1978 British Grand Prix

1978 British Grand Prix
Race 10 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details
Date	16 July 1978
Official name	XXXI John Player British Grand Prix
Location	Brands Hatch, Kent, England
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.206 km (2.613 miles)
Distance	76 laps, 319.656 km (198.588 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:16.80
Fastest lap
Driver	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Time	1:18.60 on lap 72
Podium
First	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari
Second	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Third	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Lap leaders

James Hunt, in a McLaren M26, crashed out on lap 8.

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. ^[1]

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. ^[2]

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. ^[3]

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
WD	René Arnoux	Martini–Ford	Withdrew
Source: [4]

*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	M	76	1:42:12.39	8	9
2	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	76	+ 1.23	4	6
3	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	76	+ 37.25	9	4
4	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	G	76	+ 1:13.27	10	3
5	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	G	75	+ 1 Lap	18	2
6	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	G	75	+ 1 Lap	20	1
7	33	Bruno Giacomelli	McLaren-Ford	G	75	+ 1 Lap	16
8	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	G	75	+ 1 Lap	24
9	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	G	75	+ 1 Lap	25
10	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	G	73	+ 3 Laps	7
NC	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	G	65	+ 11 Laps	26
Ret	10	Keke Rosberg	ATS-Ford	G	59	Suspension	22
Ret	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	G	49	Gearbox	17
Ret	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	M	46	Turbo	12
Ret	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	G	40	Suspension	5
Ret	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	G	40	Gearbox	19
Ret	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	G	36	Gearbox	3
Ret	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	32	Engine	11
Ret	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	G	32	Fuel System	23
Ret	22	Derek Daly	Ensign-Ford	G	30	Wheel	15
Ret	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	28	Engine	2
Ret	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	G	26	Transmission	6
Ret	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	M	19	Transmission	13
Ret	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	G	15	Gearbox	21
Ret	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	G	7	Accident	14
Ret	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	G	6	Fuel Leak	1
DNQ	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	G
DNQ	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	G
DNQ	23	Geoff Lees	Ensign-Ford	G
DNQ	40	Tony Trimmer	McLaren-Ford	G
Source: [5] [6]

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 3 Carlos Reutemann 31 4 Niki Lauda 31 5 Patrick Depailler 26 Source: [7]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 58 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 40 3 Ferrari 31 4 Tyrrell-Ford 28 5 McLaren-Ford 12 Source: [7]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "1978 British Grand Prix Entry list".
2. "What? - Martini". 8W. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
3. "Grand Prix Results: British GP, 1978". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
4. "Formula One 1978 British Grand Prix Classification | Motorsport Stats".
5. "1978 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
6. "1978 British Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 16 July 1978. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
7. "Britain 1978 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

Previous race: 1978 French Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1978 season	Next race: 1978 German Grand Prix
Previous race: 1977 British Grand Prix	British Grand Prix	Next race: 1979 British Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by 1977 British Grand Prix	Formula One Promotional Trophy for Race Promoter 1978	Succeeded by 1979 Italian Grand Prix