1978 Formula One season

The 1978 Formula One season was the 32nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the International Cup for F1 Constructors , [ 1 ] contested concurrently over a sixteen race series [ 1 ] which commenced on 15 January and ended on 8 October. The season also included the non-championship BRDC International Trophy .

Mario Andretti won the Drivers' World Championship, driving for JPS - Lotus . [ 1 ] He remains the last American driver to win the World Championship. His victory at the Dutch Grand Prix is also the last for an American driver. Ronnie Peterson was awarded second place in the Drivers' standings posthumously, having died from medical complications after an accident at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix . Lotus won the International Cup for F1 Constructors, [ 1 ] for the last time.

Championship defendants Niki Lauda and Ferrari had parted ways late in 1977 , and both parties struggled to repeat the successes they had enjoyed the previous seasons. Carlos Reutemann finished third in the championship in the lead Ferrari, while Lauda finished fourth with Brabham . Apart from Peterson's death, the year saw another tragedy when Peterson's Swedish compatriot Gunnar Nilsson died from cancer, having been forced to cut his career short after the previous season because of the diseas...

The 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the International Cup for F1 Constructors were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series.

The 1978 season started at the varied Parque Almirante Brown circuit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Mario Andretti took pole in his Lotus , with home favourite 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 unca...

Brazil was the country where the drivers traveled for the second round of the season. Formula One made its first visit to the new Jacarepagua Autodrome in Rio de Janeiro , after six years at the very bumpy and demanding Interlagos circuit in São Paulo – the Jacarepagua circuit was to be visited by Formula One for the rest of the next decade. The typically extreme weather during January in Rio meant that this race was run in oppressively hot and humid conditions. Peterson took pole with James Hun...

After a long break, the season resumed at the Kyalami circuit in South Africa for the 300th World Championship Grand Prix, where defending champion Lauda took his first pole for Brabham with Andretti alongside and Hunt next. Andretti took the lead at the start, and set about building a gap, whereas Lauda dropped behind Jody Scheckter 's Wolf . Young Italian Riccardo Patrese was on a charge in the Arrows , passing Lauda for third after 20 laps. As the race continued, both Andretti and Scheckter b...

The next race was in the famous Long Beach circuit near Los Angeles in the American state of California. The Ferraris dominated qualifying, with Reutemann taking pole ahead of teammate Gilles Villeneuve , with defending champion Lauda and home hero Andretti on the second row. When the race started, Watson in fifth late-braked all into turn one, though he ran wide and Villeneuve took the lead, whereas Reutemann dropped down to fourth behind Lauda. The Ferraris, with the two Brabhams in between, r...

Round Five took place in Monaco after an extended gap once the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka circuit was cancelled. Once again, Reutemann started on pole with the Brabham duo of Watson and Lauda second and third. Watson had a good start and led into the first corner, whereas Reutemann collided with Hunt and had to pit for repairs, which left Depailler and Lauda second and third. For the first half of the race, the top three remained the same until Watson had an off allowing Depailler and Lau...

The main news before the Belgian GP at Zolder was that the new Lotus 79 was ready to race, and immediately Andretti showed its pace by taking pole comfortably from Reutemann and Lauda. He converted it to a first-corner lead, whereas Reutemann had a bad start and got swamped by the field, causing a chain reaction in which Lauda was hit by Scheckter and had to retire. This left Villeneuve second and Peterson third, but neither could keep pace with Andretti, who was able to drive away.

The first 40 laps went without incident until Villeneuve suffered a puncture and had to pit, which dropped him back down to fifth. A few laps later, Peterson also pitted for new tyres leaving the charging Reutemann second ahead of Jacques Laffite 's Ligier . Peterson, on the new tyres, was much quicker and could pass them both in the closing stages, and Laffite attempted to pass Reutemann on the last lap, but they collided, and Laffite was out. Andretti cruised to an untroubled victory, with Pet...

The next race was at the tight, twisty Jarama circuit near Madrid in Spain. Once again, the new Lotus 79 demonstrated its speed, with Andretti on pole again with Peterson alongside, and Reutemann had to settle for the second row. It was Hunt who got a great start and led into the first corner from Andretti and Reutemann, with Peterson dropping back to ninth. Hunt led for seven laps before Andretti passed him and pulled away. Reutemann ran third until he had to pit for tyres, so Watson inherited ...

Before the Swedish GP at the isolated Anderstorp circuit, the Brabham team had developed a new "fan car" much to the anger of the other teams, but the FIA allowed it to race. However, it did not stop Andretti from continuing his pole run, but it got Watson to qualify second and Lauda third- while running on full fuel tanks. When the race started, Andretti led into the first corner, with Lauda getting second from his teammate. Riccardo Patrese got up to third in his Arrows until home driver Peter...

Brabham was forced to revert to their previous car, but it did not deter them, with Watson on pole and Lauda starting third behind Andretti. At the start, Watson led into the first corner, with Andretti following and Patrick Tambay putting his McLaren in third, but that order did not remain for long as Andretti took the lead from Watson on the first lap. Lauda and Peterson were also on the move as they passed Watson and Tambay to jump into second and third, but Lauda suffered another engine fail...

The field went to Britain for the next round, and this time it was Peterson who beat Andretti to pole, as Lotus took the front row, with Scheckter next up on the second row. Andretti took the lead at the start from Peterson, and the two Lotus cars quickly pulled out a gap until Peterson retired with an engine failure. Andretti had a big lead to Scheckter and continued to extend it until he had to pit with a puncture, and he eventually retired when his engine also failed. Scheckter inherited the ...

The crowds for the Austrian GP were full of Lauda fans; however, for them, Lauda qualified only 12th as the Lotus cars again took the front row, with Peterson on pole. The surprise in qualifying was Jean-Pierre Jabouille , who qualified his turbocharged Renault third. The start saw Peterson lead into the first corner, with Reutemann snatching second from 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 barrier...

The race restarted 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. Still, 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 until the end; Peterson won ahead of Depailler, with Villeneuve taking his fi...

The drivers went to the Netherlands for the next race, qualifying as expected, Andretti taking pole with Peterson alongside in the all-Lotus front row and Lauda heading the second row. At the start, Andretti led with Peterson following, whereas Jacques Laffite challenged Lauda. The Lotus cars quickly built up a good gap, while Laffite challenged Lauda early on but then began to drop down the order with tyre issues. The race was relatively uneventful, and Andretti went to take victory, with Peter...

The Italian race was host to round fourteen, and as usual, Andretti took pole with Gilles Villeneuve pleasing the Ferrari fans by qualifying second, ahead of Jabouille's turbocharged Renault. When the race started, Andretti and Villeneuve got away comfortably, with Lauda and Jabouille following, but the rest of the field was bunched up.

Riccardo Patrese's Arrows overtook many of the cars on the right-hand side of the circuit next to the pitlane since he got a rolling start when the starter Gianni Restelli started the race prematurely. He rejoined the other cars just in front of the blocked entrance to the old Monza banking, and James Hunt got so surprised that he veered left and hit Peterson's Lotus 78 with his left front wheel. Peterson spun right and rammed the right Armco barrier hard, head-on; the front end of his Lotus 78 ...

The race restarted almost four hours after the original start. Again there was confusion as the front-row starters Andretti and Villeneuve went too early, but the rest of the field did not follow, and both Andretti and Villeneuve were handed one-minute penalties as a result. On the track, Villeneuve led ahead of Andretti and Jabouille until Jabouille retired, handing third place on the track to Lauda. His teammate Watson battled with Reutemann and Laffite and eventually pulled away. The battle o...

In a hospital, Peterson had a clot forming in his bloodstream after an operation on his legs, slipped into a coma overnight, and died the following day. This made Andretti the world champion, although he did not celebrate it, and mourned for Peterson along with his fellow drivers. Brambilla was able to recover from his injuries.

The season's penultimate round was at Watkins Glen in the United States, and Lotus had hired Jean-Pierre Jarier to replace Peterson. Patrese could not race because the Grand Prix Drivers Association had deemed him responsible for the accident, ultimately killing Peterson.

New World Champion, and home hero, Andretti was shaken up more than most drivers due to Peterson's death, but it did not stop him from romping to pole ahead of Reutemann, with Alan Jones's Williams heading the second row. Andretti kept the lead at the start, with Reutemann and Villeneuve following ahead of Jones. Andretti suffered from an ill-handling car that had brake troubles and was soon passed by Reutemann, Villeneuve, and later Jones. Reutemann and Villeneuve ran 1–2 for Ferrari until Vill...

The season finished in Canada, coming to the new île Notre-Dame circuit in Montreal; the Formula One circus left the previous Canadian GP location of Mosport Park due to safety issues with the Toronto circuit. In qualifying, Jarier starred by qualifying on pole ahead of Scheckter and home hero Villeneuve. Jarier could easily lead into the first corner, with Jones jumping up to second after a brilliant start and dropping Scheckter down to third. As Jarier began to pull away, Jones suffered a slow...

Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. The International Cup for F1 Constructors only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race. For both the Championship and the Cup, the best seven results from rounds 1-8 and the best seven results from rounds 9-16 were counted.

Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:

Official FIA results for the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors listed the positions as (1) JPS-Lotus (2) Ferrari (3) Brabham-Alfa (4) Elf-Tyrrell (5) Wolf (6) Ligier-Matra (7) Copersucar (8) McLaren (9) Williams & Arrows (11) Shadow (12) Renault (13) Surtees & Ensign. [ 1 ]

A single non-championship Formula One race was held in 1978: the BRDC International Trophy , staged at Silverstone . This was the last time this event was run under Formula One regulations. The race was won by future World Champion Keke Rosberg , driving in only his second Formula One event.