The 1978 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 January 1978 at Jacarepagua. The race was run at the height of summer in Rio de Janeiro in 100 °F temperatures, and it was won by Argentine driver Carlos Reutemann driving a Ferrari 312T2 in a flag-to-flag performance. The win also represented the first win for tyre manufacturer Michelin. Local driver Emerson Fittipaldi was second, scoring the first podium finish for the Fittipaldi team with Austrian Brabham driver Niki Lauda finishing third. French driver Didier Pironi took his first points in Formula One, finishing sixth, while Arrows made its F1 debut with Riccardo Patrese finishing tenth, four laps down.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo1 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford1:40.4512 James Hunt McLaren-Ford1:40.5323 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford1:40.6234 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari1:40.7345 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford1:40.9456 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari1:40.9767 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford1:41.5078 Alan Jones Williams-Ford1:41.8789 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford1:42.07910 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo1:42.081011 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford1:42.101112 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford1:42.111213 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford1:42.651314 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra1:42.711415 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford1:42.801516 Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford1:42.911617 Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford1:43.171718 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford1:43.191819 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford1:43.551920 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford1:43.742021 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo1:43.752122 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford1:43.862223 Danny Ongais Ensign-Ford1:43.942324 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford1:44.202425 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford1:44.2026 Eddie Cheever Theodore-Ford1:44.2827 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford1:44.6628 Divina Galica Hesketh-Ford1:46.79 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race
Report The first Formula One race held at Jacarepagua was held in typically extreme weather conditions of January in Rio, meaning the race was held in both hot and humid conditions. Ronnie Peterson took the pole position in the leading Lotus ahead of James Hunt in the leading McLaren, teammate Mario Andretti in the other Lotus, Carlos Reutemann in the leading Ferrari, Patrick Tambay in the second McLaren and Gilles Villeneuve in the other Ferrari.
Peterson got off to a poor start from the pole and dropped back to 4th, whilst into the first corner it was Reutemann from 4th on the grid who got the best start and lead the first lap for Ferrari ahead of Hunt, Andretti, Peterson, Tambay and Villeneuve. Hunt in the leading McLaren and Andretti in the leading Lotus were running 2nd and 3rd behind Reutemann, until Hunt was forced to pit for tyres whilst Andretti soon started to suffer from gearbox problems and dropped to 4th, handing their 2nd and 3rd places over to home favourite Emerson Fittipaldi and reigning world-champion Niki Lauda respectively. Peterson eventually retired after a collision by lap 16. The hot and humid conditions had eventually caused Hunt, Tambay and Villeneuve in the other Ferrari to all spin off and crash by lap 36. Reutemann meanwhile had no challengers for the lead all race long, and won by a comfortable margin ahead of former double world-champion Fittipaldi, Lauda, Andretti in the remaining Lotus, Clay Regazzoni in the Shadow and Didier Pironi in the Tyrrell.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 63 1:49:59.86 4 9 2 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 63 +49.13 7 6 3 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 63 +57.02 10 4 4 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 63 +1:33.12 3 3 5 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 62 +1 Lap 15 2 6 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 62 +1 Lap 19 1 7 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 62 +1 Lap 20 8 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 61 +2 Laps 21 9 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 61 +2 Laps 14 10 36 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 59 +4 Laps 18 11 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 58 +5 Laps 8 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 40 Physical 22 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 35 Spun Off 6 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 34 Spun Off 5 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 25 Spun Off 2 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 25 Fuel System 9 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 16 Accident 12 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 15 Collision 1 22 Danny Ongais Ensign-Ford 13 Brakes 23 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 11 Overheating 13 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 8 Accident 11 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 5 Accident 24 23 Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford 0 Transmission 17 10 Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford Mass Drove Car 16 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 32 Eddie Cheever Theodore-Ford 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 24 Divina Galica Hesketh-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British constructor Arrows.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 12 2 Niki Lauda 10 4 3 Carlos Reutemann 9 5 4 Emerson Fittipaldi 6 2 5 Patrick Depailler 4Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 12 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 10 2 3 Ferrari 9 4 4 Fittipaldi-Ford 6 2 5 Tyrrell-Ford 5Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References