1978 Belgian Grand Prix

  1978 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Date	May 21, 1978
Location	Zolder, Belgium
Course	4.011 km (2.492 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 280.77 km (174.44 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:20.90
Fastest lap
Driver	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:23.13 on lap 66
Podium
First	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Second	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Third	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari

The 1978 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 21 May 1978 at Zolder.

Report

The main news before the Belgian Grand Prix was that the new Lotus 79 was now ready to race, and immediately Mario Andretti showed its pace by taking pole comfortably from Carlos Reutemann and Niki Lauda. He converted it to a first-corner lead, whereas Reutemann had a bad start and got swamped by the field, causing a chain reaction in which Lauda was hit by Jody Scheckter and had to retire. This left Gilles Villeneuve second and Ronnie Peterson third but neither could keep pace with Andretti who was able to drive away.

The first 40 laps went without incident until Villeneuve suffered a puncture and had to pit which dropped him back down to fifth, and a few laps later Peterson also pitted for new tyres leaving the charging Reutemann second ahead of Jacques Laffite's Ligier. Peterson on the new tyres was much quicker and was able to pass them both in the closing stages, and Laffite made an attempt to pass Reutemann on the last lap but they collided and Laffite was out. Andretti cruised to an untroubled victory, with Peterson making it a Lotus 1-2, and Reutemann completing the podium.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	70	1:39:52.02	1	9
2	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	70	+ 9.90	7	6
3	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	70	+ 24.34	2	4
4	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	70	+ 47.04	4	3
5	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	69	Accident	14	2
6	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	23	1
7	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	24
8	33	Bruno Giacomelli	McLaren-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	21
9	31	René Arnoux	Martini-Ford	68	+ 2 Laps	19
10	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	68	+ 2 Laps	11
11	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	68	+ 2 Laps	16
12	22	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford	64	+ 6 Laps	22
13	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	63	Engine	12
Ret	16	Hans Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	56	Spun Off	10
NC	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	56	+ 14 Laps	20
Ret	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	53	Spun Off	5
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	51	Gearbox	13
Ret	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	40	Transmission	18
Ret	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	31	Suspension	8
Ret	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	26	Spun Off	17
Ret	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	18	Accident	9
Ret	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	0	Accident	3
Ret	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	0	Accident	6
Ret	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	0	Accident	15
DNQ	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford
DNQ	24	Derek Daly	Hesketh-Ford
DNQ	32	Keke Rosberg	Theodore-Ford
DNQ	10	Alberto Colombo	ATS-Ford
DNPQ	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford
DNPQ	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford

Notes

• Lap Leaders: Mario Andretti 70 laps (1-70).
• First points - Gilles Villeneuve.
• Last appearance: Hesketh Racing

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 27 2 Patrick Depailler 23 3 Carlos Reutemann 22 4 Ronnie Peterson 20 5 Niki Lauda 16

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 36 2 Tyrrell-Ford 25 3 Ferrari 22 4 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 20 5 Fittipaldi-Ford 6

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