The 1978 Formula One season was the 32nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the International Cup for F1 Constructors, contested concurrently over a sixteen race series which commenced on 15 January and ended on 8 October. The season also included the non-championship BRDC International Trophy.
American Mario Andretti won the Drivers' Championship, driving for John Player Team Lotus. He remains the last American to win a championship.
Swede Ronnie Peterson posthumously finished runner-up in the Drivers' Championship to Lotus teammate Andretti just 13 points short. He had a fatal crash at the Italian Grand Prix.
Argentinian Carlos Reutemann finished third for Ferrari.
Ronnie Peterson moved to Lotus.
Mario Gabriele Andretti is an American former racing driver. He is widely regarded among the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports. Andretti is one of only three drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR. He has also won races in midget car racing and sprint car racing.
Andretti in 2021
Andretti at the 1984 Pocono 500 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania in August 1984
A replica of the Brawner Hawk in which Andretti won the 1969 Indianapolis 500 now on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum in Indianapolis
Andretti driving his Lotus Type 63 at the 1969 German Grand Prix in Nürburgring
