South African, Jody Scheckter, didn't seem to be in a position to win the Grand Prix of Belgium at Zolder in May of 1979. However, qualifying is just one component of a full Grand Prix weekend! When the dust settled on Saturday, Jody was back in 7th behind his teammate, Villeneuve. What wins races is experience, consistency and maturity. And perhaps a little luck can help now and again...
Scheckter maintained his position for the first lap of what would turn into a thrilling race. Lap two would itself be an exciting one, seeing both Ferrari drivers tangle with Regazzoni's Williams; only Scheckter escaped without damage despite having had the rear of his 312T4 launched into the air.
As the race progressed, positions changed every lap to the delight of the spectators. Jody maintained a fast, smooth line, content to watch the race unfold ahead of him. The tactic worked gloriously as the competition wore their tires down, broke or lost the track. Scheckter's tires actually got better as the race wore on, gaining two seconds on the leaders as lap 50 rolled by. At the end of lap 54 he had moved past Lafitte's Ligier and immediately drew out a 1.4 second lead.
The Ferrari sped 15.5 seconds ahead of Lafitte before he eased off the pace. Not content to just cruise to the finish line, Jody turned up the wick for a lap to set the fastest lap of the race, some 2.5 seconds faster than he had been circulating! He had driven a fast and sensible race, which is just the sort of thing that earned Scheckter the 1979 Drivers Championship.
