The 1978 Swedish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 June 1978 at the Scandinavian Raceway. It was the eighth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors, and the last Formula One Swedish Grand Prix to date.
The 70-lap race was the only race to feature the Brabham BT46B "fan car", with which Niki Lauda took a commanding victory. Riccardo Patrese finished second in an Arrows, with Ronnie Peterson third in a Lotus.
Race summary Responsible for the Brabham win was clever thinking by Brabham's Gordon Murray, who was trying to eclipse Colin Chapman's ground effect invention on the Lotus 79, the skirted car that had swept the front row since its debut at Zolder. Center of the new Brabham BT46B concept was a large fan which drew air through the engine water radiator which was mounted horizontally over the engine. The fan also took ground effect to a higher level (at least engineering-wise) by sucking air from under the car, creating a partial vacuum and creating an enormous amount of downforce. The car appeared to contravene a rule which stated that moving aerodynamic devices were not allowed, but Brabham argued that the rules had been worded to ban devices whose primary function was aerodynamic. As the fan also cooled the engine, Brabham claimed that this, not aerodynamics, was its primary function. Its legality was soon protested, but it was allowed to race, with John Watson and Niki Lauda qualifying 2nd and 3rd behind the Lotus 79 of Mario Andretti (the two drivers did this as to not draw attention to the remarkable advantage that the fan would provide, qualifying on full tanks and in the words of Lauda "doing our best to avoid pole").
At the start, Andretti retained the first place, while Lauda got ahead of Watson; on the second lap, he was passed by a fast Riccardo Patrese in the Arrows, and on the third he was passed by the other Lotus of Ronnie Peterson too; the Swede also passed Patrese, but had later to back off due to a tyre puncture. The order then remained the same until lap 20, when Watson was forced to retire by a throttle problem. At the front, Lauda and Andretti were battling for first place, until the American made an error and was forced to let the Austrian through, and eventually dropped out due to a broken valve on his engine. Once Jean-Pierre Jabouille dropped oil onto the track, the Brabham was in a race of its own, seemingly unaffected by the slippery surface. In Lauda's biography, To Hell and Back, he wrote that whilst other cars had to reduce speed to drive carefully over the oil, the Brabhams could simply accelerate (as the fan was activated by the gearbox to get around regulations, this meant that higher speed produced much higher grip) through the affected parts of the track. Lauda went on to win by 34.6 seconds despite according to Lauda "trying not to show how dominant the car really was", followed by Patrese and Peterson in a close finish; the remaining points went to Patrick Tambay, Clay Regazzoni and Emerson Fittipaldi.
After the race, the stewards deemed the car legal. Later, the FIA investigated the car and corroborated Brabham's claim that the fan's primary effect was to cool the car, meeting the letter, if not the spirit, of the rules. The car was judged to have been legal as raced and the Brabham victory stood, but the car never raced again. It is popularly thought that it was banned, but it was actually voluntarily withdrawn by Brabham. This was arguably done by team owner Bernie Ecclestone to avoid a conflict with the other privately owned teams, whose support he needed. 1978 was the year that Ecclestone became chief executive of the Formula One Constructors' Association and led it through the FISA–FOCA war that would lead to the downfall of FISA and give FOCA the right to negotiate television contracts for the Grands Prix, effectively giving Ecclestone commercial control of Formula One which continued for several decades.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap Grid15 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:22.058122 John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:22.737+0.679231 Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:22.783+0.725346 Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:23.120+1.0624535 Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:23.369+1.3115620 Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:23.621+1.5636712 Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:23.730+1.6727811 Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:23.737+1.6798927 Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:23.951+1.89391015 Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:23.963+1.905101126 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:24.030+1.97211124 Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:24.203+2.145121314 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:24.274+2.21613147 James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:24.761+2.70314158 Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:24.986+2.928151617 Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford1:25.007+2.94916173 Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:25.813+3.755171819 Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:26.618+4.56018199 Jochen MassATS-Ford1:26.787+4.729192016 Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford1:27.011+4.953202125 Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:27.139+5.081212237 Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:27.479+5.421222310 Keke RosbergATS-Ford1:27.560+5.502232436 Rolf StommelenArrows-Ford1:27.812+5.754242518 Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford1:28.282+6.2242630 Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:28.388 +6.3302722 Jacky IckxEnsign-Ford1:28.400+6.342Source: *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 70 1:41:00.606 3 9 2 35 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 70 + 34.019 5 6 3 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 70 + 34.105 4 4 4 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 69 +1 lap 15 3 5 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 69 +1 lap 16 2 6 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 69 +1 lap 13 1 7 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 69 +1 lap 11 8 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 69 +1 lap 14 9 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 69 +1 lap 7 10 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 69 +1 lap 8 11 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 68 +2 laps 20 12 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 68 +2 laps 21 13 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 68 +2 laps 19 14 36 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 67 +3 laps 24 15 10 Keke Rosberg ATS-Ford 63 +7 laps 23 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 62 +8 laps 22 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 46 Engine 1 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 46 Wheel 9 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 42 Suspension 12 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 28 Engine 10 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 19 Spun off/Throttle 2 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 16 Overheating 6 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 8 Accident 17 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 7 Accident 18 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 22 Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford
Notes
This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Wolf and the 10th Grand Prix start for Renault (as both a constructor and as an engine supplier). This was the 25th fastest lap set by a Brabham. This was the 1st podium finish for Arrows. This race marked the 100th pole position set by a Ford-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 36 2 Ronnie Peterson 30 2 3 Niki Lauda 25 1 4 Patrick Depailler 23 1 5 Carlos Reutemann 22Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 49 2 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 31 1 3 Tyrrell-Ford 25 1 4 Ferrari 22 5 Ligier-Matra 10Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References