1978 Argentine Grand Prix

  1978 Argentine Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Date	January 15, 1978
Location	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course	Permanent road course 5.81 km (3.61 mi)
Distance	52 laps, 302.12 km (187.72 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:47.75
Fastest lap
Driver	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari
Time	1:49.76 on lap 3
Podium
First	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Second	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Third	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford

The 1978 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 15 January 1978 at Buenos Aires.

Overview

Mario Andretti took pole in his Lotus, with 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, 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.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	52	1:37:04.47	1	9
2	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	52	+13.21 secs	5	6
3	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	52	+13.64 secs	10	4
4	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	52	+16.05 secs	6	3
5	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	52	+1:14.85	3	2
6	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	52	+1:19.90	9	1
7	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	52	+1:22.60	2
8	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	52	+1:38.88	7
9	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	52	+1:40.60	17
10	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	52	+1:43.50	15
11	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	52	+1:49.07	13
12	10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS-Ford	51	+1 Lap	11
13	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	51	+1 Lap	24
14	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	51	+1 Lap	23
15	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	51	+1 Lap	16
16	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	50	Engine	8
17	16	Hans Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	50	+2 Laps	18
18	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	50	+2 Laps	12
Ret	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	41	Engine	4
Ret	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	36	Fuel System	14
Ret	22	Danny Ongais	Ensign-Ford	35	Distributor	21
Ret	23	Lamberto Leoni	Ensign-Ford	28	Engine	22
Ret	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	9	Differential	20
Ret	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	4	Overheating	19
DNQ	25	Hector Rebaque	Lotus-Ford
DNQ	32	Eddie Cheever	Theodore-Ford
DNQ	24	Divina Galica	Hesketh-Ford

Notes

• Lap Leaders: Mario Andretti 52 laps (1-52).
• First Race: Williams and Lamberto Leoni.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 9 2 Niki Lauda 6 3 Patrick Depailler 4 4 James Hunt 3 5 Ronnie Peterson 2

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 9 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 6 3 Tyrrell-Ford 4 4 McLaren-Ford 3

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.