Here we are! January 1979. Ferrari at it's best time.
The jumping cavalhino won the F1 title in 1975 and 1977 with Niki Lauda. 1978 was not a too good season. "Only" four victories, two of them in the last two races. But the revolutionary Lotus wing-cars were too dominant and so Mario Andretti was the lucky champion after Ronni Peterson died in Monza. Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve on Ferrari had no real chance. But this should change dramatically ...

1979 Ferrari starts with a new team. Reutteman left to Lotus and Scheckter changed from Wolf to the Scuderia. And he did not regret it!

And the, the season finally begins!

Buenos Aires. What a surprise! Ligier -after changing from Matra to Ford engines - did an excellent job during winter and dominates the training as well as the race. Scheckter gets hurt at a starting collision and can't drive the race, Villeneuve stops with a broken transmission.

Sao Paulo. Part two of the Ligier show. 1 - 2 victory in the training, 1 - 2 victory in the race and Laffite is heading off in the Championship. No chance for Lotus or Ferrari. Scheckter and Villeneuve, still driving the old 312 T3, get only fifth and sixth.

Kyalami. And here comes the brand new Ferrari 312 T4. "That's the best F1 car we ever built" says Enzo Ferrari and the season will prove him right. Villeneuve and Scheckter celebrate a great 1 - 2 victory after a chaotic wet - dry race. Scheckter is on the better strategy but gets troubles with his tyres. When he catches up to Villeneuve again the Ferrarii box strategy tells him "no fight between team mates". Laffite stops after one of his GoodYears expolded. For the first time since the Mercedes silver arrows victory in Reims 1954 a new car can land a double victory in his first race. By the way: 21 seconds for changing Scheckters tyres is considered very fast at this time ...

Long Beach. The Ligier dominance seems to be broken. 1 - 2 for Villeneuve and Scheckter in the training, 1 - 2 for Villeneuve and Scheckter in the race. What a show! What a Ferrari 312 T4! Laffite has to give up with braking problems and Allan Jones on Williams appears for the first time on the podium.

Madrid Jarama. Ligier strikes back, the first row on the grid belongs to Laffite and Depailler. Laffite ruins his motor and Depailler wins the race. Scheckter's tyres have strange problems and ban him on place 4, Villeneuve looses his first gear, almost crashes in lap 3 and finishes at 7.

The first third of the championship is over and Villeneuve and Depailler are leading.

Zolder. The most dramatic race of the season. At the beginning the two Ligiers are in front, then the leader changes six times. For some laps a Williams - driven by Allan Jones - is leading for the first time in history. In the end Scheckter finishes first and wins his first GP on Ferrari. Laffite gets second. Villeneuve gives a great show again: first he looses his front wing, almost killing Lauda who races right behind him. Then, after a 80 second box stop, he drives a fantastic race, appears on third position but has to stop 400m before the checked flag without gasoline

Monaco
Pole and second place for the Prancing Horse and almost a 1 - 2 victory in the race. But Villeneuve has to stop with a broken gear box. Pironi tries to jump over Lauda in Mirabeau, one more lost race for Niki. F1 Veteran Reggazoni on Williams finishes second, Reutemann third. During a testing session for the next Grand Prix Hunt quits his carreer after a frustrating season on Wolf without any points.

Dijon
The turbo area is dooming. At it's home Grand Prix the Renault team starts a great series of races. The first row on the grid is theirs and Jabouille wins the first turbo victory. Scheckter looses too much time with bad tyres, Villeneuve and Arnoux put up the hottest fight of the season. Villeneuve wins and takes the second place. The success of Renault shakes up Ferraris turbo project.

The first half of the season is over and Scheckter is leading in front of Laffite and Reutemann. Villeneuve is fifth.

Silverstone
Ferrari in troubles and Williams on top. After a disapponting training Scheckter finishes only fifth, Villeneuve conquers no points at all. The Williams seem to love fast tracks and Regazzoni wins in style, behind him Arnoux on Renault

Hockenheim
No, Ferrari and Michelin don't like this track at all. Too little grip for Jody and Gilles, only three points for Scheckter and no one for Villeneuve. 1- 2 for Williams, finally the first victory for Jones and Laffite on place three. The big question at this time: what is the secret of Williams? The aerodynamics, the suspension? No one really knows. But due to Williams bad results in the first half of the season they hopefully won't be able to challenge the Ferrari drivers for the driver's championship.

Zeltweg
Williams and Renault dominate the training again. The Scuderia is getting nervous. At the start Villeneuve catapults himself from the third row in front and finishes second. Jones wins again, Scheckter looses a dramatic fight with Laffite and gets fourth.

Zandvoort
For the third time consecutively pole for Renault, for the fourth time victory for Williams. The good news: Scheckter finishes second and takes very important points for the championship. Villeneuve has no luck: an exploding tyre kills his last chances for the title. Laffite gets third and remains Scheckter's only rival for the crown

Monza
Game, set and match for Scheckter. Renault dominates the training once more but again both drivers get in technical troubles and have to quit the race. After Laffite kills his engine there are no mor challengers for Scheckter and Villeneuve. Regazzoni catches up too late and Ferrari celebrates his first 1 - 2 in Monza since 1966. This makes Scheckter to the champion. Lauda congratulates his successor: "he is a worthy champion". Indeed, Jody won his title like Niki: with cleverness. At the end of the season Jones will have won more races, Villeneuve lead more kilometers but Scheckter made no errors and took all points he could get.

Montreal
Niki Lauda quits his carreer after a not very successful season with Brabham-Alfa. "I don't want to drive around in a circle any more" are his famous last words. Jones wins his fourth Grand Prix, behind him Villeneuve, Regazzoni and Scheckter. Ferrari celebrates again: the constructor's title is theirs.

Watkins Glen
Total triumph for Ferrari. Villeneuve shines in the rain and wins in front of Arnoux and Pironi. With this victory he conquers place two in the driver's championship. Jones overtakes Laffite and finishes the season as third best driver and puts Williams in front of Ligier in the constructor's championship.

January 2000, tomruba@hotmail.com
http://www.tomruba.com