1978 Swedish Grand Prix

F1 Sweden Swedish IX Swedish Grand Prix 17 June 1978 8 16 Scandinavian Raceway, Anderstorp, Sweden Scandinavian Raceway 1978.svg Permanent racing facility 2.505 4.031http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/july-1978/25/swedish-grand-prix The Swedish Grand Prix Motor Sport London July 1978 935–936 19 March 2017 70 175.332 282.170 Sunny and warm Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:22.058 USA Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:24.836 5 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo Austria Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford Italy Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford Sweden SWE thumb|The Brabham BT46B "fan car" at the 2001 Goodwood Festival of Speed. The 1978 Swedish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 June 1978 at the Scandinavian Raceway. It was the eighth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors, and the last Formula One Swedish Grand Prix to date. The 70-lap race was the only race to feature the Brabham BT46B "fan car", with which Niki Lauda took a commanding victory. Riccardo Patrese finished second in an Arrows, with Ronnie Peterson third in a Lotus. Race summary Responsible for the Brabham win was clever thinking by Brabham's Gordon Murray, who was trying to eclipse Colin Chapman's ground effect invention on the Lotus 79, the skirted car that had swept the front row since its debut at Zolder. Center of the new Brabham BT46B concept was a large fan which drew air through the engine water radiator which was mounted horizontally over the engine. The fan also took ground effect to a higher level (at least engineering-wise) by sucking air from under the car, creating a partial vacuum and creating an enormous amount of downforce. The car appeared to contravene a rule which stated that moving aerodynamic devices were not allowed, but Brabham argued that the rules had been worded to ban devices whose primary function was aerodynamic. As the fan also cooled the engine, Brabham claimed that this, not aerodynamics, was its primary function. Its legality was soon protested, but it was allowed to race, with John Watson and Niki Lauda qualifying 2nd and 3rd behind the Lotus 79 of Mario Andretti (the two drivers did this as to not draw attention to the remarkable advantage that the fan would provide, qualifying on full tanks and in the words of Lauda "doing our best to avoid pole").May 2018 At the start, Andretti retained the first place, while Lauda got ahead of Watson; on the second lap, he was passed by a fast Riccardo Patrese in the Arrows, and on the third he was passed by the other Lotus of Ronnie Peterson too; the Swede also passed Patrese, but had later to back off due to a tyre puncture. The order then remained the same until lap 20, when Watson was forced to retire by a throttle problem. At the front, Lauda and Andretti were battling for first place, until the American made an error and was forced to let the Austrian through, and eventually dropped out due to a broken valve on his engine. Once Jean-Pierre Jabouille dropped oil onto the track, the Brabham was in a race of its own, seemingly unaffected by the slippery surface. In Lauda's biography, To Hell and Back, he wrote that whilst other cars had to reduce speed to drive carefully over the oil, the Brabhams could simply accelerate (as the fan was activated by the gearbox to get around regulations, this meant that higher speed produced much higher grip) through the affected parts of the track. Lauda went on to win by 34.6 seconds despite according to Lauda "trying not to show how dominant the car really was", followed by Patrese and Peterson in a close finish; the remaining points went to Patrick Tambay, Clay Regazzoni and Emerson Fittipaldi. After the race, the stewards deemed the car legal. Later, the FIA investigated the car and corroborated Brabham's claim that the fan's primary effect was to cool the car, meeting the letter, if not the spirit, of the rules. The car was judged to have been legal as raced and the Brabham victory stood, but the car never raced again. It is popularly thought that it was banned, but it was actually voluntarily withdrawn by Brabham. This was arguably done by team owner Bernie Ecclestone to avoid a conflict with the other privately owned teams, whose support he needed. 1978 was the year that Ecclestone became chief executive of the Formula One Constructors' Association and led it through the FISA–FOCA war that would lead to the downfall of FISA and give FOCA the right to negotiate television contracts for the Grands Prix, effectively giving Ecclestone commercial control of Formula One which continued for several decades. Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap Grid15USA Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:22.058122GBR John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:22.737+0.679231AUT Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:22.783+0.725346SWE Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:23.120+1.0624535ITA Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:23.369+1.3115620RSA 1928 Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:23.621+1.5636712CAN Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:23.730+1.6727811ARG Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:23.737+1.6798927AUS Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:23.951+1.89391015FRA Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:23.963+1.905101126FRA Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:24.030+1.97211124FRA Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:24.203+2.145121314BRA Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:24.274+2.21613147GBR James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:24.761+2.70314158FRA Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:24.986+2.928151617SWI Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford1:25.007+2.94916173FRA Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:25.813+3.755171819ITA Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:26.618+4.56018199GER Jochen MassATS-Ford1:26.787+4.729192016GER Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford1:27.011+4.953202125MEX Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:27.139+5.081212237ITA Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:27.479+5.421222310FIN Keke RosbergATS-Ford1:27.560+5.502232436GER Rolf StommelenArrows-Ford1:27.812+5.754242518GBR Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford1:28.282+6.224DNQ Did not qualify2630USA Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:28.388 +6.330DNQ Did not qualify2722BEL Jacky IckxEnsign-Ford1:28.400+6.342DNQ Did not qualifySource:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/suede/qualification.aspx Sweden 1978 - Qualifications • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 31 January 2019 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify. Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo Goodyear 70 1:41:00.606 3 9 2 35 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford Goodyear 70 + 34.019 5 6 3 6 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford Goodyear 70 + 34.105 4 4 4 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford Goodyear 69 +1 lap 15 3 5 17 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford Goodyear 69 +1 lap 16 2 6 14 Brazil 1968 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford Goodyear 69 +1 lap 13 1 7 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra Goodyear 69 +1 lap 11 8 7 UK James Hunt McLaren-Ford Goodyear 69 +1 lap 14 9 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari Michelin 69 +1 lap 7 10 11 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari Michelin 69 +1 lap 8 11 16 FRG Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford Goodyear 68 +2 laps 20 12 25 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford Goodyear 68 +2 laps 21 13 9 FRG Jochen Mass ATS-Ford Goodyear 68 +2 laps 19 14 36 FRG Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford Goodyear 67 +3 laps 24 15 10 Finland Keke Rosberg ATS-Ford Goodyear 63 +7 laps 23 NC Not classified 37 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford Goodyear 62 +8 laps 22 Ret Retired 5 US Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford Goodyear 46 Engine 1 Ret Retired 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford Goodyear 46 Wheel 9 Ret Retired 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 42 Suspension 12 Ret Retired 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault Michelin 28 Engine 10 Ret Retired 2 UK John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo Goodyear 19 Spun off/Throttle 2 Ret Retired 20 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford Goodyear 16 Overheating 6 Ret Retired 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 8 Accident 17 Ret Retired 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford Goodyear 7 Accident 18 DNQ Did not qualify 18 UK Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford Goodyear DNQ Did not qualify 30 US Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford Goodyear DNQ Did not qualify 22 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford GoodyearSource:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1978/416/ 1978 Swedish Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20140903035203/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1978/416/ 3 September 2014https://gparchive.com/formula-1/1978-swedish-grand-prix/ 1978 Swedish Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive GPArchive.com 17 June 1978 5 November 2021 Notes This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Wolf and the 10th Grand Prix start for Renault (as both a constructor and as an engine supplier). This was the 25th fastest lap set by a Brabham. This was the 1st podium finish for Arrows. This race marked the 100th pole position set by a Ford-powered car. Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 USA Mario Andretti 36 10px 2 SWE Ronnie Peterson 30 10px 2 3 AUT Niki Lauda 25 10px 1 4 FRA Patrick Depailler 23 10px 1 5 ARG Carlos Reutemann 22Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/suede/championnat.aspx Sweden 1978 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 2019-01-31 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 UK Lotus-Ford 49 10px 2 2 UK Brabham-Alfa Romeo 31 10px 1 3 UK Tyrrell-Ford 25 10px 1 4 ITA Ferrari 22 10px 5 FRA Ligier-Matra 10Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References 30em Swedish Grand Prix 1978 1978 Spanish Grand Prix 1978 French Grand Prix 1977 Swedish Grand Prix N/A Category:Swedish Grand Prix Swedish Grand Prix Grand Prix Swedish Grand Prix Category:20th century in Jönköping County Category:Sports competitions in Jönköping County Category:Gislaved Municipality