1978 Swedish Grand Prix

 1978 Swedish Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 16 races in the 1978 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XIV Sveriges Grand Prix
Date:	June 17, 1978
Place:	Anderstorp
Course:	Scandinavian Raceway
Length:	282.17 km in 70 laps of 4.031 km
Weather:	sunny and warm
Spectator:	~ 45,000
Pole position
Driver:	Mario Andretti	lotus
Time:	1: 22.058 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Niki Lauda	Brabham
Time:	1: 24.836 min
Podium
First:	Niki Lauda	Brabham
Second:	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows
Third:	Ronnie Peterson	lotus

The 1978 Swedish Grand Prix took place on June 17th at the Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp and was the eighth race of the 1978 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

The racetrack in Anderstorp, on which the Swedish Grand Prix has been held since 1973 , had been modified with a chicane at the end of the long back straight, which lengthened the route by 13 meters.

In the middle of the season, Brabham had designed a further development of the BT46 at short notice under the leadership of chief designer Gordon Murray , which was called the BT46B and was used for the first time at the Swedish GP. The car had an oversized fan at the rear, which was officially declared by the team as an aid for oil cooling in order to comply with the rules of the time, which prohibited moving aerodynamic aids. In reality, however, the device was used to suck air backwards in order to create a vacuum under the vehicle floor, which is sealed by side skirts . The aim was to achieve a downforce similar to that of the Lotus 79 , which was superior at this point in the season and which was equipped with very effective wing car technology. The competitors condemned the principle because, in their opinion, it was clearly a prohibited aerodynamic aid and the fan also threw up stones that the pilots driving behind hit the helmets at high speed. They protested, but the car was initially allowed to be used.

Since his previous team Theodore Racing temporarily paused, moved Keke Rosberg to ATS to where Alberto Colombo to replace. Since the Martini team was also missing, there was no need for a pre-qualification, as had been carried out at most of the previous Grand Prix of the season, due to only 27 registered drivers.

training

Mario Andretti again secured pole position with a large lead of almost seven tenths of a second. Even before his team mate Ronnie Peterson , Brabham works drivers John Watson and Niki Lauda actually qualified for second and third place with their controversial vehicles. The desired effect of the fan seemed to be working. Riccardo Patrese achieved fifth place on the grid for Team Arrows , which was still involved in a legal dispute with Shadow over the allegedly copied blueprints of the DN9 .

run

While Andretti was taking the lead, Watson, whom Lauda had overtaken at the start, came under pressure from Patrese. This took third place in the second round. Watson also fell behind Peterson a lap later.

Peterson passed Patrese on lap 10 but slowed down shortly afterwards due to a puncture. In the 20th lap, Watson retired due to a technical defect. While Andretti and Lauda were dueling for the top position, Carlos Reutemann followed behind the Patrese, who at that time was safely in third place, with some distance ahead of Alan Jones and Gilles Villeneuve .

Due to a driving mistake by Andretti, Lauda was able to take the lead on lap 38. Nine laps later, the American retired due to an engine failure. This brought Patrese to second place. He narrowly defended it against Peterson, who had made up a few positions after a tire change. Jacques Laffite , who had been in fourth place after the technical failure of Alan Jones, ran out of fuel on the third to last lap. So he had to leave his position to Patrick Tambay , who was ultimately fourth ahead of Clay Regazzoni and Emerson Fittipaldi .

Niki Lauda achieved the only win with the Brabham BT46B in the only use of the car. In the week after the race, the protests of the other teams were accepted and the fan principle was banned.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Parmalat Racing Team	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham BT46B	Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12	G
	2	John Watson
Eleven Team Tyrrell	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell 008	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	4th	Patrick Depailler
John Player Team Lotus	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus 79		G
	6th	Ronnie Peterson
Marlboro Team McLaren	7th	James Hunt	McLaren M26		G
	8th	Patrick Tambay
ATS Racing Team	9	Jochen Mass	ATS HS1		G
	10	Keke Rosberg
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari 312T3	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	M.
	12	Gilles Villeneuve
Fittipaldi Automotive	14th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi F5A	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Equipe Renault Elf	15th	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault RS01	Renault EF1 1.5 V6 t	M.
Shadow Racing Team	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow DN9	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	17th	Clay Regazzoni
Durex Team Surtees	18th	Rupert Keegan	Surtees TS20		G
Beta Team Surtees	19th	Vittorio Brambilla
Walter Wolf Racing	20th	Jody Scheckter	Wolf WR5		G
Team Tissot Ensign	22nd	Jacky Ickx	Ensign N177		G
Team Rebaque	25th	Hector Rebaque	Lotus 78		G
Ligier Gitanes	26th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier JS9	Matra MS78 3.0 V12	G
Williams Grand Prix Engineering	27	Alan Jones	Williams FW06	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Liggett Group / BS Fabrications	30th	Brett Lunger	McLaren M26		G
Arrows Racing Team	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows FA1		G
	36	Rolf Stommelen
Team Merzario	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario A1		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 22.058	176.846 km / h	01
02	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 22.737	175.394 km / h	02
03	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 22.783	175.297 km / h	03
04th	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	1: 23.120	174.586 km / h	04th
05	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	1: 23.369	174.065 km / h	05
06th	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1: 23.621	173.540 km / h	06th
07th	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1: 23.730	173.314 km / h	07th
08th	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1: 23.737	173.300 km / h	08th
09	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1: 23.951	172.858 km / h	09
10	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1: 23.963	172.833 km / h	10
11	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 24.030	172.695 km / h	11
12	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 24.203	172.341 km / h	12
13	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 24.274	172.195 km / h	13
14th	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 24.761	171.206 km / h	14th
15th	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	1: 24.986	170.753 km / h	15th
16	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow Ford	1: 25.007	170.711 km / h	16
17th	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 25.813	169.107 km / h	17th
18th	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1: 26.618	167.536 km / h	18th
19th	Jochen Mass	ATS Ford	1: 26.787	167.209 km / h	19th
20th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow Ford	1: 27.011	166.779 km / h	20th
21st	Hector Rebaque	Lotus Ford	1: 27.139	166.534 km / h	21st
22nd	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	1: 27.479	165.887 km / h	22nd
23	Keke Rosberg	ATS Ford	1: 27.560	165.733 km / h	23
24	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows Ford	1: 27.812	165.258 km / h	24
DNQ	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	1: 28.282	164.378 km / h	-
DNQ	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	1: 28.388	164.181 km / h	-
DNQ	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford	1: 28,400	164.158 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	70	0	1: 41: 00,606	03	1: 24.836
02	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	70	0	+ 34.019	05	1: 25.897
03	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	70	1	+ 34.105	04th	1: 25.897
04th	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	15th
05	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	16	1: 27.164
06th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	13	1: 26.819
07th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	69	0	+ 1 lap	11	1: 27.337
08th	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	69	0	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 27.271
09	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	69	0	+ 1 lap	07th	1: 25.665
10	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	69	0	+ 1 lap	08th	1: 32.118
11	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow Ford	68	0	+ 2 rounds	20th	1: 28.511
12	Hector Rebaque	Lotus Ford	68	0	+ 2 rounds	21st	1: 28.552
13	Jochen Mass	ATS Ford	68	0	+ 2 rounds	19th	1: 28.670
14th	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows Ford	67	0	+ 3 rounds	24	1: 29.354
15th	Keke Rosberg	ATS Ford	63	2	+ 7 rounds	23	1: 29.714
-	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	62	0	NC	22nd	1: 29.034	Unrated
-	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	46	0	DNF	01	1: 25.064	Engine failure
-	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	46	0	DNF	09	1: 26.213	Wheel bearing damage
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	42	0	DNF	12	1: 26.898	Suspension damage
-	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	28	0	DNF	10	1: 26.549	defective oil pump
-	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	19th	0	DNF	02	1: 25.874	accident
-	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	16	0	DNF	06th	1: 27.303	overheated engine
-	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	08th	0	DNF	17th	1: 28.131	Collision damage
-	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	07th	0	DNF	18th	1: 28.174	accident

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Mario Andretti lotus 36 02  Ronnie Peterson lotus 30th 03  Niki Lauda Brabham 25th 04th  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 23 05  Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 22nd 06th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 10 07th  John Watson Brabham 9 08th  Riccardo Patrese Arrows 8th

Item driver constructor Points 09  Jody Scheckter wolf 7th 10  Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi 7th 11  Didier Pironi Tyrrell 5 12  James Hunt McLaren 4th 13  Patrick Tambay McLaren 4th 14th  Clay Regazzoni Shadow 4th 15th  Alan Jones Williams 3 16  Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 3

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  lotus 49 02  Brabham 31 03  Tyrrell 25th 04th  Ferrari 22nd 05  Ligier 10 06th  Arrows 8th

Item constructor Points 07th  Fittipaldi 7th 08th  wolf 7th 09  McLaren 7th 10  Shadow 4th 11  Williams 3

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fight at the limit. The Formula 1 Chronicle 1950–2000 , ed. v. Willy Knupp, RTL book edition: Zeitgeist Verlag: Düsseldorf / Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-89748-277-0 , p. 204
2. ↑ "Training" ( memento of the original from March 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on August 5, 2012) 
3. ^ "Report" (accessed on August 5, 2012)
4. ↑ Fight at the limit. The Formula 1 Chronicle 1950–2000 , ed. v. Willy Knupp, RTL book edition: Zeitgeist Verlag: Düsseldorf / Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-89748-277-0 , p. 205
5. ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on August 5, 2012) 

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website