1978 United States Grand Prix

Ronnie Peterson had been killed following a multiple car pile-up at the Italian Grand Prix. Following the race, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) had a meeting centering on Riccardo Patrese, who the GPDA blamed for the crash. The GPDA filed an injunction to bar Patrese from participating in the 1978 United States Grand Prix weekend, which was allowed. Patrese, who believed that he was not to blame for the fatal accident at Monza, was furious at this action taken, and he tried unsuccessfully to stop the race from taking place.

Replacing the late Peterson for this race and the next one in Canada was Jean-Pierre Jarier.

Friday was warm and sunny, and Andretti set a new track record of 1:39.82. He later lowered that to 1:38.92, ahead of the Ferraris of Reutemann and Canadian rookie Gilles Villeneuve, then the two Brabhams of Niki Lauda and John Watson. American Brett Lunger, about to drive in his last Formula One race, was at the wheel of an Ensign for the first time, after his McLaren was damaged in the opening lap crash at Monza that claimed the life of Peterson. Bobby Rahal had been enlisted from Formula Atlantic to partner Jody Scheckter, as Canadian Walter Wolf was running two cars for the first time.

Starting carefully in his first F1 drive, Rahal took more than a second off his lap time in the Friday afternoon session, then another half-second on Saturday and qualified 20th. High winds on Saturday meant that only eight drivers improved their times, with Alan Jones jumping up to third spot on his last lap. Despite the wind, Andretti improved his pace-setting time to 1:38.114, more than a second ahead of Reutemann.

After Friday's qualifying, Andretti had been so pleased with his car that he said, "We don't know any more that we can do. She is so right. What can I say?"^{[citation needed]} Race organizers feared that an Andretti win would trigger pandemonium in the massive crowd, and they had Mario and his wife, Dee Ann, pose for photos on the podium with the winner's trophy before the race.^{[citation needed]}

 

Sunday produced threatening skies, but no rain. On the last lap of the morning warm-up, the rear stub axle on Andretti's Lotus broke in the left-hander entering The Anvil (nicknamed "Ickx's Corner" after a crash the Belgian had there in 1976). The car spun several times and then hit the barrier, knocking off a rear wheel. Faulty material in the part was blamed, and, with no time to test the spare car, Andretti used his teammate Jean-Pierre Jarier's car for the race.

At the start, Andretti took the lead, while Emerson Fittipaldi and Héctor Rebaque (in 13th and 23rd places) both immediately burned out their clutches. Rebaque's race was over, but Fittipaldi managed to get his car in gear, nursed it around for a lap while it cooled off, and then drove through the field to finish fifth.

After one lap, Andretti had a four car-length lead over Reutemann and Villeneuve. They were followed by Jones, Lauda, Jarier, Hunt, Watson and Scheckter. Knowing the car had a brake problem, Andretti was hoping he could cope with it, as he had at Monza. Immediately, his lead began to disintegrate. On lap three, Reutemann went by, and on lap four, Villeneuve. As the Ferraris pulled away, Jarier came in on lap 11 from 11th place to change a deflating front tire. After going back out, the car was still bottoming, but once his fuel load lightened, he set the race's fastest lap, which would have qualified him third.

Nearing the halfway point, the Ferraris were running first and second. Then, on lap 23, Villeneuve's engine blew a piston, and Jones, who had overtaken Andretti two laps earlier, inherited second, 35 seconds behind Reutemann. On lap 25, Lauda passed Andretti for third, and three laps later, Andretti's engine blew. Scheckter and Jean-Pierre Jabouille's Renault were battling for fourth, which became third when Lauda also blew up just a lap after Andretti. Jarier was immediately behind them and closing rapidly.

When Jabouille ran into brake trouble, he was caught by both Scheckter and Jarier. Jarier went by both of them to take third, while Scheckter also passed Jabouille to regain fourth. Jarier's race ended with three and a half laps to go when he ran out of fuel, giving Scheckter the final podium position. Reutemann came home almost twenty seconds ahead of Jones to take the eighth Grand Prix win of his career, the third in the US. Jabouille's fourth place scored the first points for Renault and the first for a turbocharged engine; within a few years, turbocharged engines dominated Formula One.

Pos.	Driver	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	Mario Andretti	Lotus–Ford	1:38.114
2	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	+1.065
3	Alan Jones	Williams–Ford	+1.628
4	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	+1.706
5	Niki Lauda	Brabham–Alfa Romeo	+1.868
6	James Hunt	McLaren–Ford	+1.877
7	John Watson	Brabham–Alfa Romeo	+1.886
8	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Lotus–Ford	+1.920
9	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	+2.022
10	Jacques Laffite	Ligier–Matra	+2.114
11	Jody Scheckter	Wolf–Ford	+2.648
12	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell–Ford	+2.714
13	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi–Ford	+2.893
14	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow–Ford	+3.567
15	Keke Rosberg	ATS–Ford	+3.659
16	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell–Ford	+3.701
17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow–Ford	+3.741
18	Patrick Tambay	McLaren–Ford	+3.860
19	Derek Daly	Ensign–Ford	+4.065
20	Bobby Rahal	Wolf–Ford	+4.315
21	René Arnoux	Surtees–Ford	+4.427
22	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows–Ford	+4.627
23	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus–Ford	+4.914
24	Brett Lunger	Ensign–Ford	+4.953
25	Michael Bleekemolen	ATS–Ford	+5.458
26	Arturo Merzario	Merzario–Ford	+6.172
27	Beppe Gabbiani	Surtees–Ford	+7.041
Source:[2]

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	M	59	1:40:48.800	2	9
2	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	G	59	+19.739 secs	3	6
3	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	G	59	+45.701 secs	11	4
4	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	M	59	+1:25.007	9	3
5	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	59	+1:28.089	13	2
6	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	G	59	+1:50.210	18	1
7	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	G	58	+1 Lap	6
8	22	Derek Daly	Ensign-Ford	G	58	+1 Lap	19
9	18	René Arnoux	Surtees-Ford	G	58	+1 Lap	21
10	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	G	58	+1 Lap	16
11	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	G	58	+1 Lap	10
12	21	Bobby Rahal	Wolf-Ford	G	58	+1 Lap	20
13	23	Brett Lunger	Ensign-Ford	G	58	+1 Lap	24
14	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	G	56	+3 Laps	17
15	55	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Lotus-Ford	G	55	Out of Fuel	8
16	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	G	54	+5 Laps	22
Ret	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	G	46	Gearbox	26
Ret	9	Michael Bleekemolen	ATS-Ford	G	43	Oil Leak	25
Ret	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	28	Engine	5
Ret	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	27	Engine	1
Ret	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	25	Engine	7
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	G	23	Wheel	12
Ret	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	M	22	Engine	4
Ret	10	Keke Rosberg	ATS-Ford	G	21	Transmission	15
Ret	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	G	1	Fuel System	14
Ret	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	G	0	Clutch	23
DNQ	19	Beppe Gabbiani	Surtees-Ford	G
Source:[3][4]

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Italian driver Beppe Gabbiani and American driver Bobby Rahal.
• This was the 1st podium finish for Williams.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1   Mario Andretti 64 2   Ronnie Peterson 51 3   Carlos Reutemann 44 4   Niki Lauda 44 5   Patrick Depailler 32 Source:[5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1   Lotus-Ford 86 2   Brabham-Alfa Romeo 53 3   Ferrari 49 4   Tyrrell-Ford 36 5   Ligier-Matra 19 Source:[5]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• Rob Walker (January, 1979). "19th United States Grand Prix: Mario Unlucky, Carlos Superb". Road & Track, 100-103.