Brazil's own Carlos Pace scored his first Formula One victory to win a tumultuously popular triumph in the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday (26 January) at Interlagos, Brazil.

And to give the 80,000 highly partisan spectators a home-country double, Pace's compatriot Emerson Fittipaldi came second. Fittipaldi's teammate, Jochen Mass of West Germany, was placed third.

Pace, a 30-year-old driver from Sao Paulo who was racing on the track where he grew up, sent the crowd into an uproar with a highly controlled display of smooth but unspectacular driving that saw him take the lead in his Brabham on the 32nd lap and hold it to the finish.

Fittipaldi -- the current world champion, who won the Argentine Grand Prix two weeks ago -- and Mass also drove steadily and carefully in their McLarens, proving that the key to success on the 7.96-kilometre (4.194-mile) Interlagos circuit with its perilous curves and hairpin bends, is to avoid heroics in favour of consistency.

This was underlined by France's Jean-Pierre Jarier, who put on a daring display of spectacular front-running that threatened to turn the race into a rout until he was forced out with mechanical trouble eight laps from home.

Even before the race began, excitement ran so high that police used water cannon to subdue unruly spectators.

Pace's winning time was one hour, 44 minutes and 41.17 seconds. Fittipaldi clocked in at one hour, 44 minutes and 46.96 seconds, and Mass at one hour, 45 minutes and 17.83 seconds. Pace's average speed was 113.393 miles (182.488 kilometres) an hour.