# 1978 Spanish Grand Prix

The 1978 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 4 June 1978 at Jarama. It was the seventh race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 75-lap race was won from pole position by Mario Andretti, driving a Lotus-Ford, with teammate Ronnie Peterson second and Jacques Laffite third in a Ligier-Matra.

## Report

Once again the new Lotus 79 demonstrated its speed, with Mario Andretti on pole and Ronnie Peterson alongside him on the front row, the Swede driving the 79 for the first time. Carlos Reutemann was third in his Ferrari, with James Hunt fourth in his McLaren.
On race day, Hunt made a fast start to lead into the first corner from Andretti and Reutemann, with Peterson dropping to ninth. Andretti re-passed Hunt on lap 6 and then started to pull away. Reutemann ran third until he had to pit for tyres, and so John Watson inherited third until he was passed by Jacques Laffite, but soon the recovering Peterson passed both of them. Hunt now suffered from tyre problems and he also began to drop back, and so Peterson moved into second with Laffite third. This was how it stayed to the end, Andretti winning from Peterson in another Lotus 1–2, and Laffite taking the final spot on the podium. Reutemann had a huge accident on lap 58 when his Ferrari flew 8 feet in the air, cleared the barrier and landed in the debris fencing.

## Classification
### Pre-qualifying

| Pos. | Driver | Constructor | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Héctor Rebaque | Lotus–Ford | 1:19.84 |
| 2 | Rolf Stommelen | Arrows–Ford | +0.13 |
| 3 | Arturo Merzario | Merzario–Ford | +0.19 |
| 4 | Brett Lunger | McLaren–Ford | +0.35 |
| 5 | Keke Rosberg | Theodore–Ford | +1.41 |
*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.

### Qualifying

| Pos. | Driver | Constructor | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Mario Andretti | Lotus–Ford | 1:16.39 |
| 2 | Ronnie Peterson | Lotus–Ford | +0.29 |
| 3 | Carlos Reutemann | Ferrari | +1.01 |
| 4 | James Hunt | McLaren–Ford | +1.27 |
| 5 | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | +1.40 |
| 6 | Niki Lauda | Brabham–Alfa Romeo | +1.55 |
| 7 | John Watson | Brabham–Alfa Romeo | +1.59 |
| 8 | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows–Ford | +1.75 |
| 9 | Jody Scheckter | Wolf–Ford | +1.85 |
| 10 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier–Matra | +2.03 |
| 11 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille | Renault | +2.60 |
| 12 | Patrick Depailler | Tyrrell–Ford | +2.67 |
| 13 | Didier Pironi | Tyrrell–Ford | +2.72 |
| 14 | Patrick Tambay | McLaren–Ford | +2.89 |
| 15 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Fittipaldi–Ford | +2.94 |
| 16 | Vittorio Brambilla | Surtees–Ford | +3.32 |
| 17 | Jochen Mass | ATS–Ford | +3.59 |
| 18 | Alan Jones | Williams–Ford | +3.60 |
| 19 | Rolf Stommelen | Arrows–Ford | +3.64 |
| 20 | Héctor Rebaque | Lotus–Ford | +3.82 |
| 21 | Jacky Ickx | Ensign–Ford | +3.97 |
| 22 | Clay Regazzoni | Shadow–Ford | +4.28 |
| 23 | Rupert Keegan | Surtees–Ford | +4.38 |
| 24 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | Shadow–Ford | +4.48 |
| 25 | Arturo Merzario | Merzario–Ford | +4.52 |
| 26 | Brett Lunger | McLaren–Ford | +4.78 |
| 27 | Emilio de Villota | McLaren–Ford | +5.16 |
| 28 | Alberto Colombo | ATS–Ford | +5.20 |
| Source: ||||
*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

### Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Tyre | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 5 | Mario Andretti | Lotus-Ford | G | 75 | 1:41:47.06 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 6 | Ronnie Peterson | Lotus-Ford | G | 75 | + 19.56 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 26 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier-Matra | G | 75 | + 37.24 | 10 | 4 |
| 4 | 20 | Jody Scheckter | Wolf-Ford | G | 75 | + 1:00.06 | 9 | 3 |
| 5 | 2 | John Watson | Brabham-Alfa Romeo | G | 75 | + 1:05.93 | 7 | 2 |
| 6 | 7 | James Hunt | McLaren-Ford | G | 74 | + 1 Lap | 4 | 1 |
| 7 | 19 | Vittorio Brambilla | Surtees-Ford | G | 74 | + 1 Lap | 16 | |
| 8 | 27 | Alan Jones | Williams-Ford | G | 74 | + 1 Lap | 18 | |
| 9 | 9 | Jochen Mass | ATS-Ford | G | 74 | + 1 Lap | 17 | |
| 10 | 12 | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | M | 74 | + 1 Lap | 5 | |
| 11 | 18 | Rupert Keegan | Surtees-Ford | G | 73 | + 2 Laps | 23 | |
| 12 | 3 | Didier Pironi | Tyrrell-Ford | G | 71 | + 4 Laps | 13 | |
| 13 | 15 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille | Renault | M | 71 | + 4 Laps | 11 | |
| 14 | 36 | Rolf Stommelen | Arrows-Ford | G | 71 | + 4 Laps | 19 | |
| 15 | 17 | Clay Regazzoni | Shadow-Ford | G | 67 | Fuel Pipe | 22 | |
| Ret | 22 | Jacky Ickx | Ensign-Ford | G | 64 | Engine | 21 | |
| Ret | 14 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Fittipaldi-Ford | G | 62 | Throttle | 15 | |
| Ret | 11 | Carlos Reutemann | Ferrari | M | 57 | Accident | 3 | |
| Ret | 1 | Niki Lauda | Brabham-Alfa Romeo | G | 56 | Engine | 6 | |
| Ret | 4 | Patrick Depailler | Tyrrell-Ford | G | 51 | Engine | 12 | |
| Ret | 16 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | Shadow-Ford | G | 45 | Suspension | 24 | |
| Ret | 35 | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows-Ford | G | 21 | Engine | 8 | |
| Ret | 25 | Héctor Rebaque | Lotus-Ford | G | 21 | Exhaust | 20 | |
| Ret | 8 | Patrick Tambay | McLaren-Ford | G | 16 | Spun Off | 14 | |
| DNQ | 37 | Arturo Merzario | Merzario-Ford | G | | | | |
| DNQ | 30 | Brett Lunger | McLaren-Ford | G | | | | |
| DNQ | 28 | Emilio de Villota | McLaren-Ford | G | | | | |
| DNQ | 10 | Alberto Colombo | ATS-Ford | G | | | | |
| DNPQ | 32 | Keke Rosberg | Theodore-Ford | G | | | | |
| Source: |||||||||