1978 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: Brazilian Grand Prix
Track: Autodromo Interlagos

Weather: 35-40°C, dry, humid

Carlos Reutemann won his 6th F1 World Championship race at the 1978 Brazilian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver started from 4th on the grid and won on the Jacarepagua circuit for the 1st time. It was also his 1st win of the season and the 69th win for the Ferrari F1 team.

The first radial-tyre win, and Emmo’s Copersucar podium

The 1978 Brazilian Grand Prix moved from Interlagos to a flat new circuit on a Rio swamp at Jacarepagua. The defining story was on the tyres: Michelin had brought soft S9 radials for Ferrari that gave Reutemann a two-second-per-lap qualifying advantage in warm-up and a runaway race. He led every meaningful lap and won by 58 seconds. It was the first F1 victory for a radial tyre.

The race

Ronnie Peterson took pole and led the first half-lap, but Reutemann outdragged him into Curva Sul. Hunt and Andretti both jumped Peterson early; Andretti passed Hunt on lap 5 at Sul; Villeneuve and Fittipaldi each picked off Hunt in turn at Lagoa on lap 9, and Hunt pitted for fresh tyres. The Villeneuve-Peterson contact at Sul on lap 14 ended Ronnie’s race; Scheckter’s Wolf was eliminated by a Tambay-Scheckter coming-together at Girao.

Emerson Fittipaldi gave the Copersucar F5 its only F1 podium in front of an ecstatic Rio crowd, second after his teammate Andretti was reduced to fourth gear only with six laps to go. Lauda third for Brabham; Andretti fourth; Regazzoni fifth for Shadow; Pironi sixth on his second F1 start. Reutemann 15, Andretti 12, Lauda 10, the championship had three contenders after two races.

Classification 1978 Brazilian F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Team	Time	Laps	Grid	Pts
1	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1:49:59.860	63	4	9
2	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi	1:50:48.990	63	7	6
3	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham	1:50:56.880	63	10	4
4	5	Mario Andretti	Team Lotus	1:51:32.980	63	3	3
5	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow	+1 lap	62	15	2
6	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell	+1 lap	62	19	1
7	9	Jochen Mass	ATS	+1 lap	62	20	0
8	2	John Watson	Brabham	+2 laps	61	21	0
9	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	+2 laps	61	14	0
10	36	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	+4 laps	59	18	0
11	27	Alan Jones	Williams	+5 laps	58	8	0
DNF	25	Hector Rebaque	Team Lotus	Physical	40	22	0
DNF	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	Spun Off	35	6	0
DNF	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren	Spun Off	34	5	0
DNF	7	James Hunt	McLaren	Spun Off	25	2	0
DNF	16	Hans Joachim Stuck	Shadow	Fuel System	25	9	0
DNF	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf	Accident	16	12	0
DNF	6	Ronnie Peterson	Team Lotus	Collision	15	1	0
DNF	22	Danny Ongais	Ensign	Brakes	13	23	0
DNF	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren	Overheating	11	13	0
DNF	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell	Accident	8	11	0
DNF	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees	Accident	5	24	0
DNF	23	Lamberto Leoni	Ensign	Transmission	0	17	0
DNS	10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS	Mass Drove Car	0	16	0
DNQ	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario	No Time	0		0
DNQ	32	Eddie Cheever	Theodore	No Time	0		0
DNQ	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees	No Time	0		0
DNQ	24	Divina Galica	Hesketh	No Time	0		0

Fastest lap: 1:43.070 min by Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari 312T2) in lap 35

✅ Check out 1978 F1 Championship Standings
✅ Check out 1978 F1 Teams & Drivers

✅ Check out All Time F1 Drivers Rankings
✅ Check out All Time F1 Driver Records
✅ Check out All Time F1 Teams Rankings

About the author

Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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