Formula 1

About the season

The Lotus 78, and its successor the Lotus 79, introduced "ground effect" aerodynamics to Formula 1: designed by Peter Wright, Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie and Tony Rudd, their boxed-off, venturi-shaped sidepods and ground-hugging skirts effectively "sucked" the car onto the track - a breakthrough that defined race car design for decades afterward. Wind-tunnel testing found the Lotus 79 to be 25% more effective than its predecessor; it won six Grands Prix and delivered what remains, to date, Lotus's last Constructors' Championship. At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, a multi-car start-line crash sent Ronnie Peterson's Lotus into the barriers, where it caught fire; James Hunt helped pull him free, and the Swede was initially conscious with serious leg injuries, but died on 11 September, a day after the crash, from complications - a fat embolism - following surgery. Peterson was posthumously classified second in the championship, while his teammate Mario Andretti, driving the Lotus 79, won the title under the shadow of his teammate's death. Mario Andretti won the 1978 Drivers' Championship with 64 points (Team Lotus), 13 points ahead of the runner-up. Team Lotus won the Constructors' Championship with 86 points, 28 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 16 completed races this season, there were 183 retirements. 6 different drivers won a race this season. Mario Andretti took the most race wins, 6 in total. Andretti won the season-opening race, the Argentine Grand Prix. The most dominant win of the season came at the Brazilian Grand Prix, with a margin of 49.1 seconds. The season's biggest upset win came from Peterson at the South African Grand Prix, starting from grid position 12. Pironi made the biggest gain of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix, from grid position 23 to finishing 6 (up 17 places). The British Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 15 drivers failing to finish. The closest finish of the season came at the Dutch Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.320 seconds. Villeneuve won the Canadian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.