The first two practice sessions were wet, with only twelve cars participating in the first session. Hans-Joachim Stuck was fastest in his March before an oil pressure issue forced him to abandon the session. Eighteen cars took part in the second session, with Tom Pryce setting the fastest time in his Shadow despite brake problems. Three drivers—Patrick Depailler, Renzo Zorzi, and Boy Hayje—did not participate in either timed session due to various issues.
The final timed session was dry, and all qualifying times were established during this period. James Hunt took pole position, with Carlos Pace beside him on the front row. Niki Lauda qualified third despite a broken seat and tyre problems. Several drivers experienced mechanical issues, including Mario Andretti, who suffered an engine failure; Jochen Mass, who had handling problems; Vittorio Brambilla, Hans Binder, and Tom Pryce, who all had engine issues; Renzo Zorzi, who dealt with fuel metering, electrical, and exhaust problems; Alex Ribeiro, who had handling issues; Boy Hayje, who had brake problems; Larry Perkins, who suffered a water pump failure; and Brett Lunger, whose engine failed after one flying lap.
James Hunt led from the start, followed by Niki Lauda and Jody Scheckter. Tom Pryce dropped to 22nd at the start but climbed to 16th by the end of lap six. On that same lap, Ronnie Peterson retired from eighth place with a fuel pressure problem. Niki Lauda took the lead from Hunt on lap seven and remained at the front for the rest of the race. Scheckter moved into second place ahead of Hunt 11 laps later.
On lap 22, Renzo Zorzi pulled his Shadow-Ford off to the left side of the main straight due to a fuel metering unit failure, which caused a fire. Zorzi remained in the car, struggling to disconnect his oxygen pipe. According to George Witt, the chief pit marshal, the circuit's policy required two marshals to attend a fire, with two others acting as back-up. Two marshals, 25-year-old William and 19-year-old Frederik Jansen van Vuuren, crossed the track without prior permission to intervene. Jansen van Vuuren was carrying a 40-pound (18 kg) fire extinguisher.
As the marshals crossed, the cars of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Tom Pryce came over the brow of a hill. Stuck moved to the right, missing the first marshal by millimetres. Pryce, positioned directly behind Stuck, could not see Jansen van Vuuren and struck him at approximately 270 km/h (170 mph). Jansen van Vuuren died on impact. The fire extinguisher he was carrying struck Pryce's head and then the Shadow's roll hoop before being thrown over the grandstand into a car park.
The impact with the extinguisher wrenched Pryce's helmet upward, and death was almost certainly instantaneous. His car continued down the main straight, scraped the metal barriers, and veered back onto the track where it struck Jacques Laffite's Ligier. Both cars crashed into the catch fencing and a concrete wall.
Niki Lauda's Ferrari picked up part of Pryce's roll bar in the underside of its monocoque, damaging the water system. For the final 25 laps, oil pressure and water temperature warnings flashed at Lauda in a car he later described as "completely finished." By the end of the race, only a third of the usual twelve litres of water remained in the system. Lauda held on to win, with Jody Scheckter finishing second and Patrick Depailler taking third from Hunt in the closing laps. Initially, Lauda called it the greatest victory of his career, but upon being told of Pryce's death on the podium, he stated "there was no joy after that."
Tyrrell mechanic Trevor Foster recalled seeing "a momentary lift of the throttle much earlier than you would have expected" before seeing the marshal fly up from the car. Journalist David Tremayne noted the "sheer randomness" of the tragedy. The incident was included in the motor racing film The Quick and the Dead.
The information presented is based on the supplied corpus, which includes the Wikipedia article about the 1977 South African Grand Prix. No external sources were consulted for this rewrite. Primary archives, autobiographies, period programmes, and specialist publications were not referenced.