The 1978 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 2 July 1978 at Paul Ricard.
Report[]
Following the banning of the "fan car", Brabham were forced to revert to their previous car again, but it did not deter them, with John Watson on pole and Niki Lauda starting third behind Mario Andretti's Lotus. At the start, Watson led into the first corner, with Andretti following, and Patrick Tambay putting his McLaren in third, but that order did not remain for long as Andretti took the lead from Watson on the first lap. Lauda and Ronnie Peterson were on the move as well, as they passed Watson and Tambay to jump into second and third, but Lauda suffered another engine failure. This left the two Lotus cars running 1-2 and they finished like that with Andretti taking his third win in four races, and the podium was completed by James Hunt who passed Watson mid-race.
Classification[]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  Mario Andretti
|
Lotus-Ford | 54 | 1:38:51.92 | 2 | 9 |
| 2 | 6 |  Ronnie Peterson
|
Lotus-Ford | 54 | +2.93 secs | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | 7 |  James Hunt
|
McLaren-Ford | 54 | +19.8 secs | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | 2 | John Watson
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 54 | +36.88 secs | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | 27 |  Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford | 54 | +41.81 secs | 14 | 2 |
| 6 | 20 |  Jody Scheckter
|
Wolf-Ford | 54 | +54.53 secs | 7 | 1 |
| 7 | 26 |  Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Matra | 54 | +54.74 secs | 10 | |
| 8 | 35 |  Riccardo Patrese
|
Arrows-Ford | 54 | +1:24.88 | 12 | |
| 9 | 8 | Patrick Tambay
|
McLaren-Ford | 54 | +1:27.06 | 6 | |
| 10 | 3 | Didier Pironi
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 54 | +1:29.98 | 16 | |
| 11 | 16 |  Hans Joachim Stuck
|
Shadow-Ford | 53 | +1 Lap | 20 | |
| 12 | 12 |  Gilles Villeneuve
|
Ferrari | 53 | +1 Lap | 9 | |
| 13 | 9 | Jochen Mass
|
ATS-Ford | 53 | +1 Lap | 25 | |
| 14 | 31 | René Arnoux
|
Martini-Ford | 53 | +1 Lap | 18 | |
| 15 | 36 | Rolf Stommelen
|
Arrows-Ford | 53 | +1 Lap | 21 | |
| 16 | 10 |  Keke Rosberg
|
ATS-Ford | 52 | +2 Laps | 26 | |
| 17 | 19 | Vittorio Brambilla
|
Surtees-Ford | 52 | +2 Laps | 19 | |
| 18 | 11 |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Ferrari | 49 | +5 Laps | 8 | |
| Ret | 30 | Brett Lunger
|
McLaren-Ford | 45 | Engine | 24 | |
| Ret | 14 |  Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 43 | Suspension | 15 | |
| Ret | 18 | Rupert Keegan
|
Surtees-Ford | 40 | Engine | 23 | |
| Ret | 33 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
McLaren-Ford | 28 | Engine | 22 | |
| Ret | 1 |  Niki Lauda
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo | 10 | Engine | 3 | |
| Ret | 4 | Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 10 | Engine | 13 | |
| Ret | 17 |  Clay Regazzoni
|
Shadow-Ford | 4 | Electrical | 17 | |
| Ret | 15 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|
Renault | 1 | Engine | 11 | |
| DNQ | 37 | Arturo Merzario
|
Merzario-Ford | ||||
| DNQ | 22 |  Derek Daly
|
Ensign-Ford | ||||
| DNQ | 25 |  Hector Rebaque
|
Lotus-Ford |
Notes[]
- Lap Leaders: Mario Andretti 54 laps (1-54).
Standings after the race[]
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
| Previous race: 1978 Swedish Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1978 season |
Next race: 1978 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1977 French Grand Prix |
French Grand Prix | Next race: 1979 French Grand Prix |
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This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1978 French Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |