The 1978 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXI John Player British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 16 July 1978. It was the tenth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors.
The 76-lap race was won by Argentinian driver Carlos Reutemann, driving a Ferrari. After starting from eighth position, Reutemann worked his way up the field and took the lead on lap 60, eventually winning by 1.2 seconds from Austrian driver Niki Lauda in the Brabham-Alfa Romeo. Lauda's Northern Irish teammate, John Watson, finished third.
Report
Qualifying With a total of 31 cars on the entry list, it was decided to forbid the Martini of René Arnoux from taking part, thus leaving 30 cars for qualifying.
As expected, the Lotuses filled the front row of the grid, although on this occasion Ronnie Peterson was ahead of Mario Andretti. Jody Scheckter in the Wolf and Niki Lauda in the Brabham made up the second row, while on the third were Riccardo Patrese in the Arrows and Alan Jones in the Williams. The top ten was completed by Jacques Laffite in the Ligier, Carlos Reutemann in the Ferrari, John Watson in the second Brabham and Patrick Depailler in the Tyrrell.
Race At the start of the race, Andretti took the lead from Peterson, with Scheckter holding third and Jones moving up to fourth. The Lotuses quickly pulled out a large gap, and looked set to dominate, until Peterson retired on lap 7 with a fuel leak. Andretti continued to lead until a puncture forced him to pit on lap 24, before his engine failed five laps later.
Scheckter inherited the lead, closely followed by Jones, Lauda and Patrese. On lap 27, Jones's driveshaft failed, before Scheckter began to suffer gearbox problems. On lap 34, Lauda overtook the South African, who retired three laps later. This left Patrese in second, with Reutemann up to third, Watson fourth, Didier Pironi fifth in the second Tyrrell and Keke Rosberg sixth in the ATS.
On lap 41, Patrese suffered a rear puncture which led to a suspension failure. Pironi also retired on this lap with gearbox trouble, promoting Rosberg to fourth. The Finn soon came under pressure from Depailler, who got by on lap 49.
Reutemann closed up to Lauda and passed him for the lead on lap 60, as the two were lapping the McLaren of Bruno Giacomelli. The Argentine held off the Austrian for the remaining laps, eventually taking his third win of the season by 1.2 seconds. Watson finished 36 seconds behind Lauda and 36 ahead of Depailler, while a suspension failure for Rosberg on lap 60 meant that the final points went to Hans-Joachim Stuck in the Shadow and Patrick Tambay in the McLaren.
Classification Qualifying Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap 1 Ronnie Peterson Lotus–Ford 1:16.80 2 Mario Andretti Lotus–Ford +0.26 3 Jody Scheckter Wolf–Ford +0.57 4 Niki Lauda Brabham–Alfa Romeo +0.62 5 Riccardo Patrese Arrows–Ford +1.48 6 Alan Jones Williams–Ford +1.56 7 Jacques Laffite Ligier–Matra +1.64 8 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari +1.65 9 John Watson Brabham–Alfa Romeo +1.77 10 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell–Ford +1.93 11 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi–Ford +1.98 12 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault +2.08 13 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari +2.19 14 James Hunt McLaren–Ford +2.25 15 Derek Daly Ensign–Ford +2.33 16 Bruno Giacomelli McLaren–Ford +2.99 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow–Ford +3.03 18 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow–Ford +3.18 19 Didier Pironi Tyrrell–Ford +3.19 20 Patrick Tambay McLaren–Ford +3.34 21 Héctor Rebaque Lotus–Ford +3.44 22 Keke Rosberg ATS–Ford +3.47 23 Arturo Merzario Merzario–Ford +3.55 24 Brett Lunger McLaren–Ford +3.59 25 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees–Ford +3.90 26 Jochen Mass ATS–Ford +3.91 27 Rupert Keegan Surtees–Ford +3.93 28 Rolf Stommelen Arrows–Ford +4.25 29 Geoff Lees Ensign–Ford +4.61 30 Tony Trimmer McLaren–Ford +11.48 René Arnoux Martini–Ford Withdrew Source: *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 76 1:42:12.39 8 9 2 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 76 + 1.23 4 6 3 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 76 + 37.25 9 4 4 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 76 + 1:13.27 10 3 5 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 18 2 6 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 20 1 7 33 Bruno Giacomelli McLaren-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 16 8 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 24 9 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 25 10 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 73 + 3 Laps 7 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 65 + 11 Laps 26 10 Keke Rosberg ATS-Ford 59 Suspension 22 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 49 Gearbox 17 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 46 Turbo 12 35 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 40 Suspension 5 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 40 Gearbox 19 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 36 Gearbox 3 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 32 Engine 11 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 32 Fuel System 23 22 Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 30 Wheel 15 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 28 Engine 2 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 26 Transmission 6 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 19 Transmission 13 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 15 Gearbox 21 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 7 Accident 14 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 6 Fuel Leak 1 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 36 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 23 Geoff Lees Ensign-Ford 40 Tony Trimmer McLaren-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver Geoff Lees. This was the 5th Grand Prix start for Finnish driver. This race marked the 50th podium finish for an Austrian driver. This was the 50th Grand Prix start for Fittipaldi, the 10th Grand Prix start for Williams and the 5th Grand Prix start for Merzario. This was the 9th win of the British Grand Prix for Ferrari. It broke the previous record set by Lotus at the 1972 British Grand Prix.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 45 2 Ronnie Peterson 36 2 3 Carlos Reutemann 31 1 4 Niki Lauda 31 1 5 Patrick Depailler 26Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 58 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 40 1 3 Ferrari 31 1 4 Tyrrell-Ford 28 5 McLaren-Ford 12Source:
References