1978 Formula 1.5 Season

The 1978 Formula 1.5 season was the 29th running of the Formula 1.5 World Championship. Frenchman Jacques Laffite would claim his first title, scoring 73 points to also net Ligier-Matra the Constructors' Championship as their sole driver. Laffite would be the first and to date only French driver to be crowned two time F1.5 Champion.

  Ligier-Matra

## Entries

22 different teams participated in the 1978 season of Formula 1.5, with 32 different individual entries overall to comprise the field for the world championship.

### Team Changes

* Engaging in the nail-biting title battle throughout the last season, the storied British team of McLaren dropped to Formula 1.5 in an unprecedented regression for the championship contenders. They would hope to save face and regain reputation after this fall from grace.
* Two of 1977's top teams left the grid- defending Constructors' Champions Brabham-Alfa Romeo would be promoted to F1 alongside Team Tyrrell as they graduated to engage in further battles with their bitter rival, who had claimed last year's WCC on a countback.
* Several smaller teams, the majority of whom ran only partial or one-off schedules, left the sport, including Iberia Airlines, RAM Racing, LEC Racing and BRM.
* The brand-new Arrows Racing Team debuted on the Formula 1.5 grid with two full-time entries, having only being founded in November the previous year and appearing on the grid beginning from the Brazilian GP onwards- a space of three months.
* Making starts for Ensign in 1977, Mexican driver Hector Rebaque attempted to run the full season as an owner-driver for Team Rebaque, utilising Lotus chassis.
* Chesterfield Racing became BS Fabrications, retaining Brett Lunger for most of the schedule and opening a second part-time seat for Nelson Piquet.

### Driver Changes

* In their demotion to Formula 1.5, McLaren continued to field James Hunt, with Jochen Mass being dropped in favour of French rookie Patrick Tambay (who made 7 starts for Theodore in 1977). Additionally, a 3rd part-time seat was opened for Bruno Giacomelli.
* ATS would shake up their driver lineup, taking in Jochen Mass for a full-time seat (with Michael Bleekemolen making 3 starts). Jean-Pierre Jarier would be retained for their second car, both him and Keke Rosberg comprising the majority of the races. Hans Binder stayed from last season to make a start, with multiple drivers also running races in the seat.
* New team Arrows would field Riccardo Patrese (who ran the majority of last season's schedule for Shadow) and Rolf Stommelen full-time in two separate cars.
* Hesketh downsized from three entries to just one part-time car, attempting to run the first 6 races of the season with Divina Galica, Derek Daly and Eddie Cheever.
* Williams signed on defending champion Alan Jones, running a full-time schedule with the Australian as their only driver.
* Shadow would revolutionise their driver schedule, taking on single entries in lieu of their revolving-door seat with multiple drivers. Clay Regazzoni and Hans-Joachim Stuck were signed to run the entire season.
* Retaining Vittorio Brambilla in a full-time position for their second car, Team Surtees would alter the lineup for the #18 seat, hiring British driver Rupert Keegan to run the majority of the schedule. Rene Arnoux and Beppe Gabbiani would also make two starts each, and Carlo "Gimax" Franchi ran a race as well.

## Season Calendar

### Calendar Changes

* The Brazilian Grand Prix was moved from Autodromo de Interlagos in São Paulo to Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro for 1978.
* The Spanish Grand Prix was moved from early May to early June.
* The Canadian Grand Prix was moved from Mosport Park to the Île Notre-Dame Circuit because of track safety and organization problems with the hilly and scenic Mosport Park track.
* The Japanese Grand Prix was originally scheduled on 16 April at the Suzuka Circuit, after Fuji's contract was torn up but it was cancelled for unknown reasons.

Due to event sharing arrangements, two Grands Prix swapped circuits for 1978:

* The French Grand Prix was moved from Dijon-Prenois to Paul Ricard Circuit, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits.
* The British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone to Brands Hatch, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits.

## Results & standings

### World Drivers' Championship standings

The points system in the 1978 World Championship awarded points to the top six finishers of each race, being scored 9-6-4-3-2-1 accordingly. Only the best seven results from the first 8 races and the best seven from the remaining 8 races counted towards a drivers' final leaderboard position.

Emboldened scores indicate a pole position; Italicised scores indicate a fastest lap; Scores in brackets indicate a dropped result.

### World Constructors' Championship standings

The points system for the Constructors' Championship operated under the same fashion as the WDC, with the seven top finishes from each 8-race portion of the season being counted. However, constructors could only earn points for their best finish between their drivers, not multiple.