Ligier JS7 Matra V12 F1 Gitanes winner Swedish GP Anderstorp 1977

Model comes with a premium acrylic display cover.

The Lotus 78 and Mario Andretti were actually unbeatable in 1977 in terms of sheer speed. But Colin Chapman's new aerodynamic wonder weapon had problems with reliability. And so, in the first season of the wing cars, other teams also had realistic chances of winning a Grand Prix. Mainly with French government funding Guy Ligier had established a kind of French National Team with just one car: the mighty V12 engine came from French defence and aerospace company Matra, the striking Gitanes sponsoring was paid by state-owned tobacco group Seita and fast Frenchman Jacques Laffite was a consequent driver choice for the team.

However, before the eighth round of the 1977 season, the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp, the Equipe Ligier had not yet scored any championship points. And Sweden initially seemed to be no progress either. In practice and qualifying Laffite struggled with an unpredictable chassis handling of the Gérard Ducarouge-designed JS7, but even more with a massive toothache. Despite all these adversities he had fought his way from 8th on the grid to 2nd behind Andretti in the race on lap 41. When the American ran out of fuel with only three laps to go, the team members celebrated the first Grand Prix win by an all-French team as if it were the World Championship title.