1978 Formula One Season

The **1978 Formula One season** was the 29th season of Formula One motor racing. The Championship was contested concurrently over a twelve race series that commenced on 15th January and ended on 8th October.

Stefan Van Damme and Lotus were the reigning Drivers' and Constructors' champions respectively, with Van Damme looking to win a record-breaking fifth championship.

Ultimately, Chuck Dingley won the Drivers' championship and Tyrrell took the Constructors' championship.

## Season Report

### **Round 1: Argentina**

Stefan Van Damme took the first pole position of the season, setting a lap that was 1.5 seconds faster than William Worchestershire-Smythe. The start of the race was initially clean until Maria Parker lost control of her Ferrari car and shunted into the barriers at high speed at turn three. The crash destroyed her car and Parker lay motionless. She was pronounced dead by the time that help could reach her.

There were several other spins at turn three that lap but ultimately every car managed to continue the race. Many drivers and teams had struggled in setting up their cars and adjusting to running with ground effect, especially with the low downforce nature of the Buenos Aires circuit.

William W-S found his way into 2nd after an average start and started to pull away from Spocinklass and Tempestini due to starting on the soft tyres. However, he couldn't catch Van Damme, who appeared untouchable during the race. Spocinklass and Tempestini soon engaged in a hard battle for the final podium position, with Spocinklass eventually emerging ahead after Tempestini made a mistake. Van Damme won, over twenty seconds ahead of W-S, with Spocinklass in 3rd. Tributes were paid to Maria Parker following her fatal crash, and the mood in the paddock was sombre, following the race.

### **Round 2: South Africa**

The Formula One grid travelled to Kyalami for the second round of the season, with Stefan Van Damme taking another pole position in qualifying. Chuck Dingley and Gervais Trémaux, reserve drivers who paid for their seats, lined up 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Van Damme bogged down at the start and it looked as though Trémaux would take the lead, but Van Damme's low-drag setup allowed him to stay ahead. A collision between Erik Vik and Jeremy Spocinklass sent the latter into the gravel at turn one and Spocinklass would go on to finish eleventh. Dingley and Trémaux had contact on the straight at the start of lap two, before colliding again at the entrance to turn two. Both returned to the race at the back of the pack. Tempestini inherited 2nd and kept this position for the rest of the race. Trémaux managed to maintain solid race pace despite a damaged car and swept through the pack, eventually lunging past Stanley Robson to take 3rd on the last lap. Van Damme took another dominant win, solidifying his lead at the top of the championship.

A collision between Spocinklass and Dale Ballweg on lap seven resulted in Ballweg's car careering off the circuit and down an embankment, eventually hitting spectators. By the time that help arrived, ten spectators had lost their lives, with many more injured. Ballweg was unhurt in the crash.

### **Round 3: United States West**

Just under a month after the South African Grand Prix, the field travelled to race at the challenging Long Beach Circuit in Los Angeles. With financial problems hindering the start of their season, Shadow Racing finally returned to the grid. They hired Gervais Trémaux and Richard Jockey as their new drivers.

Trémaux shocked the paddock by taking a surprise pole position on Saturday, with Stefan Van Damme and Chuck Dingley lining up behind. Van Damme attempted to storm into the lead at the race start, but Trémaux managed to maintain his position. Trémaux's teammate Richard Jockey tried to move past Chuck Dingley to take 3rd but locked up on cold tyres and went straight on down an escape road. The order at the front stayed the same for several laps, with Van Damme closely following Trémaux. On lap four, Van Damme grazed the wall at the exit of the hairpin. The barrier's poor construction damaged the Belgian driver's suspension and after pitting for repairs, he eventually emerged in tenth and would go on to finish 5th.

Trémaux led almost the entire race, apart from an incident on lap seven in which he collided with backmarkers. Dingley briefly inherited the lead before an aggressive pass from Trémaux resulted in Dingley spinning and dropping into 2nd. Both Trémaux and Dingley sustained damage in this incident. Trémaux would go on to take a maiden Formula One victory, followed by Lotus' Jeremy Spocinklass. Spocinklass overtook Dingley in the final few laps after Dingley had sustained heavy damage in a collision.

Ferrari's poor results and lack of points resulted in the immediate firing of Hugo Gehring who had only participated in two races with the Italian team. Gehring had criticised the car and was replaced by the race winner Gervais Trémaux.

### **Round 4: Monaco**

Chuck Dingley started from pole, ahead of Stefan Van Damme and Gervais Trémaux. After a pileup on the first race start, the grid was reformed and the second race start got underway. Dingley had a good start and the race leaders maintained their positions through turn one. Further behind, there was chaos as Győző Szél moved across on Dale Ballweg's Tyrrell, forcing him into the pitwall. The collision caused a pileup before the first corner and more than half the grid was involved in the incident. Ballweg retired from the race and Sterling Eldridge-Moffat also withdrew.

Van Damme was keeping up with Dingley when he span at Rascasse, which allowed Trémaux through into 2nd. Reinaldo Molina also overtook Van Damme but the Belgian driver managed to find a way back past with an aggressive move at Tabac. Dingley then came under pressure from Trémaux as they encountered lapped traffic. Dingley was able to pass the lapped cars easily, but Trémaux was tapped by the Ligier of Jurg Scheller at the second swimming pool chicane, which sent the Ferrari driver into a spin.

With several laps to go, Trémaux hit the wall at Portier which severely damaged the car's suspension. His lap times dropped and Van Damme caught up on the last lap, passing him as they travelled through the tunnel. Trémaux then powered past Van Damme, outbraking him into the chicane despite bent steering. Dingley won the race by over 17 seconds, followed by Trémaux and Van Damme. Molina scored his first points after buying a seat at Arrows and Jeremy Spocinklass recovered from a first lap incident to take 5th. Strip Weathers took the final points position.

### **Round 5: San Marino**

Three weeks after taking his first win at the Monaco Grand Prix, Chuck Dingley started from pole position. He led the race on the long run into Tosa and was threatened by Stefan Van Damme as the Belgian driver attempted to overtake around the outside of the hairpin. Dingley and Van Damme were still alongside as they entered Piratella, before contact between them allowed Dingley to regain the lead. As Van Damme regained control of his car, new Ferrari driver Richard Jockey slowed and was then hit at high speed from behind by Reinaldo Molina. The punt sent Jockey into the barriers, ending Jockey's race prematurely. Molina's actions would result in his disqualification following the race. Jockey's teammate, Gervais Trémaux, gained two positions due to the incident but was unable to gain on Dingley and Van Damme due to running higher downforce.

Further back, there was chaos as the rookie Mark Williams and McLaren driver Max Westland came together at the entry to Tosa, sending both into the wall. Williams span violently and sustained a broke femur in the crash but was able to miraculously continue further into the race before eventually retiring on lap ten.

On lap eight, Hugo Gehring flew off the track at Tamburello due to a damaged front wing. He hit the unprotected concrete wall at 230kph before rebounding across the track into the path of Győző Szél, who could not avoid hitting his car. Gehring's car was almost destroyed, having sustained two massive impacts, and Gehring passed away immediately due to the crash. Szél suffered a broken leg in the incident.

Dingley maintained a small lead over Van Damme for the remainder of the race and went on to win his second race in a row, with Trémaux further back in 3rd. Jeremy Spocinklass recovered from a first lap incident to finish 4th, benefiting from the disqualification of Reinaldo Molina, with Robson and Pshenichnikov 5th and 6th respectively.

### **Round 6: France**

Stefan Van Damme started from pole for the first time since the South African Grand Prix, with Trémaux starting second and his other championship rival Chuck Dingley being absent. Ferrari's Richard Jockey immediately jumped into the lead at the race start, with Trémaux and Van Damme colliding at the first corner, giving both cars damage and sending Trémaux spinning. Van Damme had another incident half a lap later with Shadow's Nathan Meiri which resulted in him spinning.

Jockey pulled out a sizeable race lead and only lost it when he pitted for fresh soft tyres on lap 14. He first overtook Jeremy Spocinklass for 3rd, before dispatching Strip Weathers for 2nd. On lap 20 he passed his teammate on the main straight despite being told to hold position by the team. In the closing laps, he resisted multiple attempts by the team to get him to hand the race lead to Trémaux. He went on to take his first race win, just under five seconds ahead of his teammate, with Van Damme finishing 3rd. Spocinklass was due to finish 4th but span at the final corner of the final lap due to a tyre failure, gifting the position to Strip Weathers.

### **Round 7: Britain**

The field headed to Brands Hatch for the British Grand Prix, and Chuck Dingley took pole by just 8 thousandths from Richard Jockey, with Gervais Trémaux 3rd and Stefan Van Damme 4th. Dingley led the race for the first few laps before making a mistake, gifting the lead to Jockey. Trémaux held off Van Damme before being taken out of the race by a backmarker, ending his race immediately.

Jockey continued to lead until lap 10 when he span at the final corner and crashed with Dingley who was unable to avoid him. The crash caused Jockey to suffer a broken wrist, whilst Dingley broke a rib but continued the race. Van Damme inherited the lead and went on to win, with Nino Tempestini finishing 2nd. Dingley finished 3rd after a brief but aggressive battle with the Lotus of Spocinklass.

### **Round 8: Germany**

Hockenheim was the next race on the calendar and the rookie Vivaldo Margheriti surprised everyone in the paddock by taking pole position from Chuck Dingley and Gervais Trémaux. Margheriti's brother Fabiano was also making his debut in the same weekend, driving for Renault. Vivaldo led in the first corner after a good start, but went too wide on an exit kerb and span, hitting the inside wall lightly and dropping him to the back of the field. Trémaux inherited the lead after passing Dingley but span at the first chicane and shunted into the wall, ending his race.

Lotus' Jeremy Spocinklass came to blows with Arrows' Reinaldo Molina at the second chicane, with Molina driving into the back of the Lotus and spinning, whilst Spocinklass lost several positions. He recovered to 6th by before making his way past Ferrari's Richard Jockey and up to the back of William Worchestershire-Smythe. Heading into the Ost-kurve, Spocinklass and W-S came together, with the former spinning at high speed into the barriers. Although shaken up, Spocinklass was unhurt.

After taking the lead from Trémaux, Chuck Dingley pulled out a gap to Stefan Van Damme, who was starting on the hard tyres. Dingley's tyres started to fade in the closing stages of the race and Van Damme closed the gap to just two seconds. Dingley just held him off and went on to take his 3rd win of the season.

### **Round 9: Austria**

The field went to the high-speed Österreichring in Austria, and Chuck Dingley took pole position ahead of Stefan Van Damme and Fabiano Margheriti. Championship contender Gervais Trémaux was forced to start from the back of the grid due to mechanical issues in qualifying.

At the race start, Van Damme outbraked Dingley into the first corner and built a small gap due to starting on the soft tyres whilst Dingley was on the hard tyres. There was a collision between Joao Coutinho and Richard Harford after Coutinho lost control of his McLaren on the exit of the chicane. Both drivers escaped the incident without injury. Lotus' Jeremy Spocinklass was engaged in a fierce battle with Ferrari's Richard Jockey until Jockey grazed a wall and was forced to retire with a broken gearbox.

Van Damme pitted to fit new soft tyres on and emerged in 5th behind Vivaldo Margheriti but made a mistake the next lap and hit the wall, forcing him to pit again for repairs. The two Renaults of Weathers and Eldridge-Moffat were closely matched until Weathers made a mistake and hit his teammate, causing Eldridge-Moffat to retire. Weathers himself would retire on the same lap due to crashing at the last corner.

With only a few laps until the end of the race, the recovering Van Damme was forced to settle for just 8th, his lowest finish of the season. Dingley went on to win, with the Margheriti brothers finishing 2nd and 3rd. Stanley Robson finished 4th, with Trémaux finishing 5th despite starting at the back. Spocinklass finished 6th.

### **Round 10: Italy**

One month after the hectic Austrian Grand Prix, where Stefan Van Damme once again took pole position ahead of Chuck Dingley and the Italian Vivaldo Margheriti.

Polesitter Van Damme had a horrible start, allowing championship contender Dingley and the older of the Margheriti brothers to pass before the first corner. The second Lotus of Spocinklass went wide after the first chicane after a small tap from William W-S, causing him to lose fourth and fifth position, and then lost another three positions after the second chicane, as the American had to cut the second chicane. Once they arrived to the third chicane after Curva Grande, the Lotus driver out-braked himself and again had to cut the chicane, causing him to fall even further back, only to have a moment of snap-oversteer at Ascari and end his race. At the end of the first lap, Dingley was leading the pack with Vivaldo Margheriti in second, and championship leader Van Damme in third.

On the start of the third lap, Van Damme managed to pass the Italian Williams driver to take second place, and started his hunt for the leader Dingley. Fabiano Margheriti was working his way through the field and had managed to pass both of the Brabham drivers by lap 6 after starting 14th, however due to a small incident at Ascari between him and William W-S, he was forced to pit for repairs as his front wing had been destroyed.

As Dingley and Van Damme started the penultimate lap of the race, the Lotus driver made a critical mistake as he went over the inside kerbs at the exit of the second chicane, causing the car to become unstable and sending the four-time World Champion into the wall, which destroyed the suspension and forced him to retire from the race. Together with Spocinklass' early mistake as well, the Italian Grand Prix became the first non-points scoring race for the Lotus outfit in over a year.

Dingley finished the race in first and overtook Van Damme for the championship lead, as the Italian Margheriti brothers completed the podium at their home race, with fellow Italian Tempestini also finishing in the points in fifth.

### **Round 11: United States East**

After claiming the championship lead at Monza, Chuck Dingley took pole position in his home race, followed by Stefan Van Damme and Vivaldo Margheriti.

Most of the grid started on the hard tyre due to high degradation, particularly through the high speed turn 5. However, McLaren drivers João Coutinho and Max Westland risked starting on the soft tyre in a bid to score McLaren's first points of the season.

The top 3 started well, with Dingley leading through the first corner. Battling for 4th, Fabiano Margheriti came together with the Lotus of Spocinklass, the Ferrari taking damage to its right skirt and dropping to last. Dingley's lead was short lived, as both Vivaldo Margheriti and Van Damme slipstreamed past the American on the back straight. The top 3 continued to swap positions for the first 4 laps of the race, until Dingley passed Vivaldo and opened a gap. On lap 11, Vivaldo and Van Damme came together through The Loop, which sent the Belgian spinning into the outside wall. Van Damme was able to limp back to the pits, but dropped to 13th position.

Further back, Stanley Robson and Michael Géni were in a fierce battle for the 4th position until the end of the 14th lap, when Géni spun in the penultimate corner, crashing into the armco and grinding into a tyre barrier, ending his race. Géni luckily walked away from the crash unhurt. Robson's respite would be short, as a few laps later he once again came under pressure, this time by the McLaren of Coutinho. On lap 22, the McLaren driver finally found a way around Robson, but by lap 23 his soft tyres had fallen off the cliff and he spun off in the same corner as Géni, ending McLaren's hopes of scoring points at Watkins Glen. This would promote the Ligier of Jurg Scheller to 5th position after an early spin.

The running order would remain mostly the same after Coutinho's accident, with Dingley and the elder Margheriti trading fastest laps. With the Tyrrell struggling with tyre wear, Margheriti closed to within 3 seconds by the checkered flag, Dingley's gap proving wide enough to hold on to the lead. Spocinklass rounded out the podium after a lonely race, with Robson holding on to 4th. Scheller finished 5th, and Fabiano Margheriti's damaged Ferrari barely held off a hard charging Van Damme for 6th position.

### **Round 12: Canada**

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.

## Results and Standings

### **Grands Prix**

\*The first round of the championship was due to be held at Jacarepagua in Brazil, but a lack of funding resulted in its cancellation.

### **1978 Constructors' Championship - Final Standings**

   **Bold:** Pole position.

*Italics:* Fastest lap.

Points were awarded to the top six finishers: **9-6-4-3-2-1.**

The best five results from the first six races and the best five results from the remaining six races were retained. Only the best placed car from each manufacturer was eligible to score points in the Constructors' Championship