1978 German Grand Prix

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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 Lotus-Ford
Time 1:51.90
Fastest lap
Driver Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford
Time 1:55.62 on lap 26
Podium
First Lotus-Ford
Second Wolf-Ford
Third 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[edit]

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[edit]

Pre-qualifying[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 32 Finland Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 2:10.13
2 37 Italy Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 2:10.82 +0.69
3 25 Mexico Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 2:11.80 +1.67
4* 31 France René Arnoux Martini-Ford 2:12.25 +2.12
5* 30 United States Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 2:12.45 +2.32
[3]
  • Positions in red and an asterisk indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.

Qualifying[edit]

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

Race[edit]

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

Championship standings after the race[edit]

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

References[edit]

  1. ^ "1978 German Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
  2. ^ "Niki LAUDA - Retirement". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Germany 1978 - Qualifications". statsf1.com. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  4. ^ "1978 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. ^ "1978 German Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 30 July 1978. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Germany 1978 - Result". statsf1.com. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Germany 1978 - Championship". statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


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1978 British Grand Prix
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1978 season
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1978 Austrian Grand Prix
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