1978 German Grand Prix

1978 German Grand Prix
Race 11 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details[1]
Date	30 July 1978
Official name	XL Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location	Hockenheimring, West Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.790 km (4.219 miles)
Distance	45 laps, 305.505 km (189.81 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:51.90
Fastest lap
Driver	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:55.62 on lap 26
Podium
First	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Second	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford
Third	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra
Lap leaders

The 1978 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 30 July 1978 at the Hockenheimring. Mario Andretti won the race from pole position, ahead of Jody Scheckter and Jacques Laffite.

Report

This was the debut race of future world champion Nelson Piquet. Mario Andretti took pole with Ronnie Peterson in second and Niki Lauda third. At the start, Peterson got off better and took the lead from Andretti, and held it for four laps before Andretti retook it. Lauda ran third in the early stages, before he was passed by Alan Jones, and the duo battled until Lauda's engine failed, his fifth engine related retirement of the year.^[2] The two Lotus cars were cruising at the front, and Jones ran third comfortably until he retired with a fuel vaporization problem. Lotus's hopes of a 1–2 ended when Peterson's gearbox failed, Andretti was unaffected by that and cruised to his fifth win of the season, with Jody Scheckter second and Jacques Laffite third.

Classification

Pre-qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	32	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	2:10.13	—
2	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	2:10.82	+0.69
3	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	2:11.80	+1.67
4*	31	René Arnoux	Martini-Ford	2:12.25	+2.12
5*	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	2:12.45	+2.32
[3]

• Positions in red and an asterisk indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:51.90	—
2	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	1:51.99	+0.09
3	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:52.29	+0.39
4	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1:52.29	+0.78
5	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:52.84	+0.94
6	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1:53.50	+1.60
7	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:53.40	+1.50
8	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1:53.46	+1.56
9	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1:53.61	+1.71
10	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:54.03	+2.13
11	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	1:54.04	+2.14
12	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1:54.17	+2.27
13	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1:54.32	+2.42
14	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	1:54.34	+2.44
15	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:54.40	+2.50
16	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:54.63	+2.73
17	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	1:55.18	+3.28
18	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	1:55.57	+3.67
19	32	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	1:55.57	+3.67
20	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1:55.86	+3.96
21	22	Nelson Piquet	Ensign-Ford	1:56.15	+4.25
22	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	1:56.21	+4.31
23	23	Harald Ertl	Ensign-Ford	1:56.25	+4.35
24	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	1:56.45	+4.55
25*	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	1:56.57	+4.67
26*	10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS-Ford	1:57.40	+5.50
27*	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	1:57.86	+5.96
28*	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	1:58.31	+6.41
Source:[3]

• Positions in red and an asterisk indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	45	1:28:00.90	1	9
2	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	G	45	+15.35 secs	4	6
3	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	G	45	+28.01 secs	7	4
4	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	45	+36.88 secs	10	3
5	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	G	45	+57.26 secs	16	2
6	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	G	45	+1:37.86	18	1
7	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	45	+1:39.53	5
8	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	M	45	+1:56.87	15
9	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	G	44	+1 Lap	14
10	32	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	G	42	+3 Laps	19
11	23	Harald Ertl	Ensign-Ford	G	41	Engine	23
DSQ	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	G	42	Illegal Pit Stop	17
Ret	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	G	36	Gearbox	2
DSQ	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	G	34	Illegal Pit Stop	8
Ret	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	G	31	Fuel System	6
Ret	22	Nelson Piquet	Ensign-Ford	G	31	Engine	21
Ret	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	G	24	Fuel System	20
Ret	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	G	16	Accident	11
Ret	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	M	14	Fuel System	12
Ret	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	11	Engine	3
Ret	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	M	5	Engine	9
Ret	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	G	1	Accident	22
Ret	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	G	1	Accident	24
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	G	0	Accident	13
DNQ	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	G
DNQ	10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS-Ford	G
DNQ	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	G
DNQ	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	G
DNPQ	31	René Arnoux	Martini-Ford	G
DNPQ	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	G
Source:[4][5][6]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 54 2 Ronnie Peterson 36 3 Carlos Reutemann 31 4 Niki Lauda 31 5 Patrick Depailler 26 Source:[7]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 67 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 40 3 Ferrari 31 4 Tyrrell-Ford 30 5 Wolf-Ford 14 Source:[7]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References