1978 Dutch Grand Prix

Patrese and Pironi's collision at the race start

For the fourth consecutive race, the Lotuses came 1–2 in qualifying with Mario Andretti ahead of Ronnie Peterson. Niki Lauda was third in the Brabham, ahead of the Ferraris of Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve. The top ten was completed by Jacques Laffite in the Ligier, James Hunt in the McLaren, John Watson in the second Brabham, Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the Renault, and Emerson Fittipaldi in the Fittipaldi.

At the start of the race, Andretti led from Peterson with Laffite charging up to third, while at the second corner Didier Pironi's Tyrrell collided with Riccardo Patrese's Arrows. Thereafter, the race was relatively uneventful, Peterson dutifully following Andretti while Laffite fell back down the order, enabling Lauda to reclaim third. At the end, Andretti was just over three-tenths of a second ahead of Peterson, with Lauda a further 12 seconds back; the minor points went to Watson, Fittipaldi and Villeneuve.

This fourth 1–2 finish of the season for Lotus meant that, with three races left to run, only Andretti or Peterson could take the Drivers' Championship. It would go to Andretti in the next race at Monza, when Peterson crashed fatally.

Andretti (front) and Peterson at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix

• Lap leaders: Mario Andretti 75 laps (1–75).
• Rupert Keegan qualified 25th, but was unable to start after crashing his Surtees in the Sunday warm-up and injuring his hand. This promoted non-qualifier Arturo Merzario to the starting grid.
• This was Andretti's 12th and final Grand Prix win and as of 2020, the last Grand Prix to have been won by an American driver.
• This was also the last race in which Lotus came 1–2 in qualifying until the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, and the last to date in which the team came 1–2 in the race.
• This was also the final podium, points, and race finish for Ronnie Peterson before he was killed at the next race.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 63 2 Ronnie Peterson 51 3 Niki Lauda 35 4 Patrick Depailler 32 5 Carlos Reutemann 31 Source: [2]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 85 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 44 3 Ferrari 36 4 Tyrrell-Ford 36 5 Ligier-Matra 16 Source: [2]

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

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