1978 Monaco Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:Monaco
Grand Prix:Monaco
Date:7 May
Year:1978
Race No:5
Season No:16
Location:Circuit de Monaco
Course:Street circuit
Course Mi:2.057
Course Km:3.312
Distance Laps:75
Distance Mi:154.348
Distance Km:248.4
Weather:Dry
Pole Country:Argentina
Pole Team:Ferrari
Pole Time:1:28.34
Fast Driver:Niki Lauda
Fast Country:Austria
Fast Team:Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Fast Time:1:28.65
Fast Lap:72
First Country:France
Second Country:Austria
Second Team:Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Third Driver:Jody Scheckter
Third Country:South Africa
Third Flag Suffix:1928
Third Team:Wolf-Ford

The 1978 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 7 May 1978 at Monaco. It was the fifth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 75-lap race was won by Frenchman Patrick Depailler, driving a Tyrrell-Ford. It was Depailler's first Formula One victory in his 69th Grand Prix.[1] Niki Lauda finished second in a Brabham-Alfa Romeo, with Jody Scheckter third in a Wolf-Ford.

Report

Carlos Reutemann started on pole with the Brabham duo of John Watson and Niki Lauda second and third. Watson had a good start and led into the first corner, whereas Reutemann collided with James Hunt and had to pit for repairs, which left Patrick Depailler and Lauda second and third. For the first half of the race, the top three remained the same until Watson had an off allowing Depailler and Lauda through, but the latter then suffered a puncture and had to pit for tyres before charging back up and retaking second from Watson towards the end of the race. At the front, Depailler took his first career victory with Lauda second, and Jody Scheckter third after Watson made another mistake in the final laps. Jean-Pierre Jabouille's 10th-place finish was Renault's first race finish.

Classification

Pre-qualifying classification

Pos.DriverConstructorTime
1Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:31,31
2Rolf StommelenArrows-Ford1:31,88
3Keke RosbergTheodore-Ford1:33,07
4Derek DalyHesketh-Ford1:33,55
5René ArnouxMartini-Ford1:33,72
6Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford1:34,59
7Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford1:34,86
8Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford1:49,43
*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.

Qualifying classification

Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo
1Carlos ReutemannFerrari1:28,341
2John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:28,832
3Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo1:28,843
4Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford1:29,104
5Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:29,145
6James HuntMcLaren-Ford1:29,226
7Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:29,237
8Gilles VilleneuveFerrari1:29,408
9Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford1:29,509
10Alan JonesWilliams-Ford1:29,5110
11Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford1:30,0811
12Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault1:30,1812
13Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford1:30,5513
14Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford1:30,5914
15Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:30,6015
16Jacky IckxEnsign-Ford1:30,7216
17Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford1:31,3017
18Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford1:31,3118
19Rolf StommelenArrows-Ford1:31,3119
20Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:31,3620
21Jochen MassATS-Ford1:31,40DNQ
22Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford1:31,61DNQ
23Jean-Pierre JarierATS-Ford1:32,11DNQ
24Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford1:32,46DNQ
*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
14 Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford751:55:14.6659
21 Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo75+ 22.4536
320 Jody ScheckterWolf-Ford75+ 32.2994
42 John WatsonBrabham-Alfa Romeo75+ 33.5323
53 Didier PironiTyrrell-Ford75+ 1:08.06132
635 Riccardo PatreseArrows-Ford75+ 1:08.77141
78 Patrick TambayMcLaren-Ford74+ 1 Lap11
811 Carlos ReutemannFerrari74+ 1 Lap1
914 Emerson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford74+ 1 Lap20
1015 Jean-Pierre JabouilleRenault71+ 4 Laps12
115 Mario AndrettiLotus-Ford69+ 6 Laps4
Ret12 Gilles VilleneuveFerrari62Accident8
Ret6 Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford56Gearbox7
Ret7 James HuntMcLaren-Ford43Handling6
Ret36 Rolf StommelenArrows-Ford38Driver Unwell19
Ret27 Alan JonesWilliams-Ford29Oil Leak10
Ret22 Jacky IckxEnsign-Ford27Brakes16
Ret16 Hans-Joachim StuckShadow-Ford24Accident17
Ret26 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra13Gearbox15
Ret18 Rupert KeeganSurtees-Ford8Transmission18
DNQ9 Jochen MassATS-Ford
DNQ17 Clay RegazzoniShadow-Ford
DNQ10 Jean-Pierre JarierATS-Ford
DNQ19 Vittorio BrambillaSurtees-Ford
DNPQ32 Keke RosbergTheodore-Ford
DNPQ24 Derek DalyHesketh-Ford
DNPQ31 René ArnouxMartini-Ford
DNPQ25 Héctor RebaqueLotus-Ford
DNPQ30 Brett LungerMcLaren-Ford
DNPQ37 Arturo MerzarioMerzario-Ford

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Patrick Depailler23
2 Carlos Reutemann18
3 Mario Andretti18
4 Niki Lauda16
5 Ronnie Peterson14
Source:[2]
Constructors' Championship standings
PosConstructorPoints
1 Lotus-Ford27
2 Tyrrell-Ford24
3 Brabham-Alfa Romeo20
4 Ferrari18
5 Fittipaldi-Ford6
Source:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Grand Prix Results: Monaco GP, 1978 . Grandprix.com . 11 October 2017.
  2. Web site: Monaco 1978 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 19 March 2019.