The 1978 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 21 May 1978 at Zolder. It was the sixth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 70-lap race was won from pole position by Mario Andretti, driving the new Lotus 79. Teammate Ronnie Peterson was second in the older Lotus 78, with Carlos Reutemann third in a Ferrari.
Qualifying
Pre-qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTime1Rolf StommelenArrows-Ford1:23.762Keke RosbergTheodore-Ford1:24.463René ArnouxMartini-Ford1:24.584Bruno GiacomelliMcLaren-Ford1:24.655Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:24.916Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:25.107Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:26.69 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo1Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:20.9012Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:21.6923Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:21.7034Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:21.7745Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:22.1256James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:22.5067Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:22.6278Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:23.2589John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:23.26910Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:23.581011Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:23.711112Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:23.781213Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:23.821314Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:23.901415Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:24.111516Jochen MassATS-Ford1:24.141617Rolf StommelenArrows-Ford1:24.141718Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford1:24.181819René ArnouxMartini-Ford1:24.281920Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford1:24.472021Bruno GiacomelliMcLaren-Ford1:24.812122Jacky IckxEnsign-Ford1:24.822223Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:24.852324Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:24.992425Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford1:25.4026Derek DalyHesketh-Ford1:25.6927Keke RosbergTheodore-Ford1:25.8728Alberto ColomboATS-Ford1:26.01 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race
Report The main news before the Belgian Grand Prix was that the new Lotus 79 was now ready to race, and immediately Mario Andretti showed its pace by taking pole comfortably from Carlos Reutemann and Niki Lauda. He converted it to a first-corner lead, whereas Reutemann had a bad start and got swamped by the field, causing a chain reaction in which Lauda was hit by Jody Scheckter and had to retire. This left Gilles Villeneuve second and Ronnie Peterson third but neither could keep pace with Andretti who was able to drive away.
The first 40 laps went without incident until Villeneuve suffered a puncture and had to pit which dropped him back down to fifth, and a few laps later Peterson also pitted for new tyres leaving the charging Reutemann second, ahead of Jacques Laffite's Ligier. Peterson on the new tyres was much quicker and was able to pass them both in the closing stages, and Laffite made an attempt to pass Reutemann on the last lap but they collided and Laffite was out. Andretti cruised to an untroubled victory, with Peterson making it a Lotus 1–2, and Reutemann completing the podium.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 70 1:39:52.02 1 9 2 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 70 +9.90 7 6 3 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 70 +24.34 2 4 4 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 70 +47.04 4 3 5 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 69 Accident 14 2 6 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 69 +1 lap 23 1 7 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 69 +1 lap 24 8 33 Bruno Giacomelli McLaren-Ford 69 +1 lap 21 9 31 René Arnoux Martini-Ford 68 +2 laps 19 10 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 68 +2 laps 11 11 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 68 +2 laps 16 12 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford 64 +6 laps 22 13 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 63 Engine 12 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 56 Spun off 10 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 56 +14 laps 20 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 53 Spun off 5 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 51 Gearbox 13 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 40 Transmission 18 35 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 31 Suspension 8 36 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 26 Spun off 17 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 18 Accident 9 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 0 Accident 3 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 0 Accident 6 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 0 Accident 15 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 24 Derek Daly Hesketh-Ford 32 Keke Rosberg Theodore-Ford 10 Alberto Colombo ATS-Ford 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 23 Bernard de Dryver Ensign-Ford 29 Patrick Nève March-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Italian driver Alberto Colombo.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 2 1 Mario Andretti 27 1 2 Patrick Depailler 23 1 3 Carlos Reutemann 22 1 4 Ronnie Peterson 20 1 5 Niki Lauda 16Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 36 2 Tyrrell-Ford 25 1 3 Ferrari 22 1 4 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 20 5 Fittipaldi-Ford 6Source:
References