1978 British Grand Prix

The **1978 British Grand Prix** was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 16th July 1978. It was the seventh race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

## Background

Entering the second half of the season, Stefan Van Damme had a three point lead over Gervais Trémaux, with Chuck Dingley in third. Dingley returned to race after missing the French Grand Prix for unknown reasons.

Gyozo Szel decided to take part in the race, despite still recovering from crash injuries sustained in the San Marino Grand Prix. João Coutinho also returned to the grid with McLaren after missing several races.

## Qualifying

Van Damme and Trémaux were uncharacteristically off-pace during practice and qualifying, with Van Damme having trouble finding a good car balance. Instead, Richard Jockey and Chuck Dingley set the pace, with Dingley just edging out the Ferrari driver to take pole by eight thousandths. Trémaux and Van Damme started on the second row, with Spocinklass and the Renault of Eldridge-Moffat on the third row.

## Race Summary

After a small pileup on the first race start, many drivers jumped into their spare cars and the race was restarted.

Dingley fended off Jockey at the race start, with Trémaux and Van Damme dropping back slightly due to their decision to start on hard tyres.

On lap 3 Dingley made a mistake and ran wide at Dingle Dell which gifted the lead to Jockey. Dingley recovered to the track in 4th, but soon found himself in 2nd again after Van Damme and Trémaux decided to put up no resistance to the faster Tyrrell driver. Van Damme and Trémaux were equally matched in pace and the Belgian driver was unable to get close enough to set up a pass on Trémaux.

On lap 7, Trémaux was coming up to lap the Arrows of Tobias Muller, who was participating in his first Grand Prix, when Trémaux ran into the back of him. Muller had underestimated the closing speed of the Ferrari behind him and had unexpectedly darted to the right side of the track, catching Trémaux out in the process. Trémaux was visibly angered by the incident, with the crash being a major blow to his championship fight with Van Damme and Dingley. Although the rear of his car had sustained heavy damage in the incident, Muller attempted to return to the race but caused yet another crash; this time with his teammate Vadim Pshenichnikov. Pshenichnikov survived the head-on impact with the stationary car of Muller but broke a leg in the crash.

Richard Jockey continued to lead the race and was pushing hard to extend a gap to Dingley. The Ferrari driver had ran wide at the final corner of lap 7 but maintained the lead. He made the same mistake three laps later. With Dingley just a second behind him, Jockey span back onto the racing line into the path of Dingley's Tyrrell. Dingley was able to slow his car but the crash was unavoidable and Jockey was forced to retire immediately. Dingley picked up front wing damage and pitted a lap later. Jockey had broken his wrist in the accident, whilst Dingley broke a rib but was able to continue racing despite the pain. The incident allowed Van Damme to inherit the lead which he would keep until the end of the race.

Upon exiting the pits, Dingley broke multiple lap records before catching up to Lotus' Jeremy Spocinklass. Spocinklass aggressively defended his position, blocking Dingley multiple times, before the pair crashed at the final corner. Both drivers returned to the race but the incident effectively stopped Dingley's chances of finishing higher than 3rd.

Van Damme went on to win, going without a pitstop on the hard tyres. Despite starting on softs and suffering high tyre wear, Nino Tempestini finished 2nd, his second podium finish of the season. After an incident filled race, Dingley finished 3rd. Spocinklass was due to finish 4th until his gearbox jammed on the final lap of the race which dropped him down the order. After tangling with Stanley Robson at the final corner, Strip Weathers finished 4th. Scott Amor picked up Wolf's first points since the 1978 United States Grand Prix West by finishing 5th, with Robson finishing 6th.

## Post-Race

Gervais Trémaux was extremely unhappy with the number of incidents and crashes in the race and immediately organised a meeting with the FIA President Prince Metternich to voice his concerns about racing at Brands Hatch. There are rumours that Brands Hatch will lose its place on the Formula One calendar, with Silverstone, Donington, and Snetterton in talks to hold the British Grand Prix.

Following the race, the FIA announced plans to implement a 107% rule for new drivers in order to improve the quality of the field and reduce the number of incidents. This rule will come into place at the 1978 German Grand Prix.

## Classification

Fastest lap: Chuck Dingley (Tyrrell) on lap 16 - 1:14.041

## Lap Leaders

Richard Jockey (Laps 3-10

Chuck Dingley (Laps 1-2, 11)

Stefan Van Damme (Laps 12-24)