Grosser Preis von Österreich 13 Augusti 1978, Österreichring
Ronnie Peterson har inför sin 121:a F1-start återigen den snabbaste kvaltiden - trots att Chapman försökt dribbla bort honom ännu en gång - och står i första startledet tillsammans med Andretti. Oväntad trea är Jean-Pierre Jaubouille i den turbomatade Renault-bilen som genomgått ytterligare utveckling och som fungerar bättre på högre höjd. Carlos Reutemann fyra i Ferrarin.
Tävlingsdagen strilar regnet ner. Ronnie tar en säker ledning samtidigt som
Andretti gör en prakttavla på det andra varvet då han försöker köra om
Reutemanns Ferrari på utsidan i en kurva. På sekunden virvlar amerikanens bil
runt på banan och ut i gräset med en avsliten bakvinge. Loppet är över för
hans del. Reutemann tappar senare andraplatsen till Scheckter och Depailler (som
redan på det första varvet gått förbi Hunt, Fittipaldi och Laffite).
Regnet tilltar och på det fjärde varvet kraschar Scheckter då han kolliderar med Andrettis övergivna Lotus. Även Reutemann spinner av, liksom senare Jabouille. Ronnie plöjer som en motorbåt i täten, kör på slicks som alla andra. Banan är livsfarligt hal. När loppet flaggas av på det sjunde varvet har Watson gått upp på en tredjeplats före Laffite och Pironi.
En timme senare sker omstarten - på regndäck. Startfältet har formerats utifrån placeringarna under den första delen av loppet. Depailler kommer iväg snabbast. Watson blir stående, vilket förorsakar en kollision mellan Patrese och Ertl. Ronnie kan snart ta sig förbi Depailler. Längre bak spinner Jones av och Daly kolliderar med Hunt så att denne åker in i avbärarräcket. Efter detta kaos är ordningen efter det första varvet Ronnie före Depailler, Lauda, Laffite och Daly. Ronnie har kontrollen över fältet då banan torkar upp. En efter en åker förarna in i depå och byter till torrdäck och då detta är gjort är Ronnie fortfarande i ledning före Depailler och Villeneuve. Ronnie kan till och med kosta på sig att hålla igen mot slutet då han är nästan 50 sekunder före fransmannen. Ordningen står sig in över mållinjen och Ronnie tar sin andra fullträff för året (loppet leds av Ronnie 1-18, 29-54; Reutemann 19-22; Villeneuve 23-28).
Chapmans
keps i luften!
Kvalsnabbast, snabbaste varvtid (med 1.43,12), flest varv i ledning, samt seger. Livet leker för Ronnie. Det ger bränsle åt diskussionsbrasan. Ska Ronnie bryta kontraktet och köra ifrån Andretti?
Summary in english
In the two weeks between the German and
Austrian GPs, Judge Sydney Templeman ruled in the High Court in London that the Arrows team had infringed the Shadow team's copyright with
the FA/1 design as many of the components of the car had been copied directly
from the designs of the Shadow DN9. This meant
that Arrows could no longer use the
FA/1. The team had been expecting the decision and had been quietly building a
completely new Arrows A1 which appeared
for the first time in Austria. There was an entry of 31 cars as Nelson Piquet had been offered a run
in the old BS Fabrications McLaren
M23. Team Ensign had turned over its
second car to Derek Daly,
while ATS had ditched Jean-Pierre Jarier for a second time
and taken on local hero Hans Binder.
In the pre-qualifying session Rolf Stommelen's Arrows broke down and so he was
the unlucky one of the eight pre-qualifiers. In the course of practice Team Surtees gave Brian Henton a run in Rupert Keegan's car but it seemed to
make little difference.
Qualifying resulted in the expected all-Lotus front row with Ronnie Peterson again beating his team
leader Mario Andretti to pole position. Jean-Pierre Jabouille was third fastest
in the turbocharged Renault,
the car being more competitive than usual thanks to development and higher
altitude. Carlos Reutemann was fourth fastest in
his Ferrari while Emerson Fittipaldi again showed well
in his F5A to take fifth on the grid ahead of Jacques Laffite's Ligier, James Hunt's McLaren, Jody Scheckter's Wolf, John Watson's
Brabham-Alfa Romeo and Didier Pironi's Tyrrell. Regular front-runners Niki Lauda (Brabham) and Gilles
Villeneuve (Ferrari) were 11th and 12th.
The race began with rain threatening and while Peterson took the lead Andretti
did not get away well and Reutemann took second with Andretti third ahead of
Scheckter, Laffite, Fittipaldi, Hunt and the rest. Andretti tried to go around
the outside of Reutemann later in the lap and the two cars touched wheels, the Lotus spinning into the
barriers. Reutemann then lost second place to Scheckter and Depailler (the
latter having overtaken Hunt, Fittipaldi and Laffite in the course of the first
lap).
Soon afterwards heavy rain began to fall and on the fourth lap Scheckter crashed
out, colliding with Andretti's abandoned Lotus. Reutemann also spun and
before the race was red-flagged Watson was up to third with Laffite fourth and
Pironi fifth. Jabouille had been fourth but he spun just before the race was
stopped ad dropped back down the order.
A new grid was formed up, based on the finishing positions in the first part of
the race, and so Peterson was on pole with Depailler second, Watson third,
Laffite fourth with the top 10 being completed by Pironi, Lauda, Hunt, Clay Regazzoni (Shadow), Daly, Alan Jones (Williams), Keke Rosberg (Theodore Wolf) and
Villeneuve.
At the restart Depailler got away fastest while Watson stalled. This caused Riccardo Patrese (Arrows) and Harald Ertl (Ensign) to collide. At
the front Peterson quickly overtook Depailler, but Jones spun off and Daly
collided with Hunt and the McLaren
driver spun into the barriers. The order at the end of the first lap was
therefore Peterson ahead of Depailler, Lauda, Laffite and Daly.
Peterson remained in control as the track dried, while Reutemann charged up the
order to third place. When the front-runners began pitting for slick tires
Reutemann stayed out and his teammate Villeneuve moved into second place. When
they too stopped for tires Peterson went back into the lead and stayed there all
the way to the flag with Depailler second and Villeneuve third. Hans Stuck (Shadow) was fourth but
crashed out while Daly looked to be on course for fourth place until he spun and
was then given outside assistance to restart. He was black-flagged. This left
Fittipaldi fourth with Laffite fifth (on aggregate) and Brambilla (fifth on the
road but sixth on aggregate).
Peterson's victory moved him to within nine points of Andretti in the World
Championship but as the American was the team leader there was no chance that he
would lose the title to the Swede. Reutemann and Lauda were both 23 points
behind.
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Aktuell ställning
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45 |
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