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1978 Spanish Grand Prix

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1978 Spanish Grand Prix
Race 7 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details
Date 4 June 1978
Official name XXIV Gran Premio de España[1]
Location Jarama, Spain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.404 km (2.115 miles)
Distance 75 laps, 255.3 km (158.625 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Ford
Time 1:16.39
Fastest lap
Driver United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford
Time 1:20.06 on lap 5
Podium
First Lotus-Ford
Second Lotus-Ford
Third Ligier-Matra
Lap leaders

The 1978 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 4 June 1978 at Jarama. It was the seventh race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 75-lap race was won from pole position by Mario Andretti, driving a Lotus-Ford, with teammate Ronnie Peterson second and Jacques Laffite third in a Ligier-Matra.

Report

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Once again the new Lotus 79 demonstrated its speed, with Mario Andretti on pole and Ronnie Peterson alongside him on the front row, the Swede driving the 79 for the first time. Carlos Reutemann was third in his Ferrari, with James Hunt fourth in his McLaren.

On race day, Hunt made a fast start to lead into the first corner from Andretti and Reutemann, with Peterson dropping to ninth. Andretti re-passed Hunt on lap 6 and then started to pull away. Reutemann ran third until he had to pit for tyres, and so John Watson inherited third until he was passed by Jacques Laffite, but soon the recovering Peterson passed both of them. Hunt now suffered from tyre problems and he also began to drop back, and so Peterson moved into second with Laffite third. This was how it stayed to the end, Andretti winning from Peterson in another Lotus 1–2, and Laffite taking the final spot on the podium. Reutemann had a huge accident on lap 58 when his Ferrari flew 8 feet in the air, cleared the barrier and landed in the debris fencing.

Classification

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Pre-qualifying

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Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap
1 Mexico Héctor Rebaque LotusFord 1:19.84
2 West Germany Rolf Stommelen ArrowsFord +0.13
3 Italy Arturo Merzario MerzarioFord +0.19
4 United States Brett Lunger McLarenFord +0.35
5 Finland Keke Rosberg TheodoreFord +1.41

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.

Qualifying

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Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap
1 United States Mario Andretti LotusFord 1:16.39
2 Sweden Ronnie Peterson LotusFord +0.29
3 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari +1.01
4 United Kingdom James Hunt McLarenFord +1.27
5 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari +1.40
6 Austria Niki Lauda BrabhamAlfa Romeo +1.55
7 United Kingdom John Watson BrabhamAlfa Romeo +1.59
8 Italy Riccardo Patrese ArrowsFord +1.75
9 South Africa Jody Scheckter WolfFord +1.85
10 France Jacques Laffite LigierMatra +2.03
11 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault +2.60
12 France Patrick Depailler TyrrellFord +2.67
13 France Didier Pironi TyrrellFord +2.72
14 France Patrick Tambay McLarenFord +2.89
15 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi FittipaldiFord +2.94
16 Italy Vittorio Brambilla SurteesFord +3.32
17 West Germany Jochen Mass ATSFord +3.59
18 Australia Alan Jones WilliamsFord +3.60
19 West Germany Rolf Stommelen ArrowsFord +3.64
20 Mexico Héctor Rebaque LotusFord +3.82
21 Belgium Jacky Ickx EnsignFord +3.97
22 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni ShadowFord +4.28
23 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan SurteesFord +4.38
24 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck ShadowFord +4.48
25 Italy Arturo Merzario MerzarioFord +4.52
26 United States Brett Lunger McLarenFord +4.78
27 Spain Emilio de Villota McLarenFord +5.16
28 Italy Alberto Colombo ATSFord +5.20
Source:[2]

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 75 1:41:47.06 1 9
2 6 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford G 75 + 19.56 2 6
3 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra G 75 + 37.24 10 4
4 20 South Africa Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford G 75 + 1:00.06 9 3
5 2 United Kingdom John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 75 + 1:05.93 7 2
6 7 United Kingdom James Hunt McLaren-Ford G 74 + 1 Lap 4 1
7 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford G 74 + 1 Lap 16
8 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 74 + 1 Lap 18
9 9 West Germany Jochen Mass ATS-Ford G 74 + 1 Lap 17
10 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 74 + 1 Lap 5
11 18 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford G 73 + 2 Laps 23
12 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford G 71 + 4 Laps 13
13 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault M 71 + 4 Laps 11
14 36 West Germany Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford G 71 + 4 Laps 19
15 17 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford G 67 Fuel Pipe 22
Ret 22 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ensign-Ford G 64 Engine 21
Ret 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 62 Throttle 15
Ret 11 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari M 57 Accident 3
Ret 1 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 56 Engine 6
Ret 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford G 51 Engine 12
Ret 16 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford G 45 Suspension 24
Ret 35 Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford G 21 Engine 8
Ret 25 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford G 21 Exhaust 20
Ret 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford G 16 Spun Off 14
DNQ 37 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford G
DNQ 30 United States Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford G
DNQ 28 Spain Emilio de Villota McLaren-Ford G
DNQ 10 Italy Alberto Colombo ATS-Ford G
DNPQ 32 Finland Keke Rosberg Theodore-Ford G
Source:[3][4]

Notes

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Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1978". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  2. ^ "Formula One 1978 Spanish Grand Prix Classification | Motorsport Stats".
  3. ^ "1978 Spanish Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. ^ "1978 Spanish Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 4 June 1978. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Spain 1978 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


Previous race:
1978 Belgian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1978 season
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1978 Swedish Grand Prix
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1977 Spanish Grand Prix
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1979 Spanish Grand Prix