1978 German Grand Prix

 1978 German Grand Prix

Racing data
11th of 16 races in the 1978 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XL German Grand Prix
Date:	July 30, 1978
Place:	Hockenheim
Course:	Hockenheimring
Length:	305.505 km in 45 laps of 6.789 km
Weather:	sunny and hot
Spectator:	~ 90,000
Pole position
Driver:	Mario Andretti	lotus
Time:	1: 51.90 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Ronnie Peterson	lotus
Time:	1: 55.62 min
Podium
First:	Mario Andretti	lotus
Second:	Jody Scheckter	wolf
Third:	Jacques Laffite	Ligier

The 1978 German Grand Prix took place on July 30th in Hockenheim and was the eleventh race of the 1978 Automobile World Championship .

Reports

background

The Theodore team competed again for the German Grand Prix , but no longer with their own car, as at the beginning of the season, but with a Wolf WR3 from the previous year that was acquired second-hand . Keke Rosberg returned to the team as a driver . His place at ATS was taken back by his predecessor Jean-Pierre Jarier .

Instead of Derek Daly , the Brazilian debutant Nelson Piquet was hired as an Ensign factory driver. Another Ensign N177 was used as a factory-supported customer vehicle for the German private team Sachs Racing , which competed for the first time. This enabled Harald Ertl to make a Formula 1 comeback.

Since Martini and René Arnoux were also present again, which means that the entry list comprised 30 pilots, the decision was made to carry out a pre-qualification for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix .

training

Keke Rosberg, Arturo Merzario , Héctor Rebaque , René Arnoux and Brett Lunger had to take part in the pre-qualification, which took place on the Thursday before the race weekend . In rainy conditions, lap times under 2:10 minutes could not be achieved. With Arnoux and Lunger, the two slowest pilots were eliminated.

The actual Grand Prix weekend took place in midsummer temperatures and sunshine, so that in regular training and in the race the usual lap times of between 1:50 and 2:00 minutes with average speeds of over 200 km / h for the 6.8-kilometer route were achieved.

The fastest in training was Mario Andretti for the fifth time this season , closely followed by his Lotus team- mate Ronnie Peterson , who set a lap only nine hundredths of a second slower. Brabham pilot Niki Lauda shared the second row of the grid with Jody Scheckter on Wolf . Lauda's team-mate John Watson and Williams driver Alan Jones took third row ahead of Jacques Laffite in Ligier and James Hunt in McLaren . Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the Renault and Emerson Fittipaldi in his own car, who completed the top ten , ensured a very mixed starting grid . The two Ferrari pilots Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve , however, reached only the starting positions 12 and 15th

run

Shortly after the start, Jochen Mass collided with Hans-Joachim Stuck due to a damage to the suspension . To the chagrin of the local spectators, the two most successful of the four participating German pilots were eliminated. With Rolf Stommelen also one of the two remaining German lay back hopeless, as it at the start with Patrick Depailler had collided.

While the two Lotus 79s were able to set themselves apart from the rest of the field right from the start, Scheckter had problems with the fuel supply and thus fell back to the end of the field. Lauda initially finished third, but had to surrender this position to Jones in the third round. Shortly afterwards, his team-mate Watson, who had been in fifth place until then, fell far behind with a transmission problem. The then fifth-placed Hunt benefited in the twelfth lap from Lauda's technical failure and took fourth place.

In the fifth lap, Peterson, who had taken the lead at the start, let his team-mate Andretti, who had contractually guaranteed number one status in the team, the lead in accordance with the order placed by Lotus. Hunt had to make a pit stop on lap 20 due to a punctured tire. Jones fell victim to a failure in the fuel system.

Despite the superiority on the track, there was no further double victory for Lotus for the time being, as Peterson had to retire on lap 37 with a gearbox failure. As a result, Scheckter, who had in the meantime fought his way up again impressively, took second place in front of Laffite. Shortly before the end of the race, Fittipaldi took fourth place from Didier Pironi , who was struggling with braking problems.

The battle for sixth place, in which Villeneuve, Ertl and Rebaque were involved, promised excitement in the closing stages of the race. Villeneuve was hampered by problems with the fuel supply so that Ertl was able to overtake him. Shortly afterwards, however, Ertl retired due to an engine failure. With three laps to go, Rebaque took sixth place from Villeneuve and secured the first championship point of his Formula 1 career.

Since Andretti scored the full number of points and his direct rivals all remained without points, the American increased his lead in the World Cup table to 18 points.

Stommelen, who crossed the finish line in eleventh place, was subsequently disqualified because he briefly left the track without permission in the early stages of the race. Ertl therefore moved up to eleventh place due to the number of laps he had completed.

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
	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	Jean-Pierre Jarier
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	Nelson Piquet	Ensign N177		G
Sachs Racing	23	Harald Ertl			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
Automobiles Martini	31	René Arnoux	Martini MK23		G
Theodore Racing Hong Kong	32	Keke Rosberg	Wolf WR3		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: 51.90	218.413 km / h	01
02	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	1: 51.99	218.237 km / h	02
03	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 52.29	217.654 km / h	03
04th	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1: 52.68	216.901 km / h	04th
05	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 52.84	216.593 km / h	05
06th	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1: 53.50	215.334 km / h	06th
07th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 53.54	215.258 km / h	07th
08th	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 53.54	215.258 km / h	08th
09	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1: 53.61	215.125 km / h	09
10	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 54.03	214.333 km / h	10
11	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	1: 54.04	214.314 km / h	11
12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1: 54.17	214.070 km / h	12
13	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 54.32	213.789 km / h	13
14th	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	1: 54.34	213.752 km / h	14th
15th	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1: 54.40	213.640 km / h	15th
16	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 54.63	213.211 km / h	16
17th	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows Ford	1: 55.18	212.193 km / h	17th
18th	Hector Rebaque	Lotus Ford	1: 55.57	211.477 km / h	18th
19th	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	1: 55.57	211.477 km / h	19th
20th	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1: 55.86	210.948 km / h	20th
21st	Nelson Piquet	Ensign-Ford	1: 56.15	210.421 km / h	21st
22nd	Jochen Mass	ATS Ford	1: 56.21	210.312 km / h	22nd
23	Harald Ertl	Ensign-Ford	1: 56.25	210.240 km / h	23
24	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow Ford	1: 56.45	209.879 km / h	24
DNQ	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow Ford	1: 56.57	209.663 km / h	-
DNQ	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS Ford	1: 57.40	208.181 km / h	-
DNQ	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	1: 57.86	207.368 km / h	-
DNQ	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	1: 58.31	206.579 km / h	-
DNPQ	René Arnoux	Martini Ford	2: 12.25	184.805 km / h	-
DNPQ	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	2: 12.45	184.525 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	45	0	1: 28: 00.90	01	1: 56.15
02	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	45	0	+ 15.35	04th	1: 56.41
03	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	45	0	+ 28.01	07th	1: 56.59
04th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	45	0	+ 36.88	10	1: 56.34
05	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	45	0	+ 57.26	16	1: 57.11
06th	Hector Rebaque	Lotus Ford	45	0	+1: 37.86	18th	1: 56.47
07th	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	45	0	+1: 39.53	05	1: 57.26
08th	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	45	0	+1: 56.87	15th	1: 55.80
09	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	44	0	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 57.76
10	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	42	0	+ 3 rounds	19th	1: 56.53
-	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows Ford	42	0	DSQ	17th	1: 58.08	disqualified
11	Harald Ertl	Ensign-Ford	41	0	DNF	23	1: 57.57	Engine failure
-	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	36	0	DNF	02	1: 55.62	Gearbox damage
-	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	34	1	DSQ	08th	1: 55.84	disqualified
-	Nelson Piquet	Ensign-Ford	31	0	DNF	21st	1: 59.16	Engine failure
-	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	31	0	DNF	06th	1: 55.90	defective fuel supply
-	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	24	0	DNF	20th	1: 59.06	defective fuel supply
-	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	16	0	DNF	11	1: 57.55	accident
-	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	14th	0	DNF	12	1: 58.26	defective fuel supply
-	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	11	0	DNF	03	1: 57.12	Engine failure
-	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	05	0	DNF	09	1: 57.41	Engine failure
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	00	0	DNF	13	-	collision
-	Jochen Mass	ATS Ford	00	0	DNF	22nd	-	accident
-	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow Ford	00	0	DNF	24	-	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 54 02  Ronnie Peterson lotus 36 03  Niki Lauda Brabham 31 04th  Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 31 05  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 26th 06th  John Watson Brabham 16 07th  Jody Scheckter wolf 14th 08th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 14th 09  Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi 10

Item driver constructor Points 10  James Hunt McLaren 8th 11  Riccardo Patrese Arrows 8th 12  Didier Pironi Tyrrell 7th 13  Alan Jones Williams 5 14th  Patrick Tambay McLaren 5 15th  Clay Regazzoni Shadow 4th 16  Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 3 17th  Hans-Joachim Stuck Shadow 2 18th  Hector Rebaque lotus 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  lotus 67 02  Brabham 40 03  Ferrari 31 04th  Tyrrell 30th 05  wolf 14th 06th  Ligier 14th

Item constructor Points 07th  McLaren 12 08th  Fittipaldi 10 09  Arrows 8th 10  Shadow 6th 11  Williams 5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training"  ( 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)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on August 5, 2012)
3. ↑ "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)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website