| 1978 Brazilian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 of 16 in the1978 Formula One season | |||
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| Race details | |||
| Date | January 29, 1978 | ||
| Location | Jacarepagua,Brazil | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.031 km (3.126 miles) | ||
| Distance | 63 laps, 316.953 km (196.945 miles) | ||
| Weather | Very hot and humid, 100.4°F (38°C)[1] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Lotus-Ford | ||
| Time | 1:40.45 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Carlos Reutemann | Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:43.07 on lap 35 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Fittipaldi-Ford | ||
| Third | Brabham-Alfa Romeo | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1978 Brazilian Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held on 29 January 1978 atJacarepagua. The race was run at the height of summer in Rio de Janeiro in 100°F temperatures, and it was won by Argentine driverCarlos Reutemann driving aFerrari 312T2 in a flag-to-flag performance. The win also represented the first win for tyre manufacturerMichelin. Local driverEmerson Fittipaldi was second, scoring the first podium finish for theFittipaldi team with Austrian Brabham driverNiki Lauda finishing third. French driverDidier Pironi took his first points in Formula One, finishing sixth, whileArrows made its F1 debut withRiccardo Patrese finishing tenth, four laps down.
*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
The first Formula One race held atJacarepagua was held in typicallyextreme weather conditions of January in Rio, meaning the race was held in both hot and humid conditions.Ronnie Peterson took the pole position in the leadingLotus ahead ofJames Hunt in the leadingMcLaren, teammateMario Andretti in the otherLotus,Carlos Reutemann in the leadingFerrari,Patrick Tambay in the second McLaren andGilles Villeneuve in the other Ferrari.
Peterson got off to a poor start from the pole and dropped back to 4th, whilst into the first corner it was Reutemann from 4th on the grid who got the best start and lead the first lap for Ferrari ahead of Hunt, Andretti, Peterson, Tambay and Villeneuve. Hunt in the leading McLaren and Andretti in the leading Lotus were running 2nd and 3rd behind Reutemann, until Hunt was forced to pit for tyres whilst Andretti soon started to suffer from gearbox problems and dropped to 4th, handing their 2nd and 3rd places over to home favouriteEmerson Fittipaldi and reigning world-championNiki Lauda respectively. Peterson eventually retired after a collision by lap 16. The hot and humid conditions had eventually caused Hunt, Tambay and Villeneuve in the other Ferrari to all spin off and crash by lap 36. Reutemann meanwhile had no challengers for the lead all race long, and won by a comfortable margin ahead of former double world-champion Fittipaldi, Lauda, Andretti in the remaining Lotus,Clay Regazzoni in theShadow andDidier Pironi in theTyrrell.
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