1978 French Grand Prix

 1978 French Grand Prix

Racing data
9th of 16 races in the 1978 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	LXIV Grand Prix de France
Date:	2nd July 1978
Place:	Le Castellet
Course:	Circuit Paul Ricard
Length:	313.74 km in 54 laps of 5.81 km
Weather:	sunny and warm
Spectator:	~ 55,000
Pole position
Driver:	John Watson	Brabham
Time:	1: 44.41 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari
Time:	1: 48.56 min
Podium
First:	Mario Andretti	lotus
Second:	Ronnie Peterson	lotus
Third:	James Hunt	McLaren

The 1978 French Grand Prix took place on July 2 at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet and was the ninth race of the 1978 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Since the FIA had decided that the fan technology used by Brabham on the BT46B cars at the Swedish Grand Prix was not compatible with the applicable rules, the team had to fall back on the conventional BT46 from now on.

One of the few changes in the field of 29 drivers was the return of René Arnoux with the Martini team and the deployment of a third works McLaren for Bruno Giacomelli . At Ensign Racing , Jacky Ickx was also replaced by Derek Daly .

training

Brabham driver John Watson was five hundredths of a second faster in practice than Mario Andretti in the Lotus 79 . The feared disadvantage of the fan ban turned out to be null and void. Niki Lauda also seemed to confirm this by reaching third place on the grid. This was followed by James Hunt before Ronnie Peterson and Patrick Tambay .

run

Watson was initially able to defend his top position briefly against Andretti, but by the end of the first lap the American was in the lead and began to pull away. Tambay followed in front of Lauda, ​​Peterson and Hunt.

Lauda fought his way past Tambay and Watson during the following laps, but retired on lap 10 due to an engine failure. From then on, Peterson, who had also overtaken Tambay and Watson, took second place and, after the successes in Belgium and Spain, gave the Lotus team the third double victory of the year. Watson was able to maintain third place until lap 16, but was then overtaken by Hunt. Behind it followed Alan Jones in front of Jody Scheckter . This order of the first six remained unchanged from the 17th lap to the finish.

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
	33	Bruno Giacomelli
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	Derek Daly	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
Automobiles Martini	31	René Arnoux	Martini MK23		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	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 44.41	200.326 km / h	01
02	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 44.46	200.230 km / h	02
03	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 44.71	199.752 km / h	03
04th	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 44.92	199.352 km / h	04th
05	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	1: 44.98	199.238 km / h	05
06th	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	1: 45.07	199.067 km / h	06th
07th	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1: 45.20	198.821 km / h	07th
08th	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1: 45.35	198.538 km / h	08th
09	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1: 45.55	198.162 km / h	09
10	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 45.68	197.918 km / h	10
11	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1: 45.73	197.825 km / h	11
12	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	1: 46.32	196.727 km / h	12
13	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 46.37	196.634 km / h	13
14th	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1: 46.40	196.579 km / h	14th
15th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 46.70	196.026 km / h	15th
16	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 47.12	195.258 km / h	16
17th	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow Ford	1: 48.55	192.685 km / h	17th
18th	René Arnoux	Martini Ford	1: 48.68	192.455 km / h	18th
19th	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1: 48.68	192.455 km / h	19th
20th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow Ford	1: 48.89	192.084 km / h	20th
21st	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows Ford	1: 49.14	191.644 km / h	21st
22nd	Bruno Giacomelli	McLaren-Ford	1: 49.53	190.961 km / h	22nd
23	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	1: 49.54	190.944 km / h	23
24	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	1: 49.55	190.927 km / h	24
25th	Jochen Mass	ATS Ford	1: 49.90	190.318 km / h	25th
26th	Keke Rosberg	ATS Ford	1: 50.09	189.990 km / h	26th
DNQ	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	1: 50.11	189.955 km / h	-
DNQ	Derek Daly	Ensign-Ford	1: 50.19	189.818 km / h	-
DNQ	Hector Rebaque	Lotus Ford	1: 50.40	189.457 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	54	0	1: 38: 51.92	02	1: 48.79
02	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	54	0	+ 2.93	05	1: 48.94
03	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	54	0	+ 19.80	04th	1: 48.77
04th	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	54	0	+ 36.88	01	1: 49.85
05	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	54	0	+ 41.81	14th	1: 49.76
06th	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	54	0	+ 54.53	07th	1: 49.98
07th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	54	0	+ 54.74	10	1: 50.04
08th	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	54	0	+1: 24.88	12	1: 50.40
09	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	54	0	+1: 27.06	06th	1: 49.78
10	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	54	0	+1: 29.98	16	1: 50.71
11	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	20th	1: 51.33
12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	53	1	+ 1 lap	09	1: 49.75
13	Jochen Mass	ATS Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	25th	1: 51.44
14th	René Arnoux	Martini Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 51.92
15th	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	21st	1: 52.01
16	Keke Rosberg	ATS Ford	52	0	+ 2 rounds	26th	1: 52.90
17th	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	52	0	+ 2 rounds	19th	1: 52.12
18th	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	49	1	+ 5 rounds	08th	1: 48.56
-	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	45	0	DNF	24	1: 51.29	Engine failure
-	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	43	0	DNF	15th	1: 50.17	Suspension damage
-	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	40	0	DNF	23	1: 51.87	Engine failure
-	Bruno Giacomelli	McLaren-Ford	28	0	DNF	22nd	1: 52.13	Engine failure
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	10	0	DNF	13	1: 50.64	Engine failure
-	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	10	0	DNF	03	1: 49.78	Engine failure
-	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow Ford	04th	0	DNF	17th	2: 29.31	defective ignition
-	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	01	0	DNF	11		Engine failure

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 45 02  Ronnie Peterson lotus 36 03  Niki Lauda Brabham 25th 04th  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 23 05  Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 22nd 06th  John Watson Brabham 12 07th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 10 08th  James Hunt McLaren 8th

Item driver constructor Points 09  Jody Scheckter wolf 8th 10  Riccardo Patrese Arrows 8th 11  Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi 7th 12  Didier Pironi Tyrrell 5 13  Alan Jones Williams 5 14th  Clay Regazzoni Shadow 4th 15th  Patrick Tambay McLaren 4th 16  Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 3

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  lotus 58 02  Brabham 34 03  Tyrrell 25th 04th  Ferrari 22nd 05  McLaren 11 06th  Ligier 10

Item constructor Points 07th  wolf 8th 08th  Arrows 8th 09  Fittipaldi 7th 10  Williams 5 11  Shadow 4th

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training" ( memento of the original from December 23, 2015 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)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on August 5, 2012)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from November 30, 2015 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