1978 Swedish Grand Prix

1978 Swedish Grand Prix
Race 8 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details
Date	17 June 1978
Official name	IX Swedish Grand Prix
Location	Scandinavian Raceway, Anderstorp, Sweden
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.031[1] km (2.505 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 282.170 km (175.332 mi)
Weather	Sunny and warm
Pole position
Driver	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:22.058
Fastest lap
Driver	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Time	1:24.836 on lap 5[1]
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Second	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford
Third	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
show Lap leaders

The Brabham BT46B "fan car" at the 2001 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The 1978 Swedish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 June 1978 at the Scandinavian Raceway. It was the eighth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors, and the last Formula One Swedish Grand Prix to date.

The 70-lap race was the only race to feature the Brabham BT46B "fan car", with which Niki Lauda took a commanding victory. Riccardo Patrese finished second in an Arrows, with Ronnie Peterson third in a Lotus.

Race summary[]

Responsible for the Brabham win was clever thinking by Brabham's Gordon Murray, who was trying to eclipse Colin Chapman's ground effect invention on the Lotus 79, the skirted car that had swept the front row since its debut at Zolder. Center of the new Brabham BT46B concept was a large fan which drew air through the engine water radiator which was mounted horizontally over the engine. The fan also took ground effect to a higher level (at least engineering-wise) by sucking air from under the car, creating a partial vacuum and creating an enormous amount of downforce. The car appeared to contravene a rule which stated that moving aerodynamic devices were not allowed, but Brabham argued that the rules had been worded to ban devices whose primary function was aerodynamic. As the fan also cooled the engine, Brabham claimed that this, not aerodynamics, was its primary function.

Its legality was soon protested, but it was allowed to race, John Watson and Niki Lauda qualifying 2nd and 3rd behind the Lotus 79 of Mario Andretti (the two drivers did this as to not draw attention to the remarkable advantage that the fan would provide, qualifying on full tanks and in the words of Lauda 'doing our best to avoid pole').^{[citation needed]}

At the start Andretti retained the first place, while Lauda got ahead of Watson; on the second lap he was passed by a fast Riccardo Patrese in the Arrows, and on the third he was passed by the other Lotus of Ronnie Peterson too; the Swede also passed Patrese, but had later to back off due to a tyre puncture. The order then remained the same until lap 20, when Watson was forced to retire by a throttle problem.

At the front, Lauda and Andretti were battling for first place, until the American made an error and was forced to let the Austrian through, and eventually dropped out due to a broken valve on his engine. Once a back-marker dropped oil onto the track, the Brabham was in a race of its own, seemingly unaffected by the slippery surface. In Lauda's biography, To Hell And Back, he wrote that whilst other cars had to reduce speed to drive carefully over the oil, the Brabhams could simply accelerate (as the fan was activated by the gearbox to get around regulations, this meant that higher speed produced much higher grip) through the affected parts of the track. Lauda went on to win by a huge 34.6 seconds despite according to Lauda 'trying not to show how dominant the car really was', followed by Patrese and Peterson in a close finish; the remaining points went to Patrick Tambay, Clay Regazzoni and Emerson Fittipaldi.

After the race, the stewards deemed the car legal. Later, the FIA investigated the car, and corroborated Brabham's claim that the fan's primary effect was to cool the car, meeting the letter, if not the spirit, of the rules. The car was judged to have been legal as raced and the Brabham victory stood, but the car never raced again. It is popularly thought that it was banned, but it was actually voluntarily withdrawn by Brabham. This was arguably done by team owner Bernie Ecclestone to avoid a conflict with the other privately owned teams, whose support he needed. 1978 was the year that Ecclestone became chief executive of the Formula One Constructors' Association and led it through the FISA–FOCA war that would lead to the downfall of FISA and give FOCA the right to negotiate television contracts for the Grands Prix, effectively giving Ecclestone commercial control of Formula One which continued for several decades.

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap	Grid
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:22.058		1
2	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:22.737	+0.679	2
3	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1:22.783	+0.725	3
4	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	1:23.120	+1.062	4
5	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	1:23.369	+1.311	5
6	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	1:23.621	+1.563	6
7	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:23.730	+1.672	7
8	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	1:23.737	+1.679	8
9	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1:23.951	+1.893	9
10	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1:23.963	+1.905	10
11	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:24.030	+1.972	11
12	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1:24.203	+2.145	12
13	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:24.274	+2.216	13
14	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1:24.761	+2.703	14
15	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	1:24.986	+2.928	15
16	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	1:25.007	+2.949	16
17	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:25.813	+3.755	17
18	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	1:26.618	+4.560	18
19	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	1:26.787	+4.729	19
20	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	1:27.011	+4.953	20
21	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	1:27.139	+5.081	21
22	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	1:27.479	+5.421	22
23	10	Keke Rosberg	ATS-Ford	1:27.560	+5.502	23
24	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	1:27.812	+5.754	24
25	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	1:28.282	+6.224	DNQ1
26	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	1:28.388	+6.330	DNQ1
27	22	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford	1:28.400	+6.342	DNQ1
Source:[2]

• ^1 – Rupert Keegan, Brett Lunger and Jacky Ickx failed to qualify as the grid was limited to 24 places.^[2]

Race[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	70	1:41:00.606	3	9
2	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	70	+ 34.019	5	6
3	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	70	+ 34.105	4	4
4	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	15	3
5	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	16	2
6	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	13	1
7	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	69	+ 1 Lap	11
8	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	14
9	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	69	+ 1 Lap	7
10	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	69	+ 1 Lap	8
11	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	68	+ 2 Laps	20
12	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	68	+ 2 Laps	21
13	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	68	+ 2 Laps	19
14	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	67	+ 3 Laps	24
15	10	Keke Rosberg	ATS-Ford	63	+ 7 Laps	23
NC	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	62	+ 8 Laps	22
Ret	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	46	Engine	1
Ret	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	46	Wheel	9
Ret	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	42	Suspension	12
Ret	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	28	Engine	10
Ret	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	19	Spun Off/Throttle	2
Ret	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	16	Overheating	6
Ret	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	8	Accident	17
Ret	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	7	Accident	18
DNQ	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford
DNQ	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford
DNQ	22	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 36 2 Ronnie Peterson 30 3 Niki Lauda 25 4 Patrick Depailler 23 5 Carlos Reutemann 22 Source:[4]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 49 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 31 3 Tyrrell-Ford 25 4 Ferrari 22 5 Ligier-Matra 10 Source:[4]

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

References[]