Race · Round 6 of 16 · 21 May 1978

1978 Belgian Grand Prix

Mario Andretti won for Team Lotus from pole at Circuit Zolder. 11 of the starters were not classified.

Dry · High of 14 °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: Circuit ZolderHeusden-Zolder, Belgium
Winner: Mario AndrettiTeam Lotus
Pole: Mario Andretti
Fastest lap: Ronnie Peterson
Entries: 3213 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Mario Andretti	Team Lotus	—	1	70	Finished	9
2	Ronnie Peterson	Team Lotus	—	7	70	Finished	6	fastest lap
3	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	—	2	70	Finished	4
4	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	—	4	70	Finished	3
5	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	—	14	69	Accident	2
6	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell	008	23	69	Finished	1
7	Brett Lunger	McLaren	—	24	69	Finished	0
8	Bruno Giacomelli	McLaren	M26	21	69	Finished	0
9	Rene Arnoux	Martini	MK23	19	68	Finished	0
10	Alan Jones	Williams	FW06	11	68	Finished	0
11	Jochen Mass	ATS	—	16	68	Finished	0
12	Jacky Ickx	Ensign	N177	22	64	Finished	0
13	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees	—	12	63	Engine	0
NC	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	RS01	10	56	NC	0
DNF	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow	—	20	56	Spun off	0
DNF	Jody Scheckter	Walter Wolf Racing	—	5	53	Spun off	0
DNF	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell	008	13	51	Gearbox	0
DNF	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow	—	18	40	Transmission	0
DNF	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	—	8	31	Suspension	0
DNF	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows	—	17	26	Spun off	0
DNF	John Watson	Brabham	—	9	18	Accident	0
DNF	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi	F5A	15	0	Accident	0
DNF	James Hunt	McLaren	M26	6	0	Accident	0
DNF	Niki Lauda	Brabham	—	3	0	Accident	0
DNQ	Rupert Keegan	Surtees	—	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Derek Daly	Hesketh	308E	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Keke Rosberg	Theodore	TR1	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Alberto Colombo	ATS	—	—	—	DNQ	0
DNPQ	Héctor Rebaque	Team Lotus	78	—	—	DNPQ	0
DNPQ	Arturo Merzario	Merzario	A1	—	—	DNPQ	0
DNP	Bernard de Dryver	Ensign	N177	—	—	DNP	0
DNP	Patrick Nève	March	781S	—	—	DNP	0

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

F1DB layout zolder-2 · 4.262 km · 15 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	70
Ronnie Peterson	7	2	70
Carlos Reutemann	2	3	70
Gilles Villeneuve	4	4	70
Jacques Laffite	14	5	69
Didier Pironi	23	6	69
Brett Lunger	24	7	69
Bruno Giacomelli	21	8	69
Rene Arnoux	19	9	68
Alan Jones	11	10	68
Jochen Mass	16	11	68
Jacky Ickx	22	12	64
Vittorio Brambilla	12	13	63
Jean-Pierre Jabouille	10	NC	56
Hans-Joachim Stuck	20	DNF	56
Jody Scheckter	5	DNF	53
Patrick Depailler	13	DNF	51
Clay Regazzoni	18	DNF	40
Riccardo Patrese	8	DNF	31
Rolf Stommelen	17	DNF	26
John Watson	9	DNF	18
Emerson Fittipaldi	15	DNF	0
James Hunt	6	DNF	0
Niki Lauda	3	DNF	0

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Mario Andretti	Team Lotus	5	1:20.900	—	0 m	—
2	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	11	1:21.690	+0.790	42 m	+0.790
3	Niki Lauda	Brabham	1	1:21.700	+0.800	42 m	+0.010
4	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	12	1:21.770	+0.870	46 m	+0.070
5	Jody Scheckter	Walter Wolf Racing	20	1:22.120	+1.220	64 m	+0.350
6	James Hunt	McLaren	7	1:22.500	+1.600	84 m	+0.380
7	Ronnie Peterson	Team Lotus	6	1:22.620	+1.720	91 m	+0.120
8	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	35	1:23.250	+2.350	124 m	+0.630
9	John Watson	Brabham	2	1:23.260	+2.360	124 m	+0.010
10	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	15	1:23.580	+2.680	141 m	+0.320
11	Alan Jones	Williams	27	1:23.710	+2.810	148 m	+0.130
12	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees	19	1:23.780	+2.880	152 m	+0.070
13	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell	4	1:23.820	+2.920	154 m	+0.040
14	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	26	1:23.900	+3.000	158 m	+0.080
15	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi	14	1:24.110	+3.210	169 m	+0.210
16	Jochen Mass	ATS	9	1:24.140	+3.240	171 m	+0.030
17	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows	36	1:24.140	+3.240	171 m	+0.000
18	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow	17	1:24.180	+3.280	173 m	+0.040
19	Rene Arnoux	Martini	31	1:24.220	+3.320	175 m	+0.040
20	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow	16	1:24.470	+3.570	188 m	+0.250
21	Bruno Giacomelli	McLaren	33	1:24.810	+3.910	206 m	+0.340
22	Jacky Ickx	Ensign	22	1:24.820	+3.920	207 m	+0.010
23	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell	3	1:24.850	+3.950	208 m	+0.030
24	Brett Lunger	McLaren	30	1:24.990	+4.090	215 m	+0.140
25	Rupert Keegan	Surtees	18	1:25.400	+4.500	237 m	+0.410
26	Derek Daly	Hesketh	24	1:25.690	+4.790	252 m	+0.290
27	Keke Rosberg	Theodore	32	1:25.870	+4.970	262 m	+0.180
28	Alberto Colombo	ATS	10	1:26.010	+5.110	269 m	+0.140

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	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows	36	1:23.760	—	0 m	—	—
2	Keke Rosberg	Theodore	32	1:24.460	+0.700	36 m	+0.700	—
3	Rene Arnoux	Martini	31	1:24.580	+0.820	42 m	+0.120	—
4	Bruno Giacomelli	McLaren	33	1:24.650	+0.890	45 m	+0.070	—
5	Brett Lunger	McLaren	30	1:24.910	+1.150	59 m	+0.260	—
6	Héctor Rebaque	Team Lotus	25	1:25.100	+1.340	68 m	+0.190	—
7	Arturo Merzario	Merzario	37	1:26.690	+2.930	149 m	+1.590	—

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.

1 more photograph

Where this comes from

Round: 6 of 1978
Grand Prix: Belgian Grand Prix
Dates: 21 May 1978
Layout raced: —
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Team Lotus
Entrant: Lotus-Ford
Confidence: reference

No layout is recorded for this round: this register has no layout timeline for the circuit, and a blank here is better than a guess.