1978 Brazilian Grand Prix

1978 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details
Date	January 29, 1978
Location	Jacarepagua, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.031 km (3.126 miles)
Distance	63 laps, 316.953 km (196.945 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:40.45
Fastest lap
Driver	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari
Time	1:43.07 on lap 35
Podium
First	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari
Second	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford
Third	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo

The 1978 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 January 1978 at Jacarepagua. The race was won by Argentine driver Carlos Reutemann driving a Ferrari 312T2 in a flag-to-flag performance. The win also represented the first win for tyre manufacturer Michelin. Local driver Emerson Fittipaldi was second, scoring the first podium finish for the Fittipaldi team with Austrian Brabham driver Niki Lauda finishing third. French driver Didier Pironi took his first points in Formula One, finishing sixth.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	63	1:49:59.86	4	9
2	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	63	+49.13 secs	7	6
3	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	63	+57.02 secs	10	4
4	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	63	+1:33.12	3	3
5	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	62	+1 Lap	15	2
6	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	62	+1 Lap	19	1
7	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	62	+1 Lap	20
8	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	61	+2 Laps	21
9	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	61	+2 Laps	14
10	36	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	59	+4 Laps	18
11	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	58	+5 Laps	8
Ret	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	40	Physical	22
Ret	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	35	Spun Off	6
Ret	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	34	Spun Off	5
Ret	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	25	Spun Off	2
Ret	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	25	Fuel System	9
Ret	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	16	Accident	12
Ret	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	15	Collision	1
Ret	22	Danny Ongais	Ensign-Ford	13	Brakes	23
Ret	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	11	Overheating	13
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	8	Accident	11
Ret	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	5	Accident	24
DNS	23	Lamberto Leoni	Ensign-Ford	0	Transmission	17
DNS	10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS-Ford		Mass Drove Car	16
DNQ	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford
DNQ	32	Eddie Cheever	Theodore-Ford
DNQ	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford
DNQ	24	Divina Galica	Hesketh-Ford
Source:

Lap leaders

• Lap leaders: Carlos Reutemann 63 laps (1–63).

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Mario Andretti	12
2	Niki Lauda	10
3	Carlos Reutemann	9
4	Emerson Fittipaldi	6
5	Patrick Depailler	4
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Lotus-Ford	12
2	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	10
3	Ferrari	9
4	Fittipaldi-Ford	6
5	Tyrrell-Ford	5
Source:

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