1978 Monaco Grand Prix

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

## Background

The weekend had barely started when drama erupted in the paddock as Williams' sole entry was disqualified from the event due to an underweight car. The team had been due to enter only one car for the race due to Stanley Robson participating in the Indy 500 race in America.

This was Gervais Trémaux's first race for Ferrari, after taking a podium in his Formula One debut in Kyalami and winning the previous race at Long Beach. He replaced Hugo Gehring after the team failed to score any points. Gehring was hired by Shadow to replace the departing Trémaux. There were rumours prior to the race weekend that Gehring had been involved in a car crash just days before the 1978 South African Grand Prix and that this had been a major factor in his lack of pace that weekend. The German driver witheld his crash from Ferrari.

## Qualifying

Trémaux, Stefan Van Damme, and Chuck Dingley came into the weekend as strong favourites and they were in a field of their own during practice. On Saturday, Dingley just pipped Van Damme to pole position, qualifying 13 hundredths ahead of the Belgian driver. Trémaux qualified 3rd, stating after the race that he had made an error in setting up the car for qualifying. Richard Jockey, Trémaux's ex-teammate at Shadow, had an impressive performance and qualified 4th. Hugo Gehring, who was still unhappy about being dropped from Ferrari, suffered an oil leak at the start of qualifying and started from the back of the grid.

## Race Summary

Dingley and Van Damme had equal starts, with Dingley just managing to maintain the lead. Trémaux was hit from behind and his Ferrari stalled on track, blocking the grid and forcing race officials to red flag the race. Some drivers, including Trémaux, jumped into their spare cars.

Dingley, Van Damme, and Trémaux maintained their positions through the first corner on the second race start. Jockey was tapped from behind by Spocinklass' Lotus, who in turn had been hit by Reinaldo Molina. Jockey's out of control car surprised Nino Tempestini, who span and was forced to face backwards and wait as the oncoming field flew past him. There was chaos further back on the grid as Győző Szél had a good start but moved over on the Tyrrell of Dale Ballweg who subsequently hit the wall. This collision caused a pileup before the first corner and both Dale Ballweg and Sterling Eldridge-Moffat retired immediately from the race, whilst others continued with damage.

Dingley maintained a two second gap over Van Damme for the early laps of the race until the latter span at Rascasse. Trémaux moved up into 2nd and Molina also overtook the recovering Lotus. Van Damme managed to overtake Molina on the next lap after a move down the inside at Tabac. A lap later, Hugo Gehring retired from the race due to damage picked up on the first lap. Nathan Meiri retired on lap ten due to the gearbox jamming, ending his hopes of a points finish.

The race settled down as Trémaux brought the gap to Dingley down to just a few tenths as they encountered traffic. Dingley was able to quickly get past the lapped Ligier of Jurg Scheller, but when Trémaux attempted to do the same, they collided, sending Trémaux into a spin. Lapped cars were a consistent problem for the race leaders, exacerbated by the tight Monaco circuit. Trémaux dropped even further back from the race leader after hitting the wall at the exit of Portier. With severe damage, the Frenchman was caught by Van Damme on the last lap and lost the position before the superior power of the Ferrari engine allowed Trémaux to re-overtake Van Damme into the chicane.

Dingley went on to take his first race win, followed by Trémaux and Van Damme. Molina finished 4th, taking his first Formula One points, with Spocinklass and Weathers taking 5th and 6th respectively.

## Post-Race

Ferrari fired Nathan Meiri from the team following his retirement from the race. This was their second driver swap in two races and they hired Richard Jockey to replace him, following the recommendation of Trémaux.

## Classification

Fastest lap: Gervais Trémaux (Ferrari) on lap 4 - 1:28.656