1978 United States Grand Prix West

August 2023 F1 United States United States Grand Prix West Long Beach Grand Prix Long Beach 1978-1981.png April 2 1978 4 16 Long Beach Street Circuit Temporary street course 2.02 3.251 80 161.60 260.08 Scattered clouds 17 °C °Fhttp://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KLAX/1978/4/2/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA Weather History for KLAX – April, 1978 – Sunday, April 2, 1978 Weather Underground 23 December 2015 ARG 1861 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:20.636 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:22.215 27 ARG 1861 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford USW The 1978 United States Grand Prix West (officially the Long Beach Grand Prix1978 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes http://www.progcovers.com/motor/f11978.html The Programme Covers Project) was a Formula One motor race held on April 2, 1978, at Long Beach Street Circuit. Summary Carlos Reutemann took over at the halfway mark from Ferrari teammate Gilles Villeneuve, when the Canadian crashed out of the lead, and won by eleven seconds. It was the second American victory for the Argentine, who also won for Brabham at Watkins Glen in 1974. American Mario Andretti finished second to maintain a share of the Championship lead with Reutemann. At the start of the weekend, though only 22 cars would make the grid, there were 30 entries, requiring a one-hour pre-qualifying session on Friday morning for the eight non-FICA members. From these eight, the fastest four would join the rest of the field in qualifying for one of the 22 starting spots. Niki Lauda, who had placed his Ferrari on pole for the previous year's race, again set the early pace, this time in a Brabham. Late in the Friday morning session, however, Reutemann suddenly jumped to the top of the sheets with a 1:20.99 and eventually posted the day's best of 1:20.636. As usual at Long Beach, a number of drivers suffered from broken gearboxes, and on Saturday, though the weather was better, no one was able to better Reutemann's time. The first three rows of the final grid were occupied by just three teams, as Villeneuve completed the all-Ferrari front row, Brabham teammates Lauda and John Watson were third and fifth, and the Lotus pair of Andretti and Ronnie Peterson were fourth and sixth. 75,000 fans showed up for the race on Sunday. The start had been moved from in front of the pits on Ocean Boulevard to the curving "straight" on Shoreline Drive in order to avoid another first corner tangle. The strategy seemed to work, as everyone got through cleanly, though John Watson's late braking maneuver down the inside caused him to exit wide from the hairpin and force polesitter Reutemann wide with him, so Villeneuve tucked into the lead as they exited. After one lap, the order was Villeneuve, Watson, Lauda, Reutemann, Andretti, Alan Jones, James Hunt and Peterson. In the lead of a Grand Prix for the first time, Villeneuve was driving superbly, as he began to extend his lead. On lap six, Hunt struck the wall at the apex of the last turn before the pit straight and knocked his right front wheel off. Three laps later, Watson retired from second with a blown engine. Andretti was dropping back in fourth, having chosen the wrong Goodyears and a poor top gear, and Jones was closing on him quickly. On lap 19, the Williams went through and took off after Reutemann. With Villeneuve's lead at two seconds, Reutemann was pushing Lauda hard for second place. Suddenly, on lap 28, the Brabham went straight on at Turn One, looking as if his brakes had failed. Lauda stopped safely, however, stepped out and removed his helmet. An electrical failure had cut the motor. Meanwhile, Jones had caught up to Reutemann, and the top three were separated by just 2.5 seconds. On lap 39, just before the halfway point, Villeneuve came up to lap Clay Regazzoni, who was in a battle with Jean-Pierre Jabouille's Renault. Rather than wait until the straight, the Canadian tried to get by in the twisty section leading up to Ocean Boulevard. There simply wasn't room, however, and, when Regazzoni braked earlier than Villeneuve expected, the Ferrari's right front wheel hit the left rear of the Shadow and was launched over the white car into the wall. Fortunately, no one was hurt. This left Reutemann in the lead, ahead of Jones, then a long gap back to Andretti. Lap after lap, Jones hounded Reutemann, but the Ferrari was too fast down the straight for him to get by. On about lap 47, with Jones still on the Ferrari's tail, the front wings of the Williams strangely flopped down, the result of a fabrication failure. Jones continued to battle, but began losing around a second a lap. Adding to the Aussie's misery, his fuel pressure began fluctuating. His head jerked back and forth as the engine sputtered and, sometimes, cut out entirely. As one car after another passed, the struggling Williams fell all the way to eighth place. Recording the fastest lap of the race on lap 27 and repassing Emerson Fittipaldi on the last lap for seventh place were his only consolations after a spectacular drive. Reutemann cruised to the finish, maintaining a twelve to fifteen second gap over Andretti, who had a similar cushion over Patrick Depailler in third. Classification Pre-qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 36 FRG Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 1:23.540 — 2 35 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:23.840 +0.300 3 37 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 1:24.729 +1.189 4 30 US Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:25.076 +1.536 5 32 Finland Keke Rosberg Theodore-Ford 1:25.785 +2.245 6 25 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 1:26.128 +2.588 7 39 US Danny Ongais Shadow-Ford 1:26.150 +2.610 8 24 Ireland Derek Daly Hesketh-Ford 1:26.615 +3.075 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify. Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 11 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:20.636 — 2 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:20.836 +0.200 3 1 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:20.937 +0.301 4 5 US Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:21.188 +0.552 5 2 UK John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:21.244 +0.608 6 6 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:21.474 +0.838 7 7 UK James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:21.738 +1.102 8 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:21.935 +1.299 9 35 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:22.006 +1.370 10 20 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 1:22.163 +1.527 11 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 1:22.234 +1.598 12 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:22.414 +1.778 13 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:22.491 +1.855 14 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:22.630 +1.994 15 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:22.790 +2.154 16 9 FRG Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 1:23.106 +2.470 17 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 1:23.212 +2.576 18 36 West Germany Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 1:23.291 +2.655 19 10 France Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford 1:23.419 +2.783 20 17 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 1:23.454 +2.818 21 37 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 1:23.589 +2.953 22 18 UK Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 1:23.677 +3.041 23 16 FRG Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 1:23.733 +3.097 24 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 1:23.792 +3.156 25 30 US Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:23.795 +3.159 26 22 Italy Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford 1:24.008 +3.372 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify. Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari Michelin 80 1:52:01.301 1 9 2 5 US Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford Goodyear 80 +11.061 secs 4 6 3 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 80 +28.951 secs 12 4 4 6 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford Goodyear 80 +45.603 secs 6 3 5 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra Goodyear 80 +1:22.884 14 2 6 35 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford Goodyear 79 +1 Lap 9 1 7 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford Goodyear 79 +1 Lap 8 8 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford Goodyear 79 +1 Lap 15 9 36 FRG Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford Goodyear 79 +1 Lap 18 10 17 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford Goodyear 79 +1 Lap 20 11 10 France Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford Goodyear 75 +5 Laps 19 12 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford Goodyear 74 Accident 11 Ret Retired 20 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford Goodyear 59 Accident 10 Ret Retired 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford Goodyear 50 Transmission 17 Ret Retired 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault Michelin 43 Turbo 13 Ret Retired 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari Michelin 38 Accident 2 Ret Retired 1 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo Goodyear 27 Ignition 3 Ret Retired 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 25 Gearbox 22 Ret Retired 37 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford Goodyear 17 Gearbox 21 Ret Retired 9 FRG Jochen Mass ATS-Ford Goodyear 11 Brakes 16 Ret Retired 2 UK John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo Goodyear 9 Engine 5 Ret Retired 7 UK James Hunt McLaren-Ford Goodyear 5 Accident 7 DNS Did not start 18 UK Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford Goodyear Practice Accident DNS Did not start 16 FRG Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford Goodyear Practice Accident DNQ Did not qualify 30 US Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford Goodyear DNQ Did not qualify 22 Italy Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford Goodyear DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 32 Finland Keke Rosberg Theodore-Ford Goodyear DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 25 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford Goodyear DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 39 US Danny Ongais Shadow-Ford Goodyear DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 24 Ireland Derek Daly Hesketh-Ford GoodyearSource:https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1978/races/394/usa-west.html 1978 USA West Grand Prix formula1.com 11 October 2017 August 6, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200806143510/https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1978/races/394/usa-west.html dead https://gparchive.com/formula-1/1978-usa-west-grand-prix/ 1978 United States Grand Prix West - Race Results & History - GP Archive GPArchive.com 2 April 1978 5 November 2021 Notes This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Irish driver Derek Daly. This was the 1st fastest lap set by Williams. Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 4 1 ARG Carlos Reutemann 18 10px 1 2 USA Mario Andretti 18 10px 1 3 SWE Ronnie Peterson 14 10px 4 FRA Patrick Depailler 14 10px 2 5 AUT Niki Lauda 10Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest/championnat.aspx United States West 1978 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 21 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 UK Lotus-Ford 27 10px 2 2 ITA Ferrari 18 10px 3 UK Tyrrell-Ford 15 10px 2 4 UK Brabham-Alfa Romeo 14 10px 5 BRA 1968 Fittipaldi-Ford 6Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References 30em Further reading Rob Walker (July, 1978). "3rd United States Grand Prix West: Road Show". Road & Track, 135–140. United States Grand Prix West 1978 1978 South African Grand Prix 1978 Monaco Grand Prix 1977 United States Grand Prix West 1979 United States Grand Prix West 1977 United States Grand Prix West 1979 United States Grand Prix West Grand Prix of Long Beach United States Grand Prix West United States Grand Prix West Category:1978 in American motorsport United States Grand Prix West Category:United States Grand Prix West