The 1978 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 4 June 1978 at Jarama. It was the seventh race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 75-lap race was won from pole position by Mario Andretti, driving a Lotus-Ford, with teammate Ronnie Peterson second and Jacques Laffite third in a Ligier-Matra.
Report
Once again the new Lotus 79 demonstrated its speed, with Mario Andretti on pole and Ronnie Peterson alongside him on the front row, the Swede driving the 79 for the first time. Carlos Reutemann was third in his Ferrari, with James Hunt fourth in his McLaren.
On race day, Hunt made a fast start to lead into the first corner from Andretti and Reutemann, with Peterson dropping to ninth. Andretti re-passed Hunt on lap 6 and then started to pull away. Reutemann ran third until he had to pit for tyres, and so John Watson inherited third until he was passed by Jacques Laffite, but soon the recovering Peterson passed both of them. Hunt now suffered from tyre problems and he also began to drop back, and so Peterson moved into second with Laffite third. This was how it stayed to the end, Andretti winning from Peterson in another Lotus 1–2, and Laffite taking the final spot on the podium. Reutemann had a huge accident on lap 58 when his Ferrari flew 8 feet in the air, cleared the barrier and landed in the debris fencing.
Classification
Pre-qualifying Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap 1 Héctor Rebaque Lotus–Ford 1:19.84 2 Rolf Stommelen Arrows–Ford +0.13 3 Arturo Merzario Merzario–Ford +0.19 4 Brett Lunger McLaren–Ford +0.35 5 Keke Rosberg Theodore–Ford +1.41 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.
Qualifying Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap 1 Mario Andretti Lotus–Ford 1:16.39 2 Ronnie Peterson Lotus–Ford +0.29 3 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari +1.01 4 James Hunt McLaren–Ford +1.27 5 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari +1.40 6 Niki Lauda Brabham–Alfa Romeo +1.55 7 John Watson Brabham–Alfa Romeo +1.59 8 Riccardo Patrese Arrows–Ford +1.75 9 Jody Scheckter Wolf–Ford +1.85 10 Jacques Laffite Ligier–Matra +2.03 11 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault +2.60 12 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell–Ford +2.67 13 Didier Pironi Tyrrell–Ford +2.72 14 Patrick Tambay McLaren–Ford +2.89 15 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi–Ford +2.94 16 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees–Ford +3.32 17 Jochen Mass ATS–Ford +3.59 18 Alan Jones Williams–Ford +3.60 19 Rolf Stommelen Arrows–Ford +3.64 20 Héctor Rebaque Lotus–Ford +3.82 21 Jacky Ickx Ensign–Ford +3.97 22 Clay Regazzoni Shadow–Ford +4.28 23 Rupert Keegan Surtees–Ford +4.38 24 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow–Ford +4.48 25 Arturo Merzario Merzario–Ford +4.52 26 Brett Lunger McLaren–Ford +4.78 27 Emilio de Villota McLaren–Ford +5.16 28 Alberto Colombo ATS–Ford +5.20 Source: *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 75 1:41:47.06 1 9 2 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 75 + 19.56 2 6 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 75 + 37.24 10 4 4 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 75 + 1:00.06 9 3 5 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 75 + 1:05.93 7 2 6 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 4 1 7 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 16 8 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 18 9 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 17 10 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 74 + 1 Lap 5 11 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 73 + 2 Laps 23 12 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 71 + 4 Laps 13 13 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 71 + 4 Laps 11 14 36 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 71 + 4 Laps 19 15 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 67 Fuel Pipe 22 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford 64 Engine 21 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 62 Throttle 15 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 57 Accident 3 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 56 Engine 6 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 51 Engine 12 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 45 Suspension 24 35 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 21 Engine 8 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 21 Exhaust 20 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 16 Spun Off 14 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 28 Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford 10 Alberto Colombo ATS-Ford 32 Keke Rosberg Theodore-Ford
Notes
This was the 5th win of the Spanish Grand Prix for Lotus and the 10th Spanish Grand Prix win for a Ford-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 36 2 2 Ronnie Peterson 26 1 3 Patrick Depailler 23 1 4 Carlos Reutemann 22 5 Niki Lauda 16Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 45 2 Tyrrell-Ford 25 3 Ferrari 22 4 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 22 1 5 Ligier-Matra 10Source:
References