1978 Argentine Grand Prix

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.

1978 Argentine Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details
Date 15 January 1978
Location Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course Permanent road course
Course length 5.81 km (3.61 miles)
Distance 52 laps, 302.12 km (187.72 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver
Lotus-Ford
Time 1:47.75
Fastest lap
Driver Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari
Time 1:49.76 on lap 3
Podium
First
Lotus-Ford
Second
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Third
Tyrrell-Ford
Lap leaders

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. Driver Constructor Time No
1 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:47,75 1
2 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 1:47.84 2
3 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:48,39 3
4 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:48,42 4
5 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1:48,70 5
6 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 1:48,72 6
7 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:48,97 7
8 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:49,13 8
9 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 1:49,74 9
10 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:49,69 10
11 Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford 1:49,77 11
12 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 1:49,91 12
13 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 1:50,06 13
14 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:50,11 14
15 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 1:50,35 15
16 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 1:50,45 16
17 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:50,82 17
18 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 1:51,16 18
19 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 1:51,42 19
20 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 1:51,68 20
21 Danny Ongais Ensign-Ford 1:51,71 21
22 Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford 1:51,94 22
23 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 1:51,99 23
24 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 1:52,27 24
25 Hector Rebaque Lotus-Ford 1:52,52 DNQ
26 Eddie Cheever Theodore-Ford 1:53,25 DNQ
27 Divina Galica Hesketh-Ford 1:56,69 DNQ

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race classification
James Hunt (left) and Niki Lauda at the Grand Prix
PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 5 United States Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford G 52 1:37:04.47 1 9
2 1 Austria Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 52 + 13.21 5 6
3 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford G 52 + 13.64 10 4
4 7 United Kingdom James Hunt McLaren-Ford G 52 + 16.05 6 3
5 6 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford G 52 + 1:14.85 3 2
6 8 France Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford G 52 + 1:19.90 9 1
7 11 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari M 52 + 1:22.60 2
8 12 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari M 52 + 1:38.88 7
9 14 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 52 + 1:40.60 17
10 20 South Africa Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford G 52 + 1:43.50 15
11 9 West Germany Jochen Mass ATS-Ford G 52 + 1:49.07 13
12 10 France Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford G 51 + 1 Lap 11
13 30 United States Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford G 51 + 1 Lap 24
14 3 France Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford G 51 + 1 Lap 23
15 17 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford G 51 + 1 Lap 16
16 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra G 50 Engine 8
17 16 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford G 50 + 2 Laps 18
18 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford G 50 + 2 Laps 12
Ret 2 United Kingdom John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo G 41 Engine 4
Ret 27 Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford G 36 Fuel System 14
Ret 22 United States Danny Ongais Ensign-Ford G 35 Distributor 21
Ret 23 Italy Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford G 28 Engine 22
Ret 37 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford G 9 Differential 20
Ret 18 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford G 4 Overheating 19
DNQ 25 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford G
DNQ 32 United States Eddie Cheever Theodore-Ford G
DNQ 24 United Kingdom Divina Galica Hesketh-Ford G
Source:[1][2]

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

References
  1. "1978 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  2. "1978 Argentine Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 15 January 1978. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  3. "Argentina 1978 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
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