Formula 1's great Lotus landmarks - Lotus 79

Is the Lotus 79 the best-looking Formula 1 car ever? We think it might be, but either way there is no doubting its impact on the sport.

The 79 refined the ground-effect concept and dominated the 1978 F1 season, taking the constructors' title and helping Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson to a 1-2 in the drivers' standings.

The 1979 F1 field was full of Lotus 79 copies - or attempts to duplicate the same levels of downforce - and the team fell back as Colin Chapman looked for the next 'big thing', but the 79's place in history is secure.

To mark F1's celebration of the 1000th world championship race at last year's Chinese Grand Prix, Ben Anderson conducted a special track test for Autosport magazine at Lotus Cars' circuit at Hethel. And in the week that the world championship celebrates its 70th birthday, it seemed a good time to revisit four milestone machines.

Thanks to Chapman's son Clive and the Classic Team Lotus concern that he runs, which helps keep the Lotus name alive in historic motorsport, we tested four of the very best Lotus F1 cars to ever grace a circuit.

The type 25, 49, 72 and 79 designs represent F1 at its innovative best - redefining the boundaries of competition for their contemporaries and pioneering concepts that still hold relevance today.

In the final article in a four-part tribute to Lotus and the F1 world championship, we focus on the legendary 79.

• More Lotus F1 track tests from Autosport Plus
• Formula 1's great Lotus landmarks - Lotus 25
• Formula 1's great Lotus landmarks - Lotus 49
• Formula 1's great Lotus landmarks - Lotus 72

Driving the Lotus 79

Every so often a car arrives in Formula 1 that doesn't just change the whole game, but exists on an entirely different plane to the opposition.

The Ferrari F2004 - so good even its own engineers couldn't believe how quick it was when it broke cover - the McLaren MP4/4, which should have won every single race in 1988, the gizmo-laden Williams FW14B that finally made Nigel Mansell a champion. The Lotus 79 belongs in that category too.

It was the first F1 car to fully integrate ground-effect, building on work pioneered on the Lotus 78. Downforce increased to such an extent that the chassis had to be strengthened to withstand the extra g-forces produced during winter testing.

This set a trend over the next few seasons of F1 cars becoming more like space rockets. Speeds became insane, drivers began blacking out from the physical exertion, and rulemakers eventually stepped in to rein back aerodynamic progress on safety grounds.

Andretti qualified on pole for the car's debut at the 1978 Belgian GP at Zolder, where Lotus scored a dominant 1-2 in the race - Peterson taking second in the 'old' 78. Revised rear bodywork allowed for a greater Venturi effect and meant Lotus could downsize the rear wing to produce less drag.

Andretti and Peterson finished 1-2 in the championship, winning half of the remaining 10 races between them, scoring three further 1-2s, and earning Lotus its seventh (and last) constructors' title.

Classic Team Lotus planned for me to drive chassis 3 at this test, but my lanky frame would never fit, so Clive Chapman ordered a late switch to chassis 2, which had the honour of being driven to grand prix victories by both Andretti and his 'SuperSwede' team-mate.

"Chassis 2 was Mario's Belgian GP-winning car and it won first time out," says Clive. "Ronnie won in Austria, which was his last grand prix win, sadly. The 79 took ground-effect from the 78.

"The 78 actually won more races than the 79 did, but that was because it was split over two seasons. The 78 got quicker when we fitted a better skirt system - that was the key. Just as the 78 got significantly quicker, then the 79 arrived and we suddenly found ourselves two seconds up. We then knew what ground-effect was and built a car that really exploited it.

"Just as the DFV, which was perfect for ground-effect, was getting blown away by the 12-cylinder engines, suddenly a 12 was hopeless. The Y-shaped DFV was perfect for ground-effect so it gave the DFV a new lease of life. While I might say the 72 is the greatest car, the DFV is the greatest engine. I suppose Mercedes will try to claim that if it carries on.

"For 1980 Dad went for the Lotus 80 and came out with more [pushing the limits of ground-effect] at the same time Williams decided to build a better version of the 79 [the FW07]. Because the 80 didn't work, they stole a march.

The rideheight restrictions mean we're never going to get into the silly realms of ground-effect, but you can still feel this car offers amazing grip - even at low speed. It's a superb piece of kit considering it's 40 years old

"The 79 was fine so long as the skirts were in touch with the track. In period it had ceramic skirts, spring loaded into the track [the car now runs with a 40mm ground clearance for Historic F1 regs] so there's no way the skirt seal could break.

"But with the 78 occasionally it would break. With the skirts working, so long as you stayed away from the kerbs and stayed on the track, and the skirts were making a seal, Mario said it was like the car was painted to the road."

As I sit in the car before my run, I ponder what it must be like to be an F1 driver lucky enough to discover a car so good that it moves everything on to a completely different level - like Jenson Button must have felt when he drove the Brawn BGP 001 for the first time, or Lewis Hamilton when he learned how far the Mercedes W05 was ahead of the game in 2014.

I feel the late switch of chassis is to my benefit in more ways than a better fit. The 79 feels as though it is 'race ready', and for the first and only time all day I'm not required to deliberately lift off on the straights to protect the engine, which means I can build a proper rhythm of driving through the run. The ratios are right, I have an extra 40-odd horses to play with than I had in the 72, and the car honestly feels amazing to drive.

It doesn't feel quite as strong down the straights as the 72, perhaps because it carries a bit more drag, but through the corners it's even more poised, and it's much sturdier under braking. The steering feels strangely light, almost broken, when you first leave the pits at low speed, but you feel it get much heavier as you press on and load the car up.

The rideheight restrictions mean we're never going to get into the silly realms of ground-effect, but you can still feel this car offers amazing grip - even at low speed. It turns, it goes. It really is a superb piece of kit considering it's 40 years old.

When I pull back into the pits for the final time I find I need a moment to close my eyes, take it all in and savour the sensations. I've driven plenty of historic racing cars before, but nothing quite as significant as the 25, 49, 72 and 79.

Picking a favourite after such an unbelievably privileged experience is extremely difficult, but I'd have to go with the 79: beautiful styling, incredible engineering and amazing performance. It's simply everything Formula 1 should be.

But that should take nothing away from the others. Every one of these cars is special in its own right - four iconic designs that really did change F1, and left a lasting legacy. That's something for F1 to be truly proud of as it celebrates 70 years of the world championship.

Three magic Lotus 79 moments

1978 Belgian GP, Zolder

If the Lotus 49's debut in the 1967 Dutch GP was impressive, what can you say about the Lotus 79's first appearance, in Belgium in 1978?

Only one example was available and Andretti was 0.79 seconds clear of the pack in practice. He held the lead at the start and completed the first lap nearly 2s clear, helped by some start chaos behind.

Gilles Villeneuve chased gamely in his Ferrari, but never looked a real threat before he suffered a tyre failure. Andretti cruised home to win - and was joined on the podium by team-mate Peterson, who had charged back to second after a stop for tyres in his Lotus 78.

1978 Spanish GP, Jarama

Despite scoring 20 world championship victories - compared to the 79's six - the Lotus 72 only managed one 1-2. The 79 managed three, the first of which came at the first race two were entered.

Andretti's Spanish GP pole time was more than a second faster than the quickest non-Lotus. James Hunt's soft tyre-shod McLaren jumped into the lead at the start, but - having just set the fastest lap of the race - Andretti breezed past at the start of lap six.

He controlled the rest of the race to take a comfortable victory, but what underlined the pace of the 79 even more was Peterson's drive to second. The Swede had been caught out at the start and fell to ninth. But, just after two-thirds distance, he moved back into second. He finished nearly 20s behind Andretti but took the chequered flag a similar margin ahead of third-placed Jacques Laffite's Ligier.

1978 Austrian GP, Osterreichring

Peterson was happy to play second fiddle to Andretti in 1978, but he pipped his team leader to pole at the Osterreichring and was left to represent Lotus alone when Andretti spun into retirement on lap one in tricky conditions.

Peterson streaked away, but when the drizzle became a downpour several cars, including his, slid off. Red flags flew.

When the restart came, Peterson was slow away but repassed Patrick Depailler's Tyrrell with a great move around the outside of the Bosch Kurve. After that, his only real concern was changing from wets back to slicks and he took the flag to win on aggregate by 47.4s.

PLUS: Ronnie Peterson's greatest drives

Another 1-2 next time out at Zandvoort ensured that, as well as Lotus winning the constructors' championship, only Andretti or Peterson could take the drivers' crown with three races still to go.

Our thanks to John Bowers, Clive Chapman, Classic Team Lotus and Lotus Cars.