1978 Argentine Grand Prix

F1 Argentina Argentine Autódromo Oscar y Juan Gálvez Circuito N° 15.svg 15 January 1978 1 16 Buenos Aires, Argentina Permanent road course 3.61 5.81 52 187.72 302.12 Dry Mario Andretti USA Lotus-Ford 1:47.75 Gilles Villeneuve Canada Ferrari 1:49.76 3 Mario Andretti USA Lotus-Ford Niki Lauda Austria Brabham-Alfa Romeo Patrick Depailler France Tyrrell-Ford ARG 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. 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.DriverConstructorTimeNo1Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:47,7512Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:47.8423Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:48,3934John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:48,4245Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:48,7056James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:48,7267Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:48,9778Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:49,1389Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:49,74910Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:49,691011Jean-Pierre JarierATS-Ford1:49,771112Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:49,911213Jochen MassATS-Ford1:50,061314Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:50,111415Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:50,351516Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford1:50,451617Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:50,821718Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford1:51,161819Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford1:51,421920Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:51,682021Danny OngaisEnsign-Ford1:51,712122Lamberto LeoniEnsign-Ford1:51,942223Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:51,992324Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:52,2724 25Hector RebaqueLotus-Ford1:52,52DNQ Did not qualify 26Eddie CheeverTheodore-Ford1:53,25DNQ Did not qualify 27Divina GalicaHesketh-Ford1:56,69DNQ Did not qualify *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify. Race classification thumb|right|300px|James Hunt (left) and Niki Lauda at the Grand Prix Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 US Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford Goodyear 52 1:37:04.47 1 9 2 1 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo Goodyear 52 + 13.21 5 6 3 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 52 + 13.64 10 4 4 7 UK James Hunt McLaren-Ford Goodyear 52 + 16.05 6 3 5 6 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford Goodyear 52 + 1:14.85 3 2 6 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford Goodyear 52 + 1:19.90 9 1 7 11 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari Michelin 52 + 1:22.60 2 8 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari Michelin 52 + 1:38.88 7 9 14 Brazil 1968 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford Goodyear 52 + 1:40.60 17 10 20 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford Goodyear 52 + 1:43.50 15 11 9 West Germany Jochen Mass ATS-Ford Goodyear 52 + 1:49.07 13 12 10 France Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford Goodyear 51 + 1 Lap 11 13 30 US Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford Goodyear 51 + 1 Lap 24 14 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 51 + 1 Lap 23 15 17 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford Goodyear 51 + 1 Lap 16 16 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra Goodyear 50 Engine 8 17 16 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford Goodyear 50 + 2 Laps 18 18 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford Goodyear 50 + 2 Laps 12 Ret Retired 2 UK John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo Goodyear 41 Engine 4 Ret Retired 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford Goodyear 36 Fuel System 14 Ret Retired 22 US Danny Ongais Ensign-Ford Goodyear 35 Distributor 21 Ret Retired 23 Italy Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford Goodyear 28 Engine 22 Ret Retired 37 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford Goodyear 9 Differential 20 Ret Retired 18 UK Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford Goodyear 4 Overheating 19 DNQ Did not qualify 25 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford Goodyear DNQ Did not qualify 32 US Eddie Cheever Theodore-Ford Goodyear DNQ Did not qualify 24 UK Divina Galica Hesketh-Ford Goodyear Source:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1978/409/ 1978 Argentine Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20140903035126/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1978/409/ 3 September 2014https://gparchive.com/formula-1/1978-argentine-grand-prix/ 1978 Argentine Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive GPArchive.com 15 January 1978 5 November 2021 Notes This was the Formula One World Championship debut for American driver Eddie Cheever and French driver and future Grand Prix winner Didier Pironi. This was the 1st fastest lap set by a Canadian driver. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for German constructor ATS, British constructor and future World Champion Williams, Hong Kong constructor Theodore — the first from Hong Kong — and the debut for Italian constructor Merzario. This race also marked the 50th Grand Prix start for Ensign. Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 USA Mario Andretti 9 2 AUT Niki Lauda 6 3 FRA Patrick Depailler 4 4 UK James Hunt 3 5 SWE Ronnie Peterson 2Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/argentine/championnat.aspx Argentina 1978 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 6 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 UK Lotus-Ford 9 2 UK Brabham-Alfa Romeo 6 3 UK Tyrrell-Ford 4 4 UK McLaren-Ford 3Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References 30em Argentine Grand Prix 1978 1977 Japanese Grand Prix 1978 Brazilian Grand Prix 1977 Argentine Grand Prix 1979 Argentine Grand Prix Argentine Grand Prix Category:Argentine Grand Prix Grand Prix Argentine Grand Prix