1979 Brazilian Grand Prix

The Ligier team dominated the race weekend with their superior ground-effect JS11. Frenchman Jacques Laffite dominated the race weekend and made the most of his superbly set-up Ligier by taking pole position, smashing Jean-Pierre Jarier's 1975 pole time by 7 seconds, setting fastest lap and leading every lap of the race up to the finish. Laffite's teammate Patrick Depailler started and finished 2nd. Laffite and the Ligier team completed their domination of the South American fortnight, Laffite also dominantly won in Argentina.

Jacques Laffite – 40 laps (1–40).

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jacques Laffite 18 2 Carlos Reutemann 10 3 Patrick Depailler 9 4 John Watson 4 5 Didier Pironi 3 Source:[2]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ligier-Ford 27 2 Lotus-Ford 12 3 McLaren-Ford 4 4 Tyrrell-Ford 3 5 Ferrari 3 Source:[2]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• ^a Although the circuit length was quoted in MotorSport magazine as 7.873 km,[3] the fastest lap's time/speed quoted[3] are consistent with the 7.87385 km length, same as quoted in 1980 race report.[4]
• ^b Although the race distance was quoted in MotorSport magazine as 314.92 km,[3] the winner's time/speed quoted[3] are consistent with the 314.954 km distance, same as quoted in 1980 race report.[4]