| Circuit | Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez |
|---|---|
| Date | 1979-01-21 |
| Round | 1 |
| Pos | Driver | Team | Grid | Laps | Time/Status | Fastest Lap | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier | 1 | 53 | 1:36:03.210 | — | 9 |
| 2 | Carlos Reutemann | Team Lotus | 3 | 53 | +14.940 | — | 6 |
| 3 | John Watson | McLaren | 6 | 53 | +1:28.810 | — | 4 |
| 4 | Patrick Depailler | Ligier | 2 | 53 | +1:41.720 | — | 3 |
| 5 | Mario Andretti | Team Lotus | 7 | 52 | +1 Lap | — | 2 |
| 6 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Fittipaldi | 11 | 52 | +1 Lap | — | 1 |
| 7 | Elio de Angelis | Shadow | 16 | 52 | +1 Lap | — | 0 |
| 8 | Jochen Mass | Arrows | 14 | 51 | +2 Laps | — | 0 |
| 9 | Alan Jones | Williams | 15 | 51 | +2 Laps | — | 0 |
| 10 | Clay Regazzoni | Williams | 17 | 51 | +2 Laps | — | 0 |
| 11 | Derek Daly | Ensign | 24 | 51 | +2 Laps | — | 0 |
| 12 | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 10 | 48 | Engine | — | 0 |
| 13 | Hector Rebaque | Team Lotus | 19 | 46 | Suspension | — | 0 |
| 14 | Jan Lammers | Shadow | 21 | 42 | Transmission | — | 0 |
| 15 | James Hunt | Wolf | 18 | 41 | Electrical | — | 0 |
| 16 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Tyrrell | 4 | 15 | Engine | — | 0 |
| 17 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille | Renault | 12 | 15 | Engine | — | 0 |
| 18 | Niki Lauda | Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 23 | 8 | Fuel system | — | 0 |
| 19 | René Arnoux | Renault | 25 | 6 | Engine | — | 0 |
| 20 | Jody Scheckter | Ferrari | 5 | 0 | Collision | — | 0 |
| 21 | Didier Pironi | Tyrrell | 8 | 0 | Collision | — | 0 |
| 22 | Patrick Tambay | McLaren | 9 | 0 | Collision | — | 0 |
| 23 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 20 | 0 | Collision | — | 0 |
| 24 | Arturo Merzario | Merzario | 22 | 0 | Collision | — | 0 |
| 25 | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows | 13 | 0 | Accident | — | 0 |
| 26 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | ATS | 0 | 0 | Withdrew | — | 0 |