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1978 Argentine Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details
Date	15 January 1978
Location	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course	Permanent road course
Course length	5.81 km (3.61 miles)
Distance	52 laps, 302.12 km (187.72 miles)
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
Lap leaders

The 1978 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 15 January 1978 at Buenos Aires. It was the first race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 52-lap race was won from pole position by American driver Mario Andretti, driving a Lotus-Ford, with Austrian Niki Lauda second in a Brabham-Alfa Romeo and Frenchman Patrick Depailler third in a Tyrrell-Ford. This was the debut of multiple-time Constructors' Champions, Williams.

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 ahead of James Hunt in the leading McLaren, Ronnie Peterson in the other Lotus and Patrick Tambay in the other McLaren.

Classification

Qualifying classification

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race classification

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

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for American driver Eddie Cheever and French driver and future Grand Prix winner Didier Pironi.
• This was the 1st fastest lap set by a Canadian driver.
• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for German constructor ATS, British constructor and future World Champion Williams, Hongkongese constructor Theodore - the first from Hong Kong - and the debut for Italian constructor Merzario.
• This race also marked the 50th Grand Prix start for Ensign.

Championship 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 Source:

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

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

References

1. "1978 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
2. "1978 Argentine Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 15 January 1978. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
3. ^ "Argentina 1978 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.

• 1978 Formula One races
• Argentine Grand Prix
• 1978 in Argentine motorsport
• January 1978 sports events in South America