1978 German Grand Prix

There were no surprises in qualifying, with Mario Andretti on pole and Ronnie Peterson alongside him, with Niki Lauda third. At the start, Peterson got off better and took the lead from Andretti, but he held it for only four laps before Andretti retook it. Lauda ran third in the early stages, but he was passed by Alan Jones, and the duo battled until Lauda's engine failed yet again. The two Lotus cars were cruising at the front, and Jones ran third comfortably until he retired with a fuel vaporization problem. Lotus's hopes of a 1–2 ended when Peterson's gearbox failed, but Andretti was unaffected by that and cruised to his fifth win of the season, with Jody Scheckter second and Jacques Laffite third.

• Lap leaders: Ronnie Peterson 4 laps (1–4); Mario Andretti 41 laps (5–45).
• The Rebaque team scored their only points finish at this race.
• First race: Nelson Piquet
• James Hunt and Rolf Stommelen were both disqualified for entering the pits via another route; not the pit entrance.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 54 2 Ronnie Peterson 36 3 Carlos Reutemann 31 4 Niki Lauda 31 5 Patrick Depailler 26 Source: [2]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 67 2 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 40 3 Ferrari 31 4 Tyrrell-Ford 30 5 Wolf-Ford 14 Source: [2]

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