1978 Argentine Grand Prix

Last updated
1978 Argentine Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Autodromo Oscar y Juan Galvez Circuito Ndeg 15.svg
Race details
Date15 January 1978
Location Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course Permanent road course
Course length 5.81 km (3.61 miles)
Distance 52 laps, 302.12 km (187.72 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver
 Lotus-Ford
Time 1:47.75
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari
Time 1:49.76 on lap 3
Podium
First
 Lotus-Ford
Second
 Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Third
 Tyrrell-Ford
Lap leaders
  • 1978 Argentine Grand Prix

The 1978 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 15 January 1978 at Buenos Aires. It was the first race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 52-lap race was won from pole position by American driver Mario Andretti, driving a Lotus-Ford, with Austrian Niki Lauda second in a Brabham-Alfa Romeo and Frenchman Patrick Depailler third in a Tyrrell-Ford. This was the debut of multiple-time Constructors' Champions, Williams.

Contents

Overview

Mario Andretti took pole in his Lotus, with Carlos Reutemann's Ferrari joining him on the front row and Ronnie Peterson in the other Lotus third on the grid. The start was uneventful, with Andretti and Reutemann easily keeping first and second, with John Watson in the Brabham taking third from Peterson. Watson took second from Reutemann on the seventh lap, but Andretti was uncatchable. Reutemann ran third for a while, but then began to drop down the order, and so reigning world champion Niki Lauda took third in his Brabham, which became second with ten laps left when Watson's engine blew up. Andretti motored on to a crushing victory, with Lauda second and Patrick Depailler's Tyrrell taking the final spot on the podium ahead of James Hunt in the leading McLaren, Ronnie Peterson in the other Lotus and Patrick Tambay in the other McLaren.

Classification

Qualifying classification

Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo
1Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:47,751
2Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:47.842
3Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:48,393
4John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:48,424
5Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:48,705
6James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:48,726
7Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:48,977
8Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:49,138
9Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:49,749
10Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:49,6910
11Jean-Pierre JarierATS-Ford1:49,7711
12Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:49,9112
13Jochen MassATS-Ford1:50,0613
14Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:50,1114
15Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:50,3515
16Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford1:50,4516
17Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:50,8217
18Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford1:51,1618
19Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford1:51,4219
20Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:51,6820
21Danny OngaisEnsign-Ford1:51,7121
22Lamberto LeoniEnsign-Ford1:51,9422
23Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:51,9923
24Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:52,2724
25Hector RebaqueLotus-Ford1:52,52DNQ
26Eddie CheeverTheodore-Ford1:53,25DNQ
27Divina GalicaHesketh-Ford1:56,69DNQ

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race classification

James Hunt (left) and Niki Lauda at the Grand Prix Hunt lauda argentine gp.jpg
James Hunt (left) and Niki Lauda at the Grand Prix
PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Flag of the United States.svg Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 521:37:04.4719
21 Flag of Austria.svg Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 52+ 13.2156
34 Flag of France.svg Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford G 52+ 13.64104
47 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg James Hunt McLaren-Ford G 52+ 16.0563
56 Flag of Sweden.svg Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford G 52+ 1:14.8532
68 Flag of France.svg Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford G 52+ 1:19.9091
711 Flag of Argentina.svg Carlos Reutemann Ferrari M 52+ 1:22.602
812 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 52+ 1:38.887
914 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 52+ 1:40.6017
1020 Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford G 52+ 1:43.5015
119 Flag of Germany.svg Jochen Mass ATS-Ford G 52+ 1:49.0713
1210 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford G 51+ 1 Lap11
1330 Flag of the United States.svg Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford G 51+ 1 Lap24
143 Flag of France.svg Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford G 51+ 1 Lap23
1517 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford G 51+ 1 Lap16
1626 Flag of France.svg Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra G 50Engine8
1716 Flag of Germany.svg Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford G 50+ 2 Laps18
1819 Flag of Italy.svg Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford G 50+ 2 Laps12
Ret2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 41Engine4
Ret27 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 36Fuel System14
Ret22 Flag of the United States.svg Danny Ongais Ensign-Ford G 35Distributor21
Ret23 Flag of Italy.svg Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford G 28Engine22
Ret37 Flag of Italy.svg Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford G 9Differential20
Ret18 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford G 4Overheating19
DNQ25 Flag of Mexico.svg Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford G
DNQ32 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Theodore-Ford G
DNQ24 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Divina Galica Hesketh-Ford G
Source: [1] [2]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. ↑ "1978 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "1978 Argentine Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 15 January 1978. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Argentina 1978 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
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