The 1978 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zandvoort on 27 August 1978. It was the 13th race of the 1978 Formula One season. It was the final career victory for Mario Andretti, who went on to win the championship after Ronnie Peterson's fatal crash at Monza. It is also the last 1-2 finish for the original Lotus team, and also, the last win for an American Formula One driver, as of the season.
Report
For the fourth consecutive race, the Lotuses came 1–2 in qualifying with Mario Andretti ahead of Ronnie Peterson. Niki Lauda was third in the Brabham, ahead of the Ferraris of Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve. The top ten was completed by Jacques Laffite in the Ligier, James Hunt in the McLaren, John Watson in the second Brabham, Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the Renault, and Emerson Fittipaldi in the Fittipaldi.
At the start of the race, Andretti led from Peterson with Laffite charging up to third, while at the second corner Didier Pironi's Tyrrell collided with Riccardo Patrese's Arrows. Thereafter, the race was relatively uneventful, Peterson dutifully following Andretti while Laffite fell back down the order, enabling Lauda to reclaim third. At the end, Andretti was just over three-tenths of a second ahead of Peterson, with Lauda a further 12 seconds back; the minor points went to Watson, Fittipaldi and Villeneuve.
This fourth 1–2 finish of the season for Lotus meant that, with three races left to run, only Andretti or Peterson could take the Drivers' Championship. It would go to Andretti in the next race at Monza, when Peterson crashed fatally.
Classification
Pre-qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 33 Bruno Giacomelli McLaren-Ford 1:19.59 — 2 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:20.01 +0.42 3 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 1:20.32 +0.73 4 32 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 1:20.46 +0.87 5 29 Nelson Piquet McLaren-Ford 1:20.52 +0.93 6 31 René Arnoux Martini-Ford 1:20.52 +0.93 7 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 1:20.95 +1.36 8 23 Harald Ertl Ensign-Ford 1:21.00 +1.41 9 39 Danny Ongais Shadow-Ford 1:21.41 +1.82 10 36 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 1:22.24 +2.65 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.
Qualifying Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap 1 Mario Andretti Lotus–Ford 1:16.36 2 Ronnie Peterson Lotus–Ford +0.61 3 Niki Lauda Brabham–Alfa Romeo +0.97 4 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari +0.98 5 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari +1.18 6 Jacques Laffite Ligier–Matra +1.19 7 James Hunt McLaren–Ford +1.31 8 John Watson Brabham–Alfa Romeo +1.37 9 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault +1.92 10 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi–Ford +1.94 11 Alan Jones Williams–Ford +2.06 12 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell–Ford +2.07 13 Riccardo Patrese Arrows–Ford +2.14 14 Patrick Tambay McLaren–Ford +2.14 15 Jody Scheckter Wolf–Ford +2.21 16 Derek Daly Ensign–Ford +3.03 17 Didier Pironi Tyrrell–Ford +3.23 18 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow–Ford +3.26 19 Bruno Giacomelli McLaren–Ford +3.47 20 Héctor Rebaque Lotus–Ford +3.66 21 Brett Lunger McLaren–Ford +3.67 22 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees–Ford +3.90 23 René Arnoux Martini–Ford +3.95 24 Keke Rosberg Wolf–Ford +4.11 25 Rupert Keegan Surtees–Ford +4.16 26 Nelson Piquet McLaren–Ford +4.28 27 Arturo Merzario Merzario–Ford +4.28 28 Clay Regazzoni Shadow–Ford +4.33 29 Michael Bleekemolen ATS–Ford +4.97 30 Jochen Mass ATS–Ford +5.46 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 1:41:04.23 1 9 2 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 75 +0.32 2 6 3 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 75 +12.21 3 4 4 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 75 +20.92 8 3 5 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 75 +21.50 10 2 6 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 75 +45.95 5 1 7 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 75 +1:00.52 4 8 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 74 +1 lap 6 9 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 74 +1 lap 14 10 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 74 +1 lap 7 11 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 74 +1 lap 20 12 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 73 +2 laps 15 33 Bruno Giacomelli McLaren-Ford 60 Spun off 19 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 56 Transmission 18 31 René Arnoux Martini-Ford 40 Chassis 23 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 40 Engine 26 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 37 Pushed at start 22 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 35 Engine 9 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 35 Engine 21 32 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 21 Accident 24 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 17 Throttle 11 29 Nelson Piquet McLaren-Ford 16 Transmission 25 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 13 Engine 12 22 Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 10 Transmission 16 35 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 0 Accident 13 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 0 Accident 17 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford Injury 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 10 Michael Bleekemolen ATS-Ford 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 23 Harald Ertl Ensign-Ford 39 Danny Ongais Shadow-Ford 36 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti* 63 2 Ronnie Peterson* 51 2 3 Niki Lauda 35 1 4 Patrick Depailler 32 1 5 Carlos Reutemann 31Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 85 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 44 1 3 Ferrari 36 1 4 Tyrrell-Ford 36 5 Ligier-Matra 16Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Bold text indicates the 1978 World Constructors' Champion. Competitors marked in bold and with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References