1978 German Grand Prix

1978 German Grand Prix
Race 11 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details
Date	July 30, 1978
Official name	XL Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location	Hockenheimring
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.789 km (4.218 miles)
Distance	45 laps, 305.505 km (189.81 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:51.90
Fastest lap
Driver	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:55.62 on lap 26
Podium
First	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Second	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford
Third	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra
Lap leaders

The 1978 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 30 July 1978 at Hockenheimring. This was the debut race of the future world champion Nelson Piquet.

Report

There were no surprises in qualifying, with Mario Andretti on pole and Ronnie Peterson alongside him, with Niki Lauda third. At the start, Peterson got off better and took the lead from Andretti, but he held it for only four laps before Andretti retook it. Lauda ran third in the early stages, but he was passed by Alan Jones, and the duo battled until Lauda's engine failed yet again. The two Lotus cars were cruising at the front, and Jones ran third comfortably until he retired with a fuel vaporization problem. Lotus's hopes of a 1–2 ended when Peterson's gearbox failed, but Andretti was unaffected by that and cruised to his fifth win of the season, with Jody Scheckter second and Jacques Laffite third.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	45	1:28:00.90	1	9
2	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	45	+15.35 secs	4	6
3	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	45	+28.01 secs	7	4
4	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	45	+36.88 secs	10	3
5	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	45	+57.26 secs	16	2
6	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	45	+1:37.86	18	1
7	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	45	+1:39.53	5
8	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	45	+1:56.87	15
9	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	44	+1 Lap	14
10	32	Keke Rosberg	Wolf-Ford	42	+3 Laps	19
11	23	Harald Ertl	Ensign-Ford	41	Engine	17
DSQ	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	42	Illegal Pit Stop	23
Ret	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	36	Gearbox	2
DSQ	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	34	Illegal Pit Stop	8
Ret	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	31	Fuel System	6
Ret	22	Nelson Piquet	Ensign-Ford	31	Engine	21
Ret	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	24	Fuel System	20
Ret	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	16	Accident	11
Ret	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	14	Fuel System	12
Ret	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	11	Engine	3
Ret	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	5	Engine	9
Ret	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	1	Accident	22
Ret	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	1	Accident	24
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	0	Accident	13
DNQ	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford
DNQ	10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS-Ford
DNQ	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford
DNQ	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford
DNPQ	31	René Arnoux	Martini-Ford
DNPQ	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford
Source:

Notes

• Lap leaders: Ronnie Peterson 4 laps (1–4); Mario Andretti 41 laps (5–45).
• The Rebaque team scored their only points finish at this race.
• First race: Nelson Piquet
• James Hunt and Rolf Stommelen were both disqualified for entering the pits via another route; not the pit entrance.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Mario Andretti	54
2	Ronnie Peterson	36
3	Carlos Reutemann	31
4	Niki Lauda	31
5	Patrick Depailler	26
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Lotus-Ford	67
2	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	40
3	Ferrari	31
4	Tyrrell-Ford	30
5	Wolf-Ford	14
Source:

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