1978 Italian Grand Prix

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1978 Italian Grand Prix
Race 14 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Monza 1976-1993.png
Race details
Date10 September 1978
Location Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.800 km (3.6 miles)
Distance 40 laps, 232.000 km (144 miles)
Scheduled distance 52 laps, 301.600 km (187.2 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Ford
Time 1:37.520
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of the United States.svg Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford
Time 1:38.230 on lap 33
Podium
First Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Second Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders
  • 1978 Italian Grand Prix

The 1978 Italian Grand Prix was the 14th motor race of the 1978 Formula One season. It was held on 10 September 1978 at Monza. It was marred by the death of Ronnie Peterson following an accident at the start of the race. The race was won by Niki Lauda (Brabham-Alfa Romeo), after both Mario Andretti (Lotus-Ford) and Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari), who had finished first and second, were given a one-minute penalty and dropped to sixth and seventh. Lauda's teammate John Watson (Brabham-Alfa Romeo) and Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari) completed the podium.

Contents

With three races remaining, Andretti led the World Drivers' Championship by 12 points from Peterson, who was his teammate. Lauda, in third place, was 28 points behind Andretti; with only 9 points for a win, he could not overtake him. Lotus also led Brabham by 33 points in the Constructors' standings. Andretti initially appealed to the penalty but, upon hearing the news of Peterson's death and having become World Champion, he dropped it. Lauda himself gave the Grand Prix trophy to Andretti. As of 2024, this marks the last race win for an Alfa Romeo-powered car. Andretti remains the last American and the second ever to win the Formula One World Championship; these remain the final Drivers' (6) and Constructors' (7) titles won by Lotus.

Qualifying

Andretti took pole position alongside Gilles Villeneuve on the front row (Ferrari), with Jean-Pierre Jabouille (Renault) in third place, Lauda in fourth, and Peterson in fifth. [1]

Pre-qualifying classification

Pos.DriverConstructorTime
1 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 1:39.88
2 Nelson Piquet McLaren-Ford 1:40.11
3 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:40.24
4 Harald Ertl Ensign-Ford 1:40.27
5 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 1:40.75
6 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 1:40.93
7 Alberto Colombo Merzario-Ford 1:42.55

Qualifying classification

Pos.DriverConstructorTimeGrid
1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:37.5201
2 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:37.8662
3 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:37.9303
4 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:38.2154
5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:38.2565
6 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:38.2716
7 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:38.6107
8 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:38.9178
9 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 1:38.9379
10 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:38.93810
11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:38.95911
12 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:39.17912
13 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:39.42113
14 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 1:39.53114
15 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 1:39.62115
16 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:39.63016
17 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 1:39.70117
18 Derek Daly Ensign-Ford 1:40.07518
19 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 1:40.16319
20 Bruno Giacomelli McLaren-Ford 1:40.19920
21 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:40.30221
22 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 1:40.70222
23 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 1:40.80523
24 Nelson Piquet McLaren-Ford 1:40.84624
25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 1:41.063DNQ
26 Harald Ertl ATS-Ford 1:41.185DNQ
27 Michael Bleekemolen ATS-Ford 1:41.408DNQ
28 Gimax Surtees-Ford 1:41.677DNQ

Race

First start and Ronnie Peterson accident

The melee at the start that killed Ronnie Peterson during the first start of the race 1978 Italian Grand Prix accident.jpg
The melee at the start that killed Ronnie Peterson during the first start of the race

During the morning warmup, Ronnie Peterson had a rear brake failure, crashing his Lotus 79/3 at the Della Roggia chicane, reverting back to his backup Lotus 78 for the race, which ended up as part of the controversy for the feature race.

The race started at 3:30 pm Central European Time (UTC+1). On the warm up lap, Patrick Tambay went into the pits to have his gear-change mechanism looked at. The starter Gianni Restelli was overenthusiastic turning on the green lights before all the cars had lined up, [2] which resulted in several cars in the middle of the field getting a jump on those at the front. The result was a funneling effect of the cars approaching the chicane, and the cars were tightly bunched together with little room for maneuver. James Hunt was overtaken on the right-hand side by Riccardo Patrese, and Hunt instinctively veered left and hit the rear right wheel of Peterson's car, with Vittorio Brambilla, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Patrick Depailler, Didier Pironi, Derek Daly, Clay Regazzoni, and Brett Lunger all involved in the ensuing melee. Peterson's Lotus went into the barriers hard on the right-hand side and caught fire. He was trapped but Hunt, Regazzoni, and Depailler managed to free him from the wreck before he received more than minor burns. He was dragged free and laid in the middle of the track fully conscious but with severe leg injuries. It took twenty minutes before medical help was dispatched to the scene. Brambilla, who had been hit on the head by a flying wheel and rendered unconscious which resulted in a skull fracture and was freed from his car by firefighters. Both Brambilla and Peterson were taken to the Niguarda hospital in nearby Milan via ambulance. [3]

Delayed restart

The accident scene after the flames had been extinguished Incidente al GP Monza 1978.jpg
The accident scene after the flames had been extinguished

Drivers were allowed to use spare cars for the race restart. Non-starters included Peterson and Brambilla who were taken to Niguarda hospital, Stuck who was not allowed to restart due to him suffering from slight concussion after being struck on the head by a flying wheel in the startline crash, Pironi (as the Tyrrell team had one spare car and that was set up for Depailler), and Lunger who had no spare car available. The race was due to be ready for a restart at 5:15 pm. While driving from the pit lane to the grid, Jody Scheckter's Wolf lost a wheel and crashed at the second Lesmo curve, bending the Armco barrier that was situated right next to the track. Scheckter was unhurt and got an ambulance to return him to the pits so he could take the spare car for the restart. Some of the drivers had seen the accident, got out of their cars, and rushed across to race control to get the second start delayed as the Armco barriers were leaning over perilously where Scheckter struck it. Andretti, Hunt, Lauda, Reutemann, and Emerson Fittipaldi all went to the spot where Scheckter crashed. Upon inspection of the state of the barrier, they refused to start until the barrier was repaired, causing more delay. Very little information was forthcoming and the crowds began to whistle and shout, not knowing why there was another hold-up. The barrier was later repaired and ready for the restart. [1]

Second start and race recap

Because of the amount of time clearing up the track after the shunt in the first start and the barrier being repaired, plus Scheckter's crash prior to the second start, at 5:50pm it was announced that the race would take place and the distance would be shortened from 52 laps to 40 laps to avoid sunset. The race was restarted at 6:15pm. Villeneuve overtook Andretti at the restart and at the end of the lap both drivers were side by side; Villeneuve held on to the lead and they pulled away from Jabouille, who was running third with Lauda behind him. After four laps, Regazzoni in the spare Shadow went to the pit lane as he was having his brakes looked at. Jabouille had engine problems after six laps and Lauda took on the pursuit; meanwhile, race control gave Villeneuve and Andretti a one-minute penalty as they were judged to have jumped the start. Andretti took Villeneuve with only five laps remaining. With Jabouille having retired, Lauda finished third ahead of Watson (Brabham), Reutemann (Ferrari), Jacques Laffite (Ligier-Matra), and Patrick Tambay (McLaren-Ford). Since all of those finished less than a minute behind, Andretti and Villeneuve were dropped to sixth and seventh place. Andretti had won the championship but celebrations were muted due to Peterson in hospital. The race was also notable for the first finish for Nelson Piquet with a creditable ninth after dodging the Peterson wreckage in the first start. [1]

After the race, Lotus and Ferrari lodged protests against the one-minute penalty imposed on Andretti and Villeneuve. It was rejected.

Death of Ronnie Peterson

At the hospital, Peterson's X-rays showed he had a total of twenty seven fractures in both legs according to the newly appointed Formula One doctor Sid Watkins in his 1996 autobiography Life at the Limit. After discussion with him, Peterson was sent to intensive care so that the surgeons could operate to stabilize the bones. [4] Peterson's parents, May Britt and Bengt Peterson, were watching live on TV and knew he was involved in the lap-one incident. They were contacted in their home in Örebro, Sweden by Peterson's manager, Staffan Svenby, who was in Monza. Ronnie's wife Barbro was in Monaco and she was contacted by Team Lotus boss Colin Chapman an hour after the crash.

Once Peterson arrived at Niguardia hospital, Svenby was consulted by the doctors on how Peterson should be operated on and then phoned Watkins, three Swedish doctors and other Italian doctors for advice. There was some level of dispute between the doctors regarding whether all fractures should be immediately fixed or not. Even Peterson, who was conscious at that point, was presented with the options they had to choose from. Option one was to stay at the hospital in Milan or fly to another hospital where they had experience treating complicated fractures from alpine skiing accidents in countries like Austria, Switzerland, Sweden or England; option two was to wait for an operation, risking a worse result and maybe possibly amputation; and option three was to operate on the bones at once and risk bone marrow embolism. After the consultations, Svenby decided that Peterson was to stay in the Niguardia hospital and that he was to be operated on at once with the operation starting after 9:00pm. It lasted two and a half hours and was completed without issue. [5] Over the phone, professor Watkins reassured Barbro that he thought that Peterson would recover, with plans being made for her to get to Milan in the morning. Bernie Ecclestone, who was flying his private jet, got permission to land in the dark at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. It was past midnight, so Chapman and Andretti decide to go back to Villa d'Este in Como where they were staying during the race weekend. Svenby arranged a hotel room for himself and Sid Watkins near the hospital due to them both checking out from their regular hotels in the morning.

At 4am, Svenby received a phone call from the hospital informing him of the situation and then woke up Watkins in the room next door. On their way to the hospital, Svenby told Watkins that "someone claiming to be a doctor had called Barbro during the night, saying that he thought the Italian doctors were killing her husband". Arriving at the intensive care unit, the neurosurgeon informed them that Peterson had developed breathing problems and was being ventilated by a machine in an attempt to keep his blood oxygen levels normal. An X-ray showed that he had developed multiple emboli in his lungs, which had come from the fat in the bone marrow entering his bloodstream; due to this, his kidneys had started to fail. Peterson was unconscious and a neurological examination showed signs of serious brain damage. Professor Watkins, inspecting Peterson's eyes, identified fat globules obstructing the small arteries in the retinas. On Watkins' suggestion, the neurosurgeon agreed to take a electroencephalogram to get the situation clear on Peterson's brain functions. However, at this point, Peterson had suffered a full kidney failure, and he was declared dead at 9:11am. [6] [7] [8]

Post-race reactions

Emerson Fittipaldi arrived together with his wife shortly thereafter Svenby, who informed them of the tragic news. Fittipaldi, who was friends with Peterson, said "I just can't believe it. We have been friends for so many years and now he is gone. Racing will change a lot for me. He was one of the greatest drivers and no one will replace him." Mario Andretti, also one of Peterson's friends, was on route and he said "Oh no. I wanted that title so badly, but I did not want to win it like this. What the hell shall I do with it now? I don't feel anything for it. One of my best friends is gone and motor racing will never be the same again. I was really looking forward to next year, he in the McLaren and me in the Lotus and we would have a good fight and afterwards sit down to have a beer and a good laugh about it." Peterson's first manager Sveneric Eriksson said "When Ronnie died, Sweden stopped. All was quiet. In many workplaces noting was done during the day, people only discussed how Ronnie could die that way he did. In schools the children cried. Their great idol was gone. Some schools had to close, and the children were sent home."

As a result of the start line crash, a medical car would follow the cars on the opening lap of every F1 race. In the United States, the race was broadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports the Saturday after. It would be broadcast before same-day coverage of the 75-lap Michigan International Speedway USAC Championship Trial event that Andretti (who alternated with rookie Rick Mears in the Gould Charge for Team Penske during the season) was supposed to have participated, where broadcaster Jim McKay noted, "Later Peterson would die, but not until the next morning. Victory so long anticipated and so much earned, now tasted like ashes in Mario's mouth." [9]

At Michigan for the Gould 150 which featured both a 150-mile USAC race and a 100-mile IROC VI round, Andretti was asked about Peterson and he said: "His sincerity I learned to really appreciate that more than anything else and the man is competitive as he was with his skills and I found that this is something that many people in this business like because it's a very selfish business that's basis but he could share with me the basic of the car whatever he found, he changed something even if it was the better." Initially, Andretti had also thought about appealing the penalty, and felt sure he would win it; Lauda himself had given him the Grand Prix's trophy, which he still owns. Upon hearing Peterson's death, Andretti renounced to the appeal, having been declared the 1978 Formula One World Champion. In 2018, he recalled: "There was no celebrating the World Championship. And we forgot about the appeal of the race results. That was my race. I won it. But I let it go. Niki Lauda was given the trophy, but he refused to take it. In fact, I still have it in my house. I remember feeling euphoric happiness, and sadness at its worst. And in a way, that's the legacy of Monza." [10] Andretti did not start the Gould 150 because of engine failure.

After a few days of anguish, Vittorio Brambilla would finally wake up from his coma. He managed to recognize his loved ones and the doctors were reassured, he would not have any after-effects of his skull fracture. During the Monza broadcast, McKay noted "Brambilla was responding well in a Milan hospital". However, the race ended his full-time career in F1.

Classification

Gimax (Carlo Franchi) tried to qualify without success. He was the last driver to enter a Formula One World Championship race under a pseudonym. Gimax GP Monza 1978.png
Gimax (Carlo Franchi) tried to qualify without success. He was the last driver to enter a Formula One World Championship race under a pseudonym.
A view of Jody Scheckter in the Wolf pits Jody Scheckter at Monza 1978.jpg
A view of Jody Scheckter in the Wolf pits
Pos.No.DriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
11 Flag of Austria.svg Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 401:07:04.5449
22 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 40+1.48076
311 Flag of Argentina.svg Carlos Reutemann Ferrari M 40+20.470114
426 Flag of France.svg Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra G 40+37.53083
58 Flag of France.svg Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford G 40+40.390192
65 Flag of the United States.svg Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 40+46.330 1 11
712 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 40+48.480 1 2
814 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 40+55.24013
929 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet McLaren-Ford G 40+1:06.83024
1022 Flag of Ireland.svg Derek Daly Ensign-Ford G 40+1:09.11018
114 Flag of France.svg Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford G 40+1:16.57016
1220 Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford G 39+1 lap9
1327 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 39+1 lap6
1433 Flag of Italy.svg Bruno Giacomelli McLaren-Ford G 39+1 lap20
NC17 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford G 33+7 laps15
Ret.35 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford G 28Engine12
Ret.7 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg James Hunt McLaren-Ford G 19Distributor10
Ret.37 Flag of Italy.svg Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford G 14Engine22
Ret.15 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 6Engine3
Ret.6 Flag of Sweden.svg Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford G 0Collision† 2 5
Ret.3 Flag of France.svg Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford G 0Collision14
Ret.16 Flag of Germany.svg Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford G 0Collision17
Ret.30 Flag of the United States.svg Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford G 0Collision21
Ret.19 Flag of Italy.svg Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford G 0Collision23
DNQ25 Flag of Mexico.svg Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford G
DNQ10 Flag of Austria.svg Harald Ertl ATS-Ford G
DNQ9 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael Bleekemolen ATS-Ford G
DNQ18 Flag of Italy.svg Gimax Surtees-Ford G
DNPQ23 Flag of Austria.svg Harald Ertl Ensign-Ford G
DNPQ32 Flag of Finland.svg Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford G
DNPQ36 Flag of Germany.svg Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford G
DNPQ38 Flag of Italy.svg Alberto Colombo Merzario-Ford G
Source: [11] [12]
Notes

Notes

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Italian GP, 1978". GrandPrix.com. 2002. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  2. "The Accident". RonniePeterson.se. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  3. "1978 Italian GP Report". Motor Sport. No. 27. October 1978. p. 10. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  4. Tytler, Ewan (2000). "The Death of Ronnie Peterson: What Really Happened at Monza in 1978". Atlas F1. Vol. 6, no. 36. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  5. "The operation". RonniePeterson.se. 2007. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  6. "The Death notice". RonniePeterson.se. 2007. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
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  10. Andretti, Mario (8 September 2015). "Mario Andretti and the Brutal Magic of Monza". The Drive. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2024. Updated 2 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
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  13. 1 2 "Italy 1978 – Championship". Stats F1. 2011. Archived from the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
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