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. 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 +2.32Source:
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 +6.41Source:
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 45 1:28:00.90 1 9 2 20 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 45 +15.35 secs 4 6 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 45 +28.01 secs 7 4 4 14 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 45 +36.88 secs 10 3 5 3 Didier Pironi Tyrrell-Ford 45 +57.26 secs 16 2 6 25 Héctor Rebaque Lotus-Ford 45 +1:37.86 18 1 7 2 John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 45 +1:39.53 5 8 12 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 45 +1:56.87 15 9 35 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 44 +1 Lap 14 10 32 Keke Rosberg Wolf-Ford 42 +3 Laps 19 11 23 Harald Ertl Ensign-Ford 41 Engine 23 36 Rolf Stommelen Arrows-Ford 42 Illegal Pit Stop 17 6 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 36 Gearbox 2 7 James Hunt McLaren-Ford 34 Illegal Pit Stop 8 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 31 Fuel System 6 22 Nelson Piquet Ensign-Ford 31 Engine 21 19 Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 24 Fuel System 20 8 Patrick Tambay McLaren-Ford 16 Accident 11 11 Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 14 Fuel System 12 1 Niki Lauda Brabham-Alfa Romeo 11 Engine 3 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 5 Engine 9 9 Jochen Mass ATS-Ford 1 Accident 22 16 Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow-Ford 1 Accident 24 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 0 Accident 13 17 Clay Regazzoni Shadow-Ford 10 Jean-Pierre Jarier ATS-Ford 18 Rupert Keegan Surtees-Ford 37 Arturo Merzario Merzario-Ford 31 René Arnoux Martini-Ford 30 Brett Lunger McLaren-Ford Source:
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Brazilian driver and future World Champion Nelson Piquet. This was the 10th Grand Prix start for Arrows and for ATS. It was also the 200th Grand Prix start for Brabham; in those 200 races Brabham won 19 Grands Prix, achieved 83 podium finishes, set 20 pole positions, 26 fastest laps, 3 Grand Slams and won 2 Driver's and 2 Constructor's Championships.
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* 26Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford* 67 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo* 40 3 Ferrari* 31 4 Tyrrell-Ford* 30 3 5 Wolf-Ford 14Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Competitors marked in bold and with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References