43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333

1978 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 5 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season
Race details
Date	7 May 1978
Location	Circuit de Monaco
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.312 km (2.057 miles)
Distance	75 laps, 248.4 km (154.348 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari
Time	1:28.34
Fastest lap
Driver	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Time	1:28.65 on lap 72
Podium
First	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford
Second	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo
Third	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1978 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 7 May 1978 at Monaco. It was the fifth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 75-lap race was won by Frenchman Patrick Depailler, driving a Tyrrell-Ford. It was Depailler's first Formula One victory in his 69th Grand Prix.^[1] Niki Lauda finished second in a Brabham-Alfa Romeo, with Jody Scheckter third in a Wolf-Ford.

Report

Carlos Reutemann started on pole with the Brabham duo of John Watson and Niki Lauda second and third. Watson had a good start and led into the first corner, whereas Reutemann collided with James Hunt and had to pit for repairs, which left Patrick Depailler and Lauda second and third. For the first half of the race, the top three remained the same until Watson had an off allowing Depailler and Lauda through, but the latter then suffered a puncture and had to pit for tyres before charging back up and retaking second from Watson towards the end of the race. At the front, Depailler took his first career victory with Lauda second, and Jody Scheckter third after Watson made another mistake in the final laps. Jean-Pierre Jabouille's 10th-place finish was Renault's first race finish.

Classification

Pre-qualifying classification

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to pre-qualify.

Qualifying classification

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	G	75	1:55:14.66	5	9
2	1	Niki Lauda	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	75	+ 22.45	3	6
3	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	G	75	+ 32.29	9	4
4	2	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	G	75	+ 33.53	2	3
5	3	Didier Pironi	Tyrrell-Ford	G	75	+ 1:08.06	13	2
6	35	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	G	75	+ 1:08.77	14	1
7	8	Patrick Tambay	McLaren-Ford	G	74	+ 1 Lap	11
8	11	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	M	74	+ 1 Lap	1
9	14	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	74	+ 1 Lap	20
10	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	M	71	+ 4 Laps	12
11	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	69	+ 6 Laps	4
Ret	12	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	M	62	Accident	8
Ret	6	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	G	56	Gearbox	7
Ret	7	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	G	43	Handling	6
Ret	36	Rolf Stommelen	Arrows-Ford	G	38	Driver Unwell	19
Ret	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	G	29	Oil Leak	10
Ret	22	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford	G	27	Brakes	16
Ret	16	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Shadow-Ford	G	24	Accident	17
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	G	13	Gearbox	15
Ret	18	Rupert Keegan	Surtees-Ford	G	8	Transmission	18
DNQ	9	Jochen Mass	ATS-Ford	G
DNQ	17	Clay Regazzoni	Shadow-Ford	G
DNQ	10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	ATS-Ford	G
DNQ	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	G
DNPQ	32	Keke Rosberg	Theodore-Ford	G
DNPQ	24	Derek Daly	Hesketh-Ford	G
DNPQ	31	René Arnoux	Martini-Ford	G
DNPQ	25	Héctor Rebaque	Lotus-Ford	G
DNPQ	30	Brett Lunger	McLaren-Ford	G
DNPQ	37	Arturo Merzario	Merzario-Ford	G
Source:[2][3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Patrick Depailler 23 2 Carlos Reutemann 18 3 Mario Andretti 18 4 Niki Lauda 16 5 Ronnie Peterson 14 Source: [4]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 27 2 Tyrrell-Ford 24 3 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 20 4 Ferrari 18 5 Fittipaldi-Ford 6 Source: [4]

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