many". 

Unfortunately, it’s the prelude to Reutemann’s retirement. On lap 39 the last major incident of the race occurs when Giacomelli’s McLaren blows its engine as it crosses the start/finish line. The little Italian driver continues down to the first chicane, leaving a swathe of oil in his wake before spinning on his own lubricant as he comes out of the tight chicane. The two Ferraris are coming up to lap Giacomelli at this point and while Lauda sees the oil and moves to one side, Reutemann doesn’t and spins quickly off the circuit into the sand. A mechanic who follows the race from a portable television runs to say that Carlos turned to the first variant and perhaps also touched Lauda who had overtaken him a few laps earlier. 

"Niki and Carlos in an accident". 

Forghieri shouts to Ghedini and Nosetto who are at the timekeeper.

"Calm and steady, let’s see what happened". 

Twelve long endless seconds then Lauda appears without damage. It is a sigh of relief as Mimicha, who was now hoping for her husband’s third place, leaves the tachometer with a gesture of anger. Reutemann walks to the box to the applause of the crowd. They are rightfully due to him because until now he has led an exemplary race and he did not deserve to end it so sadly on an oil stain. A few seconds later he is followed off the circuit by Patrese’s Shadow, which spins in exactly the same place, the DN8 striking a marshal but not injuring him seriously. From this point onwards any vestige of racing is over. Andretti reels off the remaining 13 laps in superbly confident style to score a personally gratifying victory in front of a crowd that he considers to be made up of his compatriots. It is the fifth victory for Colin Chapman’s Lotus 78 (including Nilsson’s win at Zolder), an endorsement of the fact that Team Lotus are back in business in the best possible way. Lauda finishes a steady second, to the accompaniment of cheers from the crowd, while Jones is a deserved third after a lot of hard work. Mass, Regazzoni and Peterson trail across the line in the next three places while Neve is seventh, Laffite a hard-charging eighth and Keegan ninth and last after spinning his Hesketh a couple of times and making a pit stop as well. Not a great race by any means, but, to judge from the reaction of the crowd as they swarm across the circuit on the slowing down lap, a very popular victory indeed. Mario Andretti can be happy and unhappy at the same time. Happy for a victory in front of an audience that feels his, discontent because it is useless for the World Championship. Mario has thrown away this year all ambition, a bit for his mistakes (the collision with Watson in Belgium, the one with Hunt in the Netherlands) a bit for mistakes of his team (gasoline in Sweden) a little 'for the crisis of Cosworth engines, exploded on his car too many times. A real shame for him, who at 37 years is committed with youthful enthusiasm in Formula 1. His Lotus is undoubtedly the most competitive car in the industry, even if known were missing positive moments and negative moments: but those positive, mistakes apart, are superior to the negative. Reliability was lacking, which was instead the basic dowry of Ferrari, the one that allowed an intelligent and careful Lauda to get to the title, winning valuable placements and sometimes unexpected victories. In Monza, the Austrian raced as an accountant, without a rush, but precise and opportunistic, and once again he was right. 

Scheckter’s Wolf engine failed, Hunt retired due to brake problems. Mario Andretti took away the satisfaction of winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and Niki Lauda won 99.99% his second Formula 1 world title. This is the summary of a race saddened by the tragic prologue of the collapse of a billboard crowded with unconscious spectators and then dragged with a certain monotony for 52 laps. Andretti took his fourth win of the season. Lauda now has 27 points ahead of Scheckter and three Grands Prix still to run: USA East, Canada (if the safety committee gives its approval) and Japan. Since the winner of each race takes 9 points, Scheckter could reach Niki (and then beat him for the most statements, as the rules state in the event of a tie) only triumphing in all three tests. But it is not enough: the Austrian, at the same time, should not conquer even a point (equivalent to a sixth place). It is a valid argument for mathematics and theory, certainly not for practice. Lauda and Ferrari have now won the World Championship. They did so with more luck and with more merit than in 1975, the season in which the Lauda-Ferrari duo prevailed with an extraordinary superiority. This year everything has been difficult and suffered, complicated by a technical crisis and a moral crisis. The first, good or bad, was resolved, the second resulted in the divorce between the driver and the Maranello team. A divorce that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, because it had proved too valid in these four years the union between the young Austrian ace and the Scuderia Ferrari. But there is nothing eternal, and the challenge that in 1978 will be held among the former could be a stimulating theme for the championship. If Monza, therefore, has rewarded in a different way Andretti and Lauda, it was once again stingy with the Italian drivers. Many things were expected from the Italian drivers in this Grand Prix, and hopes were fairly well founded after Riccardo Patrese had recorded an excellent time in practice, so that he could start in the third row, and that Vittorio Brambilla, the local idol, was lined up in the fifth row and enjoyed the advantage of experience in addition to knowing every secret of the track. Last but not least, Bruno Giacomelli was at his first race in the top formula. Unfortunately, for all three, the race ended badly. Says Patrese, with a tense face from which shines anger for a failed good placement:

"It’s a race to forget. Already at the start I got stuck in the second gear and I was overtaken by other drivers then, on the thirteenth lap, I dropped the left rear tyre and I had to go back to the box to replace it. Finally, after being rounded by Reutemann, I was in his wake when, at the braking before the chicane at the bottom of the starting straight, I slipped on the oil left on the track by Giacomelli and I came out. At this juncture I also feared to finish straight against the Ferrari of Reutemann, which had preceded me in the exit of the track, because my car had become unworkable. Fortunately, as I entered the sand, it deflected slightly and I stopped, touching Ferrari. Unfortunately, in the skid, I touched with the aileron a fireman who had promptly entered the track to rescue Reutemann". 

Bruno Giacomelli was forced to leave.

"I left cautiously, because I didn’t want to risk it. In fact, at the first chicane I was paired with Watson, but I let him pass by preferring to wait for the race to settle. The trouble started immediately on the third lap when I lost a balancing weight of a front wheel and the car started to vibrate. After two laps the engine decreased in power, so much so that in the straight I did not exceed 9,800 laps. My aim, however, was to complete the race and for this reason I continued with my rhythm". 

A few laps, only six, for Vittorio Brambilla. 

"I had a good start and I felt I could keep the pace of the former without too much difficulty. At the second lap I almost was not put out of the race by Watson who after a skid in re-entering the track has touched me a few millimeters. Unfortunately, after only four laps the oil pressure went to zero and I realized that there was nothing more to do. I continued the same for two more rounds, then seeing that the red lubricant light had also turned on I preferred to turn off the engine to not send everything roast. Of course I have no luck at Monza". 

Jody Scheckter, dark in the face, smoky in London, kicks a beer can and hits the trailer door. The goal does not satisfy him. 

Says the South African:

"Only by winning at Monza could I still hope to get to the world title. When I broke the engine I closed my eyes and cursed. It couldn’t get any worse. But I already realized that I would not be able to get to the line well when Andretti passed me at the parabolic curve". 

A dark face also for Carlos Reutemann, who was very hopeful in the Italian Grand Prix to fully secure the trust of Ferrari that renewed his contract for next year. Carlos started badly because he did not see the traffic light that gave the green signal, he had some uncertainty and then ended his race before the time coming out on the sand of the variant after the straight He has no difficulty explaining what happened:

"I was in the wake of Lauda because I had previously broken an exhaust pipe and the engine made less. I was hoping to stay in that position when I got into the chicane. I didn’t see, just because I was behind Niki, the reports of the commissioners waving flags for oil on the track and I ended up on it. It was impossible to avoid going off the road. Too bad, because I was hoping to get a good result in front of the Italian audience". 

The climate is no better on McLaren’s stand, despite Mass’s fourth place. James Hunt seems more hunchback than usual and his eyes are fixed in the void. He was in the car for a long time waiting for the technicians to solve his problems, then he had to leave.

"The brakes gave me away. I was walking like I was on a bicycle with one wheel and a couple of times I risked a bad accident. I thought I had a good race in Monza, but this year I don’t like one. Perhaps the luck that had accompanied me in 1976 with the victory in the world title this time has abandoned me to visit someone else...". 

Satisfaction for Clay Regazzoni, on the other hand. The Swiss won an excellent fifth place. He says with confidence: 

"I could have done even better, because I had a great start: I got in the middle of the others and I was in a good position. Maybe I could have risked a little more and even gone ahead. But it’s better not to overdo it. I’ll settle for fifth place".

The Italian Grand Prix has experienced many difficult moments over the years, all linked to the race. This year the drama happened about six hours before Mario Andretti won for the fourth time in the year and that Niki Lauda almost won his second world title. A billboard, on which dozens of spectators had climbed since 6:00 a.m. collapsed. Sixty or so people remain involved, including one dead and 23 injured, including five dying. The others are hospitalized with prognosis ranging from 120 days to a week. At the end of the race the only serious accident, the one that involved Reutemann and Patrese, ended up on the oil lost by Giacomelli, caused another injured, the race commissioner Pasini who has a fractured leg. Never before has the Grand Prix been so successful as this year, and it was precisely the crowds that exceeded all limits that caused the accident. The facilities of the circuit are inadequate and those who pay the ticket to see nothing, look with a lot of recklessness even at the risk of their lives, the best position. The accident happens around 11:00 a.m., while on the track the protagonists of the Alfasud Trophy battle, all the same cars, unleashed in a fight with doors.  the public is already intent on the show, in particular the luckiest that has taken possession of one of the largest scoreboards, that of Gulf gasoline located in a dominant position on the chicane that closes the finish straight. The heavy trellis painted in orange and blue is high at the maximum point eleven meters: but without warning it folds back on itself, towards the grove, and overwhelms in the fall the occupants of the lower sectors, projecting away at a distance those at the top. 

The subsidence is caused by the increasing weight and the progressive weakening of the wooden and sheet structure: each spectator, in order to make his own space, had released one of the metal panels that, despite being stuck on the wood, were in turn bearing. No one has time to prepare for the leap, which is equivalent, for those higher up, to a flight from the third floor of a house. Shortly after, Angelo Gandolfi, a boy from Calolziocorte, still in shock, says, white on his face and with a sore leg:

"We were at the top from 6:00 a.m. and people kept coming down. Since Friday, all the young people were coming up and nothing had happened. It was like in the grandstand, the one that costs 30.000 lire, a little more uncomfortable only. I work as a bricklayer and the height doesn’t scare me, but this time I felt that I was missing everything below and I didn’t have time to react. I was flying, then I ended up in the branches and I ran over them". 

Gian Pietro Sacrestani and Fulvio Bonviani arrived from Brescia and the Gulf billboard were loyal customers since Friday: 

"For us it doesn’t matter, but there are those who really got hurt". 

The ambulances will shuttle with the hospitals of Monza and Sesto. Carabinieri and policemen will get into a lot of trouble because the public, attracted by the sound of sirens, will begin to rush disorderly, hindering the rescue. A young brigadier will say angrily: 

"To think that up until ten minutes ago we were yelling at them to come down and they were making fun of us from above. We knew the risk was there, but they probably thought we just wanted to keep order".

Fake tickets, traffic cops turned into scalpers, car columns that make the trees in the park cough. Monza this year seems destined to burst and the public becomes crowds already at 8:00 a.m.: half a day in front to pass before seeing the race. The very serious incident of the Gulf scoreboard shakes more than other morbid curiosity at the moment, a few episodes of sports looting (runaways over the controls, reconquering the places abandoned by those who were afraid, etc.)a little 'of pain for those guys who drag around all the pieces, their poor things lost, especially a day that could be happy turned into sad return and for someone even in pain not soon exhaustible. No one realizes the seriousness of the incident, The fact that there was a dead, and many serious injuries: the speaker’s invitations to leave the most dangerous locations fall into the void; later, just before the start of the race, Proserpio (this is the name of the owner of one of the most famous voices in Italy: all sports events, Giro d'Italia in the head) will say: 

"I was tempted to say: guys have already died one don’t do anything crazy. Then I was afraid of the panic that could come out of it. Never before have I felt responsible for the moods of the crowd".

Nevertheless, the after race has only one predominant theme: American Ferrari or better Italian-American? The victory of Mario Andretti in the Italian Grand Prix in fact proposes the candidacy of the driver of Trieste origin to replace Niki Lauda, after the divorce of the Austrian. Currently the driver has at his disposal one of the most competitive cars, the Lotus, perhaps the car that best suits the different circuits, and a very respectable team as organization and financial possibilities. The agreement with Colin Chapman, patron of the team is perfect and Andretti well liked by technicians and mechanics. So what should Scuderia Ferrari offer to support Carlos Reutemann with the Italian-American champion? Probably all the possible guarantees to bring Mario to the world title. In the after race Andretti speaks clearly: 

"Winning in Monza was one of my two dreams. Now I miss realizing the other, to become World Champion". 

In the week (or perhaps already Tuesday, September 13, 1977, when Enzo Ferrari will talk to the journalists he will invite to Maranello for a meeting defined explanatory) we will know how it will end the story. Almost excluding Emerson Fittipaldi who cannot leave the Copersucar, the shortlist of drivers who can go to Ferrari narrows down. In addition to that of Andretti, he has made the name of Jody Scheckter but just the Canadian billionaire of Austrian origin Walter Wolf very strongly says that he will not like interference with his programs on South African. 

"Many teams, including Ferrari, contacted Jody ahead of time to ask him if he would be willing to transfer. This fact, among other things, may have upset him and have reduced his performance in recent races. One thing, however, must be clear: Scheckter’s contract is in my hands and I will make life very difficult for anyone who wants to disturb my plans". 

Beyond the wishes of Ferrari therefore, it remains to be seen what will really be the available drivers. Actually, Ferrari would have already won a good driver. This is Eddie Cheever, the young American who lives in Rome and who has been highlighted in the minor formulas and in other races for grand tourism. But the programs on Cheever would be long-term, that is, we would like to prepare it for the 1979 season. To achieve this goal Eddie will race next year in a Formula 2 team that will be supported by Ferrari with the endowment of six-cylinder Dino engines particularly cared for. Cheever could also be tested on a Ferrari 312 T2 in the Imola race to be held later this month, as well as Giacomelli could try a Martini-Brabham-Alfa. But we are on the long-distance forecast and right now it is interesting to know only who will replace Lauda on the Maranello car. Andretti’s prices have certainly increased with success at Monza, but it will be difficult for the Italian-American to get rid of his commitments with Lotus. Scheckter has a Wolf problem. Unless Lauda gives up at the last minute the idea of going to Brabham and decides to move in with his Austrian-Canadian friend and makes a trade. Andretti, however, would have already had an interview with Enzo Ferrari last week and will probably have another one within a few hours. What will the pilot and the constructor say? There are many topics to deal with. We will talk about engagements, programs, ideas to develop. For Mario, assuming that Ferrari’s offers are to his liking, the decision is difficult. In the meantime, in the confusion of the after-race phone is not easy. Engineer Mauro Forghieri is looking for the most hospitable box office to talk to Enzo Ferrari. It happens to Ferodo, and there, between a few prying ears, she makes her immediate report. Without the shorthand accuracy, its sentences, more or less, result of this tenor: 

"Yes, Commander, today the little guy ran well. He did what he could with a good car. Yes, yes, he behaved better than expected, thoughtful and intelligent". 

The reference clearly seems to fit in with Andretti, one of the drivers designated to take the place of Lauda next season. Almost as a continuation of the speech, which concerns more the future than the present, Forghieri, in fact, continues, talking about Scheckter: 

"He had a lot of bad luck. I think his car was inferior to Lotus. It was an engine problem, not a mistake". 

For the Scuderia Ferrari drivers, just a few words. 

"Niki won well. Yes, he won, he won the World Championship. Now it’s just more about getting a point. Reutemann had bad luck on the road, but more bad luck before. It wasn’t an engine defect, but the extension of an exhaust that came off. No, no problem, Ferraris always come at the bottom".

In fact, the reliability of the Maranello cars is now proverbial: suffice it to mention that in fourteen races the two 312 T2 totaled twenty places, with an average of ten per car. 

It is no coincidence that Scheckter’s Wolf, who is still in second place, scored seven places, while Lotus averaged six and McLaren averaged five and a half. Since these machines use the same type of engine it is evident that the different positions are to be found in the different chassis set-up and also in the different engine preparation. It has been seen that when Cosworth engine users wanted to play on more powerful versions they regularly lost due to increased fragility: The risk of breaking increases fearfully with even small increases in power. If the first part of the Italian Grand Prix can serve as an element of judgment, then certainly Lotus and Wolf are good as a chassis, or at least they adapt very well to the driving of their drivers. It could also be, as many people say, that Andretti and Scheckter risk more than Lauda: obviously this could be tried only with Andretti and Scheckter on Ferraris and on the same track, which is impossible, at least for now. But it could be instead that Ferrari pays in terms of a slight difference in road holding that exceptional reliability: and this championship has clearly shown that reliability is more important than absolute speed. Let’s not forget that the rankings are based on the final placings of each race and not on the test laps. Lauda, Forghieri and his companions have not lost sight of this crucial detail and have worked towards this end. Among other things, it should be noted the continuous recovery of Shadow (since the Southgate designer has returned to the team), with an exceptional time in Patrese and a third place for Jones already winner in Austria. The McLaren instead goes at times: this time the cars were betrayed by the brakes, more often it was the engine but it is clear that the M26 still needs a lot of work. The drop in Brabham-Alfa is inexplicable. If there were explanations (and easy remedies) the engineer Carlo Chiti would not have been so furious as never seen before. 

And maybe not even so alone, since Ecclestone leaves the Monza circuit, at the end of the fourth lap of the Grand Prix, to return to London due to an illness that has affected him throughout the weekend (the English manager will be visited by a doctor of confidence the next day), while of the direction Autodelta-Alfa Romeo remains in Monza only Pierluigi Corbari, which is left the task of explaining to the press the defeat of the Anglo-Italian team. The Renault turbo is still in trouble but it is still too young to be judged. Meanwhile, the chassis is fine all the more because, unlike what you believe, the advantage is not all in Michelin tires. Jabouille explains that French tyres have enormous development potential, because they are radial and start from where the others have now arrived, but the tread compound is tough compared to that of Goodyear, so much so that with a train of Michelin tires you could do three Grand Prix. The qualitative leap will happen when, according to the current tests, the technicians will make a softer compound, with which the performance will improve significantly. Upon the return of Scuderia Ferrari to Maranello, Roberto Nosetto asked to speak privately with Enzo Ferrari. Nosetto tells Ferrari an episode in which his wife, Renata, was the protagonist in a Grand Prix, relating to the future abandonment of Lauda and Ermanno Cuoghi, his chief mechanic. Renata Nosetto tells her husband that while she was busy slicing ham in the kitchen corner of the Scuderia Ferrari truck, Lauda confessed to Cuoghi, speaking in English, that at the end of the season she would leave Ferrari, and asks him to follow him. Renata, who in the meantime has hidden herself to better listen to the conversation, is noticed by Cuoghi, who closes the argument exclaiming the term Lovely. Nosetto will not immediately confide what happened to Ferrari, because viole be first sure of what is happening. But Lauda’s recent divorce with Ferrari confirms his doubts. When Roberto Nosetto talks about it to Ferrari, the latter gets angry, and exclaims: 

"You must always tell me everything, even when it is not sure, this time all the more since your wife was sure, speaks and understands English".

The following day, Tuesday, September 13, 1977 Eddie Cheever tries to Fiorano, and later is invited to dinner by Nosetto and his wife. The American driver never misses an opportunity to underline his point of view about Ferrari’s commitment to make him race in Formula 2, rather than in Formula 1. Cheever adds that if they take an established driver in place of Niki Lauda, like Andretti or Scheckter will be fine, but if they were to put it aside in favor of hiring Tambay or Villeneuve would not accept it:

"I stick those when I want to".

Exclaims the American pilot. The Scuderia Ferrari, meanwhile, continues its testing with Carlos Reutemann, in secret, the Michelin tires, which are competitive but after a while vibrate, leading the Argentine driver to numerous track outings. In the meantime, a phone call comes to Maranello from Marcheggiani who reads a Ansa news regarding some statements by Niki Lauda recently released, in which the Austrian driver expresses his opinion on his decision to leave the Maranello team:

"The Commander can say what he wants of me, I will always love him. The mechanics are wonderful. Forghieri has a difficult character, but we always got along. I leave Ferrari because of the presence of Roberto Nosetto, who I think is incompetent". 

The news surprised the Scuderia Ferrari sports director, who responded by saying:

"Niki has always told me facts and not words. The facts are that Ferrari is making him win the world championship, nothing more to add". 

Despite the diplomatic response, the engineer Nosetto remains disheartened. Subsequently, the newspaper Stadium publishes the reasons why Lauda considered Nosetto an amateur: before the Italian Grand Prix the Austrian driver had asked the Ferrari sports director if Reutemann would help him in the race, but Nosetto had told him not to worry and to make his run, using the same words with his teammate. Lauda, however, had interpreted Nosetto’s words believing that he would be helped by his teammate, only discovering in the race that he had to consider him an opponent like everyone else. But in fact, it remains that Roberto Nosetto had only followed the orders of Enzo Ferrari.