1978 Spanish Grand Prix

Once again the new Lotus 79 demonstrated its speed, with Mario Andretti on pole and Ronnie Peterson alongside him on the front row, the Swede driving the 79 for the first time. Carlos Reutemann was third in his Ferrari, with James Hunt fourth in his McLaren.

On race day, Hunt made a fast start to lead into the first corner from Andretti and Reutemann, with Peterson dropping to ninth. Andretti re-passed Hunt on lap 6 and then started to pull away. Reutemann ran third until he had to pit for tyres, and so John Watson inherited third until he was passed by Jacques Laffite, but soon the recovering Peterson passed both of them. Hunt now suffered from tyre problems and he also began to drop back, and so Peterson moved into second with Laffite third. This was how it stayed to the end, Andretti winning from Peterson in another Lotus 1–2, and Laffite taking the final spot on the podium.

James Hunt 5 laps (1–5); Mario Andretti 70 laps (6–75).

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mario Andretti 36 2 Ronnie Peterson 26 3 Patrick Depailler 23 4 Carlos Reutemann 22 5 Niki Lauda 16 Source: [3]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 45 2 Tyrrell-Ford 25 3 Ferrari 22 4 Brabham-Alfa Romeo 22 5 Ligier-Matra 10 Source: [3]

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