US Grand Prix East 1978

 US Grand Prix East 1978

Racing data
15th of 16 races of the 1978 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XXI United States Grand Prix
Date:	October 1, 1978
Place:	Watkins Glen
Course:	Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Length:	320.665 km in 59 laps of 5.435 km
Weather:	cloudy but dry
Spectator:	~ 100,000
Pole position
Driver:	Mario Andretti	lotus
Time:	1: 38.114 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jean-Pierre Jarier	lotus
Time:	1: 39.557 min
Podium
First:	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari
Second:	Alan Jones	Williams
Third:	Jody Scheckter	wolf

The 1978 US Grand Prix took place in Watkins Glen on October 1st and was the 15th race of the 1978 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Carlos Reutemann on his victory drive in the Ferrari 312T3

Three weeks after the mass accident at the Italian Grand Prix , as a result of which Ronnie Peterson died, his Lotus team- mate Mario Andretti was already the reigning world champion in his home race in the USA.

Since Riccardo Patrese was considered to be the cause of the accident at the time, some members of the GPDA tried to convince the organizer of the US Grand Prix to exclude the Italian from the race, which they finally succeeded in doing. Patrese put up a fight against this by trying to have the entire race weekend at Watkins Glen prohibited by law. This approach was rejected, Patrese was excluded and his Arrows team only entered Rolf Stommelen's vehicle .

It was only a few years later that video recordings of the accident proved that James Hunt was actually the main cause of the disaster. This was one of those pilots who absolutely wanted to prevent Patreses participation in the US Grand Prix.

The gap that Peterson left with the Lotus was closed at short notice with Jean-Pierre Jarier , who was looking for a new cockpit after leaving ATS . Jariers former regular place was taken by Keke Rosberg , who had already competed for the German team three times in the middle of the season. He was allowed to compete in the first race of the new car with the designation D1 .

Since Vittorio Brambilla and Rupert Keegan, both of the regular Surtees drivers, were canceled due to injuries (the former due to the mass accident in Monza, the latter already in the warm-up for the Dutch Grand Prix ), the team had to compete with a completely new driver line-up, consisting of the Italian debutant Beppe Gabbiani and the French René Arnoux , whose previous team Automobiles Martini had discontinued its Formula 1 project after only seven participations. The private team BS Fabrications also no longer competed. Then moved Brett Lunger to Ensign Racing to where Harald Ertl replace. For the first time in its history as a works team, the Wolf team reported a second car with which Bobby Rahal was allowed to make his Grand Prix debut.

Nelson Piquet , who had signed a works driver contract with Brabham for the following season, was scheduled to be the third driver this weekend alongside Niki Lauda and John Watson . However, a third racing car was not available in time.

As an exception, McLaren Racing competed in the two final overseas races of the season with Löwenbräu as the main sponsor.

training

Due to the exception of only 27 applicants for 26 starting places, the now almost mandatory pre-qualification could be dispensed with.

The new world champion Andretti reached his eighth pole position of the season with a lap time more than a second faster than the runner-up Carlos Reutemann . His Ferrari team- mate Gilles Villeneuve followed in fourth place on the grid alongside the up-and-coming Williams driver Alan Jones . The third row of the grid was formed by the World Cup opponents for the 1976 season , Niki Lauda and James Hunt, ahead of John Watson and Jean-Pierre Jarier. The fifth row consisted of the brothers-in-law Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Jacques Laffite .

run

Due to an accident during the warm-up , in which his car was damaged, Andretti started the race with the car intended for Jarier. The Frenchman then had to make do with a replacement chassis.

Andretti took the lead from pole ahead of Reutemann, Villeneuve, Jones and Jarier. For once, both Lotus drivers had problems with their vehicles, so that Andretti fell behind Reutemann and Villeneuve during the first laps, and Jarier behind Hunt, Watson and Depailler.

Jones was in good shape and took third place from Andretti in the 21st round. When Villeneuve had to retire shortly afterwards due to an engine failure, the Australian took second place.

After Andretti and Lauda were eliminated due to technical problems, Jabouille was in a promising third place in the previously unsuccessful turbo-powered Renault . However, braking problems initially threw him back to fifth place shortly before the end of the race. With Jarier's retirement due to a lack of fuel four laps to go, he finally finished fourth behind Reutemann, Jones and Scheckter, which meant the best result and the first championship points for Renault and thus for a turbo vehicle in Formula 1. Emerson Fittipaldi and Patrick Tambay received the last World Cup points of the day.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Parmalat Racing Team	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham BT46	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
	55	Jean-Pierre Jarier
Löwenbräu Team McLaren	7th	James Hunt	McLaren M26		G
	8th	Patrick Tambay
F&S Properties / ATS Racing Team	9	Michael Bleekemolen	ATS HS1		G
ATS Racing Team	10	Keke Rosberg	ATS D1
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari 312T3	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	M.
	12	Gilles Villeneuve
Fittipaldi Automotive	14th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi F5 A	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
Team Surtees	18th	René Arnoux	Surtees TS20		G
	19th	Beppe Gabbiani
Walter Wolf Racing	20th	Jody Scheckter	Wolf WR6		G
	21st	Bobby Rahal	Wolf WR5
Team Tissot Ensign	22nd	Derek Daly	Ensign N177		G
	23	Brett Lunger
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
Arrows Racing Team	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows A1		G
Team Merzario	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario A1		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 38.114	199.421 km / h	01
02	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1: 39.179	197.280 km / h	02
03	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1: 39.742	196.166 km / h	03
04th	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1: 39.820	196.013 km / h	04th
05	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 39.892	195.872 km / h	05
06th	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 39.991	195.678 km / h	06th
07th	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 40,000	195.660 km / h	07th
08th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Lotus Ford	1: 40.034	195.593 km / h	08th
09	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1: 40.136	195.394 km / h	09
10	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 40.228	195.215 km / h	10
11	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1: 40.762	194.180 km / h	11
12	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 40.828	194.053 km / h	12
13	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 41.007	193.709 km / h	13
14th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow Ford	1: 41.681	192.425 km / h	14th
15th	Keke Rosberg	ATS Ford	1: 41.773	192.251 km / h	15th
16	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 41.815	192.172 km / h	16
17th	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow Ford	1: 41.855	192.097 km / h	17th
18th	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	1: 41.974	191.872 km / h	18th
19th	Derek Daly	Ensign-Ford	1: 42.179	191.487 km / h	19th
20th	Bobby Rahal	Wolf-Ford	1: 42.429	191.020 km / h	20th
21st	René Arnoux	Surtees-Ford	1: 42.541	190.811 km / h	21st
22nd	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows Ford	1: 42.741	190.440 km / h	22nd
23	Hector Rebaque	Lotus Ford	1: 43.028	189.910 km / h	23
24	Brett Lunger	Ensign-Ford	1: 43.067	189.838 km / h	24
25th	Michael Bleekemolen	ATS Ford	1: 43.572	188.912 km / h	25th
26th	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	1: 44.286	187.619 km / h	26th
DNQ	Beppe Gabbiani	Surtees-Ford	1: 45.155	186.068 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	59	0	1: 40: 48.800	02	1: 41.426
02	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	59	0	+ 19.739	03	1: 41.293
03	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	59	0	+ 45.701	11	1: 41.412
04th	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	59	0	+1: 25.007	09	1: 41.421
05	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	59	0	+1: 28.089	13	1: 41.703
06th	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	59	0	+1: 50.210	18th	1: 41.870
07th	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	06th	1: 41.477
08th	Derek Daly	Ensign-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 42.303
09	René Arnoux	Surtees-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	21st	1: 42.294
10	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	16	1: 42.686
11	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	58	0	+ 1 lap	10	1: 41.047
12	Bobby Rahal	Wolf-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	20th	1: 43.983
13	Brett Lunger	Ensign-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	24	1: 43.944
14th	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow Ford	56	0	+ 3 rounds	17th	1: 42.739
15th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Lotus Ford	55	1	DNF	08th	1: 39.557	Lack of fuel
16	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows Ford	54	0	+ 5 rounds	22nd	1: 45.309
-	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	46	0	DNF	26th	1: 45.206	Gearbox damage
-	Michael Bleekemolen	ATS Ford	43	0	DNF	25th	1: 45.097	defective oil pump
-	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	28	0	DNF	05	1: 42.460	Engine failure
-	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	27	0	DNF	01	1: 43.006	Engine failure
-	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	25th	0	DNF	07th	1: 42.736	Engine failure
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	23	0	DNF	12	1: 42.911	Wheel bearing damage
-	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	22nd	0	DNF	04th	1: 41.404	Engine failure
-	Keke Rosberg	ATS Ford	21st	0	DNF	15th	1: 43.629	broken shift linkage
-	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow Ford	01	0	DNF	14th	2: 27.746	defective fuel pump
-	Hector Rebaque	Lotus Ford	00	0	DNF	23	-	Clutch damage

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 64 02  Ronnie Peterson lotus 51 03  Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 44 04th  Niki Lauda Brabham 44 05  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 32 06th  John Watson Brabham 25th 07th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 19th 08th  Jody Scheckter wolf 18th 09  Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi 17th 10  Alan Jones Williams 11

Item driver constructor Points 11  Riccardo Patrese Arrows 8th 12  Patrick Tambay McLaren 8th 13  Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 8th 14th  James Hunt McLaren 8th 15th  Didier Pironi Tyrrell 7th 16  Clay Regazzoni Shadow 4th 17th  Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 3 18th  Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow 2 19th  Hector Rebaque lotus 1 20th  Vittorio Brambilla Surtees 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  lotus 86 02  Brabham 53 03  Ferrari 49 04th  Tyrrell 36 05  Ligier 19th 06th  wolf 18th 07th  Fittipaldi 17th

Item constructor Points 08th  McLaren 15th 09  Williams 11 10  Arrows 8th 11  Shadow 6th 12  Renault 3 13  Surtees 1

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Training" ( Memento of July 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on August 17, 2012)
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on August 17, 2012)
3. ^ "World Championship stands" ( Memento from May 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on August 17, 2012)