1978 United States Grand Prix West
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 4 of 16 in the 1978 Formula One season | |||
 |
|||
| Date | April 2, 1978 | ||
| Official name | 3rd United States Grand Prix West | ||
| Location | Long Beach, California | ||
| Course | Temporary street course | ||
| Course length | 3.251 km (2.02 mi) | ||
| Distance | 80 laps, 260.08 km (161.60 mi) | ||
| Weather | Scattered clouds 17 °C (63 °F) |
||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:20.636 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford | |
| Time | 1:22.215 on lap 27 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Lotus-Ford | ||
| Third | Tyrrell-Ford | ||
The 1978 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One motor race held on April 2, 1978, at Long Beach, California.
Carlos Reutemann took over at the halfway mark from Ferrari teammate Gilles Villeneuve, when the Canadian crashed out of the lead, and won by eleven seconds. It was the second American victory for the Argentine, who also won for Brabham at Watkins Glen in 1974. American Mario Andretti finished second to maintain a share of the Championship lead with Reutemann.
At the start of the weekend, though only 22 cars would make the grid, there were 30 entries, requiring a one-hour pre-qualifying session on Friday morning for the eight non-FICA members. From these eight, the fastest four would join the rest of the field in qualifying for one of the 22 starting spots.
Niki Lauda, who had placed his Ferrari on pole for the previous year's race, again set the early pace, this time in a Brabham. Late in the Friday morning session, however, Reutemann suddenly jumped to the top of the sheets with a 1:20.99 and eventually posted the day's best of 1:20.636. As usual at Long Beach, a number of drivers suffered from broken gearboxes, and on Saturday, though the weather was better, no one was able to better Reutemann's time. The first three rows of the final grid were occupied by just three teams, as Villeneuve completed the all-Ferrari front row, Brabham teammates Lauda and John Watson were third and fifth, and the Lotus pair of Andretti and Ronnie Peterson were fourth and sixth.
A beautiful California day and 75,000 paying fans showed up for the race on Sunday. The start had been moved from in front of the pits on Ocean Boulevard to the curving "straight" on Shoreline Drive in order to avoid another first corner tangle. The strategy seemed to work, as everyone got through cleanly, though John Watson's late braking maneuver down the inside caused him to exit wide from the hairpin and force polesitter Reutemann wide with him, so Villeneuve tucked into the lead as they exited.
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