1978 United States Grand Prix West

1978 United States Grand Prix West

the 1978 United States Grand Prix West is the fourth race of the 1978 Formula One season. it was won by Niki Lauda with Depailler 2nd and Andretti 3rd.

*At the start of the weekend, though only 22 cars would make the grid, there were 30 entries, requiring a one-hour pre-qualifying session on Friday morning for the eight non-FICA members. From these eight, the fastest four would join the rest of the field in qualifying for one of the 22 starting spots.*

Pre-Qualifying

Qualifying

Reutemann took pole with Lauda 2nd and Andretti 3rd. Leoni and Lunger failed to qualify.

Race

A beautiful California day and 75,000 paying fans showed up for the race on Sunday. The start had been moved from in front of the pits on Ocean Boulevard to the curving "straight" on Shoreline Drive in order to avoid another first corner tangle. The strategy seemed to work, as everyone got through cleanly, though Peterson's late braking maneuver down the inside caused him to exit wide from the hairpin and force polesitter Reutemann wide with him, so Villeneuve tucked into the lead as they exited.

After one lap, the order was Villeneuve, Peterson, Lauda, Reutemann, Andretti, Alan Jones, James Hunt and Watson. In the lead of a Grand Prix for the first time, Villeneuve was driving superbly, as he began to extend his lead. On lap 2, Hunt struck the wall at the apex of the last turn before the pit straight and knocked his right front wheel off. Three laps later, Watson retired from sixth with a blown engine. Andretti was dropping back in fourth, having chosen the wrong Goodyears and a poor top gear, and Jones was closing on him quickly. On lap 19, the Williams went through and took off after Reutemann.

With Villeneuve's lead at two seconds, Reutemann was pushing Lauda hard for second place. Suddenly, on lap 8, Reutemann went straight on at Turn One, looking as if his brakes had failed. Reutemann stopped safely, however, stepped out and removed his helmet. An electrical failure had cut the motor. Meanwhile, Jones had caught up to Lauda, and the top three were separated by just 2.5 seconds.

*On lap 9, just before the halfway point, Villeneuve came up to lap Clay Regazzoni, who was in a battle with Jean-Pierre Jabouille's Renault. Rather than wait until the straight, the Canadian tried to get by in the twisty section leading up to Ocean Boulevard. There simply wasn't room, however, and, when Regazzoni braked earlier than Villeneuve expected, the Ferrari's right front wheel hit the left rear of the Shadow and was launched over the white car into the wall. Fortunately, no one was hurt.*

This left Lauda in the lead, ahead of Jones, then a long gap back to Andretti. Lap after lap, Jones hounded Lauda, but he was too fast down the straight for him to get by. On about lap 13, with Jones still on the Ferrari's tail, the front wings of the Williams strangely flopped down, the result of a fabrication failure. Jones continued to battle, but began losing around a second a lap. Adding to the Aussie's misery, his fuel pressure began fluctuating. His head jerked back and forth as the engine sputtered and, sometimes, cut out entirely. As one car after another passed, the struggling Williams fell all the way to sixth place. Recording the fastest lap of the race on lap 17 was his only consolation after a spectacular drive.

Lauda cruised to the finish, maintaining a twelve to fifteen second gap over Depailler who had a similar cushion over Andretti in third