1978 Formula One season

The 1978 Formula One season was the 32nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the International Cup for F1 Constructors, contested concurrently over a sixteen race series which commenced on 15 January and ended on 8 October. The season also included the non-championship BRDC International Trophy.

Mario Andretti won the Drivers' World Championship. He remains the last American driver to win the World Championship, and his victory at the Dutch Grand Prix is also the last for an American driver. Ronnie Peterson was awarded second place in the Drivers' standings posthumously, having died from medical complications after an accident at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix. JPS-Lotus was awarded the International Cup for F1 Constructors.

Championship defendants Niki Lauda and Ferrari had parted ways late in 1977 and both parties struggled to repeat the successes they had enjoyed the previous seasons. Carlos Reutemann finished third in the championship in the lead Ferrari, whilst Lauda finished fourth with Brabham. Apart from Peterson's death the year saw another tragedy when Peterson's Swedish compatriot Gunnar Nilsson died from cancer having been forced to cut his career short after the previous season because of the disease.

The following drivers and constructors contested the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the International Cup for F1 Constructors were contested concurrently over a sixteen race series.

The 1978 season started at the varied Parque Almirante Brown circuit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Mario Andretti took pole in his Lotus, with home favourite Carlos Reutemann's Ferrari joining him on the front row and Ronnie Peterson in the other Lotus third on the grid. The start was uneventful, with Andretti and Reutemann easily keeping first and second, with John Watson in the Brabham taking third from Peterson. Watson took second from Reutemann on the seventh lap, but Andretti was uncatchable. Reutemann ran third for a while, but then began to drop down the order due to tire problems, and so reigning world champion Niki Lauda took third in his Brabham, which became second with ten laps left when Watson's engine blew up. Andretti motored on to a crushing victory, with Lauda second and Patrick Depailler's Tyrrell taking the final spot on the podium. This had been an unusual Argentine Grand Prix- although the summer weather had been usually hot (although not as hot as the previous year), the attrition rate hadn't been as high, nor had the polesitter retired.

...
Wikipedia