Race · Round 11 of 16 · 30 July 1978

1978 German Grand Prix

Mario Andretti won for Team Lotus from pole at Hockenheimring. 13 of the starters were not classified.

Dry · High of 30 °C, no rain on the day (modelled, Open-Meteo)

How it is modelled

ERA5's reanalysis, through Open-Meteo, of the circuit's whole local day and not the race's hours, for the grid cell the circuit sits in and not the track, so a shower can be missing from it. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.

Circuit: HockenheimringHockenheim, Germany
Winner: Mario AndrettiTeam Lotus
Pole: Mario Andretti
Fastest lap: Ronnie Peterson
Entries: 3011 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Mario Andretti	Team Lotus	—	1	45	Finished	9
2	Jody Scheckter	Walter Wolf Racing	—	4	45	Finished	6
3	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	—	7	45	Finished	4
4	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi	F5A	10	45	Finished	3
5	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell	008	16	45	Finished	2
6	Héctor Rebaque	Team Lotus	78	18	45	Finished	1
7	John Watson	Brabham	—	5	45	Finished	0
8	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	—	15	45	Finished	0
9	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	—	14	44	Finished	0
10	Keke Rosberg	Walter Wolf Racing	—	19	42	Finished	0
11	Harald Ertl	Ensign	N177	23	41	Engine	0
DSQ	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows	—	17	42	Illegal pit stop	0
DNF	Ronnie Peterson	Team Lotus	—	2	36	Gearbox	0	fastest lap
DSQ	James Hunt	McLaren	M26	8	34	Illegal pit stop	0
DNF	Alan Jones	Williams	FW06	6	31	Fuel system	0
DNF	Nelson Piquet	Ensign	N177	21	31	Engine	0
DNF	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees	—	20	24	Fuel system	0
DNF	Patrick Tambay	McLaren	M26	11	16	Accident	0
DNF	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	—	12	14	Fuel system	0
DNF	Niki Lauda	Brabham	—	3	11	Engine	0
DNF	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	RS01	9	5	Engine	0
DNF	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow	—	24	1	Accident	0
DNF	Jochen Mass	ATS	—	22	1	Accident	0
DNF	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell	008	13	0	Accident	0
DNQ	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow	—	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS	—	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Rupert Keegan	Surtees	—	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Arturo Merzario	Merzario	A1	—	—	DNQ	0
DNPQ	Rene Arnoux	Martini	MK23	—	—	DNPQ	0
DNPQ	Brett Lunger	McLaren	—	—	—	DNPQ	0

A blank chassis is a season the team ran more than one design and no source says which car raced here.

F1DB layout hockenheimring-1 · 6.79 km · 14 turns, F1DB’s figures
F1DB, CC BY 4.0 · drawn by Jules Roy
The outline is F1DB’s, for every layout; the trace is OpenStreetMap’s, where it exists.

Grid to flag

Lines run from grid slot to result, ending at the last lap completed. A dashed line ending in a cross is a driver not classified. Nothing between is recorded, so a crossing is not an overtake at that lap.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
Mario Andretti	1	1	45
Jody Scheckter	4	2	45
Jacques Laffite	7	3	45
Emerson Fittipaldi	10	4	45
Didier Pironi	16	5	45
Héctor Rebaque	18	6	45
John Watson	5	7	45
Gilles Villeneuve	15	8	45
Riccardo Patrese	14	9	44
Keke Rosberg	19	10	42
Harald Ertl	23	11	41
Rolf Stommelen	17	DSQ	42
Ronnie Peterson	2	DNF	36
James Hunt	8	DSQ	34
Alan Jones	6	DNF	31
Nelson Piquet	21	DNF	31
Vittorio Brambilla	20	DNF	24
Patrick Tambay	11	DNF	16
Carlos Reutemann	12	DNF	14
Niki Lauda	3	DNF	11
Jean-Pierre Jabouille	9	DNF	5
Hans-Joachim Stuck	24	DNF	1
Jochen Mass	22	DNF	1
Patrick Depailler	13	DNF	0

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Mario Andretti	Team Lotus	5	1:51.900	—	0 m	—
2	Ronnie Peterson	Team Lotus	6	1:51.990	+0.090	5 m	+0.090
3	Niki Lauda	Brabham	1	1:52.290	+0.390	24 m	+0.300
4	Jody Scheckter	Walter Wolf Racing	20	1:52.680	+0.780	47 m	+0.390
5	John Watson	Brabham	2	1:52.840	+0.940	57 m	+0.160
6	Alan Jones	Williams	27	1:53.500	+1.600	97 m	+0.660
7	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	26	1:53.540	+1.640	100 m	+0.040
8	James Hunt	McLaren	7	1:53.540	+1.640	100 m	+0.000
9	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	15	1:53.610	+1.710	104 m	+0.070
10	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi	14	1:54.030	+2.130	129 m	+0.420
11	Patrick Tambay	McLaren	8	1:54.040	+2.140	130 m	+0.010
12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	11	1:54.170	+2.270	138 m	+0.130
13	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell	4	1:54.320	+2.420	147 m	+0.150
14	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	35	1:54.340	+2.440	148 m	+0.020
15	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	12	1:54.400	+2.500	152 m	+0.060
16	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell	3	1:54.630	+2.730	166 m	+0.230
17	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows	36	1:55.180	+3.280	199 m	+0.550
18	Héctor Rebaque	Team Lotus	25	1:55.570	+3.670	223 m	+0.390
19	Keke Rosberg	Walter Wolf Racing	32	1:55.570	+3.670	223 m	+0.000
20	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees	19	1:55.860	+3.960	240 m	+0.290
21	Nelson Piquet	Ensign	22	1:56.150	+4.250	258 m	+0.290
22	Jochen Mass	ATS	9	1:56.210	+4.310	262 m	+0.060
23	Harald Ertl	Ensign	23	1:56.250	+4.350	264 m	+0.040
24	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow	16	1:56.450	+4.550	276 m	+0.200
25	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow	17	1:56.570	+4.670	283 m	+0.120
26	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS	10	1:57.400	+5.500	334 m	+0.830
27	Rupert Keegan	Surtees	18	1:57.860	+5.960	362 m	+0.460
28	Arturo Merzario	Merzario	37	1:58.310	+6.410	389 m	+0.450

Before knock-out qualifying arrived in 2006 there is one time per driver; from 2006, the best lap of each of the three sessions.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

Pit stops

Pit stops are recorded from 1994. F1DB, the source of every stop here, holds none before then, so this race has no stints to draw.

Practice sessions Pre-qualifying

Pre-qualifying

Pre-qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Best lap	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval	Laps
1	Keke Rosberg	Walter Wolf Racing	32	2:10.130	—	0 m	—	—
2	Arturo Merzario	Merzario	37	2:10.820	+0.690	36 m	+0.690	—
3	Héctor Rebaque	Team Lotus	25	2:11.800	+1.670	87 m	+0.980	—
4	Rene Arnoux	Martini	31	2:12.250	+2.120	111 m	+0.450	—
5	Brett Lunger	McLaren	30	2:12.450	+2.320	121 m	+0.200	—

Each driver’s best lap of the session and the laps they ran: a classification, not lap timing.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

The cars in this race

The photograph each car's Wikipedia article leads with, from Wikimedia Commons: taken wherever and whenever that was, not necessarily at this race.

A photograph marked unchecked has a file name that does not name the car it is shown for. Most are still the right car, filed under the driver rather than the machine — but nobody has confirmed these one by one.

Where this comes from

Round: 11 of 1978
Grand Prix: German Grand Prix
Dates: 30 Jul 1978
Layout raced: Forest circuit · 6.79 km · 14 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Team Lotus
Entrant: Lotus-Ford
Confidence: reference

The layout raced and its figures are this register’s, from its own sources; the figures under the race’s drawing are F1DB’s, and at some circuits the two disagree.