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.
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.DriverConstructorTimeNo1Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:47,7512Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:47.8423Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:48,3934John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:48,4245Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:48,7056James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:48,7267Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:48,9778Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:49,1389Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:49,74910Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:49,691011Jean-Pierre JarierATS-Ford1:49,771112Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:49,911213Jochen MassATS-Ford1:50,061314Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:50,111415Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:50,351516Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford1:50,451617Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:50,821718Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford1:51,161819Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford1:51,421920Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:51,682021Danny OngaisEnsign-Ford1:51,712122Lamberto LeoniEnsign-Ford1:51,942223Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:51,992324Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:52,2724 25Hector RebaqueLotus-Ford1:52,52 26Eddie CheeverTheodore-Ford1:53,25 27Divina GalicaHesketh-Ford1:56,69 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race classification
Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 52 1:37:04.47 1 9 2 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 52 + 13.21 5 6 3 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 52 + 13.64 10 4 4 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 52 + 16.05 6 3 5 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 52 + 1:14.85 3 2 6 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 52 + 1:19.90 9 1 7 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 52 + 1:22.60 2 8 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 52 + 1:38.88 7 9 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 52 + 1:40.60 17 10 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 52 + 1:43.50 15 11 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 52 + 1:49.07 13 12 10 Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford 51 + 1 Lap 11 13 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford 51 + 1 Lap 24 14 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 51 + 1 Lap 23 15 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 51 + 1 Lap 16 16 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 50 Engine 8 17 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 50 + 2 Laps 18 18 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 50 + 2 Laps 12 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 41 Engine 4 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 36 Fuel System 14 22 Danny Ongais Ensign-Ford 35 Distributor 21 23 Lamberto Leoni Ensign-Ford 28 Engine 22 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 9 Differential 20 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 4 Overheating 19 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 32 Eddie Cheever Theodore-Ford 24 Divina Galica Hesketh-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for American driver Eddie Cheever and French driver and future Grand Prix winner Didier Pironi. This was the 1st fastest lap set by a Canadian driver. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for German constructor ATS, British constructor and future World Champion Williams, Hong Kong constructor Theodore — the first from Hong Kong — and the debut for Italian constructor Merzario. This race also marked the 50th Grand Prix start for Ensign.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 9 2 Niki Lauda 6 3 Patrick Depailler 4 4 James Hunt 3 5 Ronnie Peterson 2Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 9 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 6 3 Tyrrell-Ford 4 4 McLaren-Ford 3Source:
References