1978 Canadian Grand Prix

The **1978 Canadian Grand Prix** was a Formula One motor race held at Mosport on 8th October 1978. It was the twelfth and final race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

## Background

Following an absence since Hockenheim, Vadim Pshenichnikov returned to the grid and his Arrows seat. When asked where he had been, the Soviet driver had no comment.

For unknown reasons, Joao Coutinho was absent, leaving Max Westland as the only McLaren to contest the final race of the season.

Ferrari was not present this weekend as they had decided to boycott the event. Tensions had been building between the Maranello team and F1 leadership throughout the season and they withdrew their entries to the race to prove a point.

## Qualifying

Chuck Dingley entered qualifying as the favourite after leading the Friday practice session, and took pole by almost 4 tenths of a second over Vivaldo Margheriti. Van Damme qualified 3rd, followed closely by teammate Spocinklass.

The talk of the paddock though was focussed on Skylar West, who managed to qualify 5th in his Wolf. This came as a surprise as the Wolf car had less downforce than other teams. This made the car suited to tracks which it had already performed well at such as Kyalami, Hockenheim, and Austria, and should have made it struggle at downforce tracks such as Mosport.

## Race Summary

Strategy was split among the grid heading into the race due to the high degradation of Mosport's high speed corners. Many of the top 10 opted to start on the hard compound tyres with a plan to run the whole race on them. Chuck Dingley, William W-S, and Skylar West were the only top 10 starters to opt for the softs, planning a pit stop for fresh tyres around halfway.

Dingley maintained the lead at the start due to the extra grip of his soft tyres, immediately building a gap to the hard clad Williams of Vivaldo Margheriti. The majority of the field got away cleanly except for the Shadow of Jermaine Ashwood, who span in the high speed Clayton corner due to his cold tyres. Later in the lap, the Brabham of Nino Tempestini lost control of his Brabham in turn 4, crashing at high speed into the tyre barriers and ending his race. Luckily, the Italian was able to walk away uninjured, but this would end his promising rookie campaign on a sour note.

Drivers struggled with their tyres overheating as the race went on due to the high speed nature of the Mosport circuit, with Skylar West and William W-S having separate incidents. West would be able to temporarily continue on, albeit down in 11th position, while William W-S crashed into the barriers, ending his race.

On lap 7, Jermaine Ashwood outbraked himself attempting to overtake the McLaren of Max Westland into the Moss hairpin. The nose of Ashwood's Shadow wedged itself under the rear end of the McLaren, lifting the car off the ground and causing the rear wing to strike Ashwood in the head, killing him instantly. Westland tried to return to the pits in his severely damaged McLaren but suffered a suspension failure whilst travelling down the main straight. This resulted in a high speed accident that the Ligier of Richard Harford could not avoid. Harford drove into the sidepod of the severely damaged McLaren that had ricocheted off of the barrier, ending his race and putting Westland into a coma.

At the halfway point of the race, Dingley pitted from the lead for a fresh pair of softs, merging directly behind 3rd place runner Spocinklass' hard clad Lotus. Dingley made quick work of the Lotus driver, passing him on the same lap. The Tyrrell driver quickly started closing the gap to Vivaldo and Van Damme ahead. By the end of lap 15, Dingley was visible in Van Damme's mirrors, and with the hard tyres overheating and losing grip, the 4 time champion decided that he would be unable to hold off the Tyrrell, and pitted for softs in a bid to overtake Vivaldo's Williams, who he had been stuck behind the whole race. Vivaldo responded the next lap, barely maintaining position over the Lotus thanks to an excellent stop from the Williams mechanics.

On lap 24, Reinaldo Molina came together with Scott Amor while battling for the final points position. The two met at the apex of Turn 8, with both cars flying into the tyre barriers. Amor's front end was sandwiched between the tyre barrier and the front end of Molina's Arrows, breaking Amor's left ankle. Molina suffered a concussion, but otherwise came away unscathed.

Dingley went on to win his 7th race of 1978 by over 15 seconds, with Vivaldo able to hold off Van Damme's Lotus for 2nd. Spocinklass came home in 4th behind his teammate, with the Williams of Robson and the Ligier of Jurg Scheller rounding out the points paying positions. Dingley's win secured the Constructors title for Tyrrell, the first in the team's history.

## Post-Race

The mood in the paddock was somber following the news of Jermaine Ashwood's passing, along with the announcement that Westland had been transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Drivers pushed back against ground effect, saying that the increase in speed and the lack of safety improvements needed to change, as the number of high speed crashes resulting in deaths was too high.

### **Mosport's Future at Risk**

Doubt was cast that Formula One would return to the Mosport circuit in 1979 because of the amount of high speed crashes in 1978, FIA officials and drivers alike cited that the circuit was getting too fast for the ground effect cars. Eventually it was decided that Formula One would head to the Île Notre-Dame Circuit in Montreal from 1979 onwards.

## Classification

Fastest lap: Chuck Dingley (Tyrrell) on lap 14 - 01:07.943

## Lap Leaders

Chuck Dingley (Laps 1-12, 16-26)

Vivaldo Margheriti (Laps 13-15)