The 1978 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 August 1978 at Österreichring. This was the last win for Ronnie Peterson before his death at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, and was also the last win for a Swedish Formula One driver, as of 2025.
Qualifying
Pre-qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTime—Harald ErtlEnsign-Ford—Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford—Nelson PiquetMcLaren-Ford—Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford—René ArnouxMartini-Ford—Keke RosbergWolf-Ford—Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford 8Rolf StommelenArrows-Ford1:44.88 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo1Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:37.7112Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:37.7623Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:38.3234Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:38.5045Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:38.7156Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:38.7767Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:38.8578James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:39.1089Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:39.23910John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:39.351011Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:39.401112Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:39.491213Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:39.511314Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:39.591415Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:39.811516Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:40.111617Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:40.801718Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:40.841819Derek DalyEnsign-Ford1:41.021920Nelson PiquetMcLaren-Ford1:41.152021Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:41.162122Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford1:41.422223Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford1:41.582324Harald ErtlEnsign-Ford1:41.602425Keke RosbergWolf-Ford1:41.722526René ArnouxMartini-Ford1:41.8426 27Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:41.85 28Jochen MassATS-Ford1:42.47 29Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford1:43.06 30Hans BinderATS-Ford1:44.46 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race
Race start and rain The crowds for the Austrian GP were full of Niki Lauda fans; but for them Lauda qualified only 12th as the Lotus cars again took the front row, with Ronnie Peterson on pole. The surprise in qualifying was Jean-Pierre Jabouille who qualified his turbocharged Renault third. The race started at 2:00 pm local, the start saw Peterson lead into the first corner, with Carlos Reutemann snatching second from Mario Andretti. Andretti tried to get the place back later in the lap, but the two collided and Andretti retired after his car spun into the barriers while Reutemann lost a couple of places to Patrick Depailler and Jody Scheckter. On the third lap, Scheckter slid off and crashed into Andretti's abandoned Lotus, damaging both cars. On the fourth lap, a heavy rainshower hit the track and Reutemann spun off and was beached but the marshals push-started his car as it was in a dangerous position, while Nelson Piquet and Héctor Rebaque crashed out. At the end of lap six, Gilles Villeneuve headed for the pits for rain tyres having executed a monumental spin, and next lap Jabouille lost control of the Renault, managed to gather it all up and also stopped for rain tyres, while Emerson Fittipaldi was into the pits and Pironi spun off and knocked the nose cone off his Tyrrell but rejoined. Peterson finished lap seven in full control of the situation and when the last car had gone through the officials decided to stop the race and the red and black flags were held out, meaning "Race to stop and restart at a later time." After the decision had been made Peterson spun off onto the grass and got stuck, so it was Depailler who arrived first at the red and black flags. As the rain poured down, the race was stopped. It was clearly stated that the Grand Prix would now be considered a two-part race, the first part having run for seven laps and the starting grid for the 47-lap second part would be in the order in which the competitors completed lap seven. Only those cars that arrived back at the pits under their own power would be allowed to start in the second part and there would be no changing to spare cars, though repairs and resetting of suspension and brakes for rain conditions would be allowed, and naturally everyone fitted rain tyres. During the red flag, Rebaque's was towed back by the marshals undamaged but could not join the restart, though Peterson and Reutemann drove their cars back, having been extricated from the grass verges. Patrese's Arrows was towed in with the nose cone damage, and should have been wheeled away along with Rebaque's Lotus but in the confusion the Arrows management sneaked the car into the pit lane and started repairing it, even though it was illegal. The restart was timed for 3:00 pm giving everyone adequate time to prepare their cars for a really wet track. At 2:40 pm. the pit road was to be opened to allow cars to set off on a warm-up lap, and it was to shut at 2:50 pm and anyone left behind would be out of the second part of the race. It was all quite clear, but there was some discussion as to whether Peterson and Reutemann had received outside assistance driving the first part of the race, even though they had driven their cars back to the pits. With Peterson on pole position and Reutemann in last position, having spun off on lap 5, it was a delicate situation, but was resolved by allowing them both to restart, though Reutemann would be considered to be two laps behind at the start of the second race. There should have been 21 cars lined up in pairs for the second part with Andretti, Scheckter, Rebaque and Piquet already out but there were 22 cars on new grid due to the Arrows team's shady tactics for Patrese.
Race restart The race restarted at 3:15 pm after the rain relented, and once again Peterson led followed by Depailler and Lauda. As the track began to dry, Peterson started to pull away, and behind, Reutemann was on a charge and passed Lauda for third but he was black-flagged for receiving outside assistance, and Lauda crashed out soon after, leaving Gilles Villeneuve third. The drivers changed to slicks but the top 3 remained the same and stayed so till the end; Peterson winning ahead of Depailler, with Villeneuve taking his first ever podium.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 54 1:41:21.57 1 9 2 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 54 +47.44 secs13 6 3 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 54 +1:39.76 11 4 4 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 53 +1 Lap 6 3 5 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 53 +1 Lap 5 2 6 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 53 +1 Lap 21 1 7 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 53 +1 lap 10 8 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 52 +2 Laps 17 9 31 René Arnoux Martini-Ford 52 +2 Laps 26 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 50 +4 Laps 22 32 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 49 +5 Laps 25 22 Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 41 Push start 19 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 40 Accident 14 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 33 Accident 23 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 31 Gearbox 3 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 28 Push start 4 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 27 Accident 12 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 20 Accident 9 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 7 Accident 8 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 7 Accident 15 35 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 7 Accident 16 23 Harald Ertl Ensign-Ford 7 Accident 24 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 4 Accident 18 29 Nelson Piquet McLaren-Ford 4 Accident 20 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 3 Accident 7 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 0 Accident 2 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 10 Hans Binder ATS-Ford 36 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford PO 18 Brian Henton Surtees-Ford Keegan's car
Notes
This was the 10th fastest lap and 1st Grand Slam set by a Swedish driver. This was the 1st podium finish for a Canadian driver. This was Ronnie Peterson's 2nd win of the Austrian Grand Prix, becoming the first driver to win the Austrian Grand Prix multiple times. Since the inaugural 1964 Austrian Grand Prix, there were nine different winners. This was the 3rd win of the Austrian Grand Prix for Lotus. It broke the previous record set by Ferrari at the 1970 Austrian Grand Prix. This was the 100th fastest lap set by a Ford-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti* 54 2 Ronnie Peterson* 45 2 3 Patrick Depailler* 32 1 4 Carlos Reutemann* 31 1 5 Niki Lauda* 31Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford* 76 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo* 40 1 3 Tyrrell-Ford 36 1 4 Ferrari 35 1 5 Ligier-Matra 16Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Competitors marked in bold and with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References