US Grand Prix West 1978
| Racing data | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4th of 16 races of the 1978 World Automobile Championship | ||
|
||
| Surname: | IV Grand Prix of Long Beach | |
| Date: | April 2, 1978 | |
| Place: | Long Beach | |
| Course: | Long Beach Grand Prix Circuit | |
| Length: | 261.705 km in 80 laps of 3.251 km
|
|
| Weather: | sunny and warm | |
| Spectator: | ~ 75,000 | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver: |
 Carlos Reutemann
|
 Ferrari
|
| Time: | 1: 20.636 min | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver: |
 Alan Jones
|
 Williams
|
| Time: | 1: 22.215 min | |
| Podium | ||
| First: |
Carlos Reutemann
|
Ferrari
|
| Second: |
 Mario Andretti
|
lotus
|
| Third: |
 Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell
|
The 1978 USA Grand Prix took place in Long Beach on April 2 and was the fourth race of the 1978 World Automobile Championship .
Reports
background
During the four-week break between the South African Grand Prix and the fourth world championship round of the year in Long Beach, Keke Rosberg surprisingly won the non-world championship Formula 1 race called the International Trophy in Silverstone on Theodore . His success as well as the equally remarkable performance of the newcomer Derek Daly , who competed for Hesketh Racing , was favored by numerous failures of the established drivers. Nevertheless, Daly managed to recommend himself, so that he was allowed to drive the works car instead of Eddie Cheever in Long Beach and thus had the chance of his Grand Prix debut.
The Shadow team had meanwhile completed the first two copies of the new DN9 , the construction plans of which had probably previously been illegally used to build the Arrows FA1 . Works driver Hans-Joachim Stuck drove one of the cars, while his team-mate Clay Regazzoni continued to compete with the conventional DN8 . The second copy was instead given to the private Interscope Racing team , with whom Danny Ongais returned to Formula 1 on the occasion of his home Grand Prix.
training
Since not all 30 pilots who had traveled were to take part in training at the same time due to the limited space available, a pre-qualification was carried out based on the model of the Great Britain Grand Prix in 1977 . Among the four pilots who were excluded from the rest of the weekend after the Friday morning session were Rosberg and Daly, of all people, the two pilots who caused a stir at the International Trophy . For Hector Rebaque and Danny Ongais, too , the race weekend ended before it actually began. The two Arrows factory drivers Riccardo Patrese and Rolf Stommelen as well as Arturo Merzario and Brett Lunger were allowed to participate in the regular training after successful pre-qualification.
The two Ferrari pilots Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve reached the front row in front of Niki Lauda and Mario Andretti . John Watson formed the third row on the grid in the second Brabham together with Ronnie Peterson in the second Lotus 78 .
Due to accidents during practice in which their racing cars were damaged, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Rupert Keegan were unable to take part in the race despite successfully qualifying.
run
A quartet consisting of two Ferraris, which were slightly ahead, as well as two Brabham, braked the first corner almost simultaneously in the form of a tight hairpin . Watson took the inside lane but was unable to take the turn tight enough to take the lead due to excessive speed. Instead, he pushed his teammates Lauda and Reutemann slightly outward. Villeneuve benefited from this by pulling past the inside and thereby taking the lead.
After Watson was eliminated in the tenth lap, Lauda put Villeneuve, who was in front of him from that moment, under pressure. However, when the second Brabham was also canceled on the 28th lap due to a technical defect, Reutemann added Villeneuve's top position to a Ferrari one-two lead. Alan Jones , who had passed Andretti earlier, was third behind the two .
On the 39th lap, Villeneuve had an accident trying to lap Regazzoni and had to let his team-mate Reutemann take the lead, which he defended from then on to the finish.
Andretti restored the original order against Jones in the 63rd lap and took second place in front of Patrick Depailler , Ronnie Peterson, Jacques Laffite and Riccardo Patrese, who secured the first championship point for Arrows. Problems with the fuel pressure caused Jones to drop to seventh place during the last laps of the race.
Registration list
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Classifications
Starting grid
| Item | driver | constructor | time | Ø speed | begin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Carlos Reutemann
|
Ferrari
|
1: 20.636 | 145.141 km / h | 1 |
| 2 |
 Gilles Villeneuve
|
Ferrari
|
1: 20.836 | 144.782 km / h | 2 |
| 3 |
 Niki Lauda
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|
1: 20.937 | 144.601 km / h | 3 |
| 4th |
Mario Andretti
|
Lotus Ford
|
1: 21.188 | 144.154 km / h | 4th |
| 5 |
John Watson
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|
1: 21.244 | 144.055 km / h | 5 |
| 6th |
 Ronnie Peterson
|
Lotus Ford
|
1: 21.474 | 143.648 km / h | 6th |
| 7th |
James Hunt
|
McLaren-Ford
|
1: 21.738 | 143.184 km / h | 7th |
| 8th |
Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford
|
1: 21.935 | 142.840 km / h | 8th |
| 9 |
Riccardo Patrese
|
Arrows Ford
|
1: 22.006 | 142.716 km / h | 9 |
| 10 |
.svg){kind=small} Jody Scheckter
|
Wolf-Ford
|
1: 22.163 | 142.444 km / h | 10 |
| 11 |
Patrick Tambay
|
McLaren-Ford
|
1: 22.234 | 142.321 km / h | 11 |
| 12 |
Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
1: 22.414 | 142.010 km / h | 12 |
| 13 |
Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|
Renault
|
1: 22.491 | 141.877 km / h | 13 |
| 14th |
Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Matra
|
1: 22.630 | 141.639 km / h | 14th |
| 15th |
.svg){kind=small} Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford
|
1: 22.790 | 141.365 km / h | 15th |
| 16 |
 Jochen Mass
|
ATS Ford
|
1: 23.106 | 140.827 km / h | 16 |
| 17th |
Vittorio Brambilla
|
Surtees-Ford
|
1: 23.212 | 140.648 km / h | 17th |
| 18th |
Rolf Stommelen
|
Arrows Ford
|
1: 23.291 | 140.515 km / h | 18th |
| 19th |
Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
ATS Ford
|
1: 23.419 | 140.299 km / h | 19th |
| 20th |
 Clay Regazzoni
|
Shadow Ford
|
1: 23.454 | 140.240 km / h | 20th |
| 21st |
Arturo Merzario
|
Merzario-Ford
|
1: 23.589 | 140.014 km / h | 21st |
| 22nd |
Rupert Keegan
|
Surtees-Ford
|
1: 23.677 | 139.866 km / h | DNS |
| 23 |
Hans-Joachim Stuck
|
Shadow Ford
|
1: 23.733 | 139.773 km / h | DNS |
| 24 |
Didier Pironi
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
1: 23.792 | 139.674 km / h | 22nd |
| DNQ |
Brett Lunger
|
McLaren-Ford
|
1: 23.795 | 139.669 km / h | - |
| DNQ |
Lamberto Leoni
|
Ensign-Ford
|
1: 24.008 | 139.315 km / h | - |
| DNPQ |
 Keke Rosberg
|
Theodore Ford
|
1: 25.785 | 136.429 km / h | - |
| DNPQ |
 Hector Rebaque
|
Lotus Ford
|
1: 26.128 | 135.886 km / h | - |
| DNPQ |
Danny Ongais
|
Shadow Ford
|
1: 26,150 | 135.851 km / h | - |
| DNPQ |
 Derek Daly
|
Hesketh-Ford
|
1: 26.635 | 135.091 km / h | - |
run
| Item | driver | constructor | Round | Stops | time | begin | Fastest lap | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Carlos Reutemann
|
Ferrari
|
80 | 0 | 1: 52: 01,301 | 1 | 1: 22.323 | |
| 2 |
Mario Andretti
|
Lotus Ford
|
80 | 0 | + 11.061 | 4th | 1: 22.835 | |
| 3 |
Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
80 | 0 | + 28,951 | 12 | 1: 22.871 | |
| 4th |
Ronnie Peterson
|
Lotus Ford
|
80 | 1 | + 45.603 | 6th | 1: 22.626 | |
| 5 |
Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Matra
|
80 | 0 | +1: 22.884 | 14th | 1: 22.569 | |
| 6th |
Riccardo Patrese
|
Arrows Ford
|
79 | 1 | + 1 lap | 9 | 1: 22.655 | |
| 7th |
Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford
|
79 | 0 | + 1 lap | 8th | 1: 22.215 | |
| 8th |
Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford
|
79 | 0 | + 1 lap | 15th | 1: 22.868 | |
| 9 |
Rolf Stommelen
|
Arrows Ford
|
79 | 0 | + 1 lap | 18th | 1: 23.330 | |
| 10 |
Clay Regazzoni
|
Shadow Ford
|
79 | 0 | + 1 lap | 20th | 1: 23.641 | |
| 11 |
Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
ATS Ford
|
75 | 1 | + 5 rounds | 19th | 1: 24.703 | |
| 12 |
Patrick Tambay
|
McLaren-Ford
|
74 | 0 | DNF | 11 | 1: 22.915 | collision |
| - |
Jody Scheckter
|
Wolf-Ford
|
59 | 0 | DNF | 10 | 1: 23.070 | collision |
| - |
Vittorio Brambilla
|
Surtees-Ford
|
49 | 0 | DNF | 17th | 1: 24.242 | Gearbox damage |
| - |
Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|
Renault
|
43 | 0 | DNF | 13 | 1: 23.732 | Turbocharger damage |
| - |
Gilles Villeneuve
|
Ferrari
|
38 | 0 | DNF | 2 | 1: 22.575 | collision |
| - |
Niki Lauda
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|
27 | 0 | DNF | 3 | 1: 22.727 | defective ignition |
| - |
Didier Pironi
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
25th | 0 | DNF | 22nd | 1: 25.232 | Gearbox damage |
| - |
Arturo Merzario
|
Merzario-Ford
|
17th | 0 | DNF | 21st | 1: 26.756 | Gearbox damage |
| - |
Jochen Mass
|
ATS Ford
|
11 | 0 | DNF | 16 | 1: 24.734 | Brake defect |
| - |
John Watson
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|
9 | 0 | DNF | 5 | 1: 23.454 | Oil loss |
| - |
James Hunt
|
McLaren-Ford
|
5 | 0 | DNF | 7th | 1: 24.203 | 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
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Constructors' championship
|
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Individual evidence
- ↑ "Training" ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been 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)
- ^ "Report" (accessed on August 5, 2012)
- ↑ "World Cup stands" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on August 5, 2012)
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