Lotus and Ferrari were high favourites for the Monaco GP and thousands of tifosi crossed the border from Italy to watch the Scuderia take on the british team around the streets of the principality. But one very determined Patrick Depailler would be the star of a race that saw neither of the favourites finish the race.
The Monaco race marked the start of the European season and with Lotus and Ferrari having split the wins in the opening four races, interest was high. The field was much the same as it had been at Long Beach with the addition of the Martini team. Ensign had dropped Lamberto Leoni and Jacky Ickx was making another F1 comeback with the team.
With only 20 starters being allowed at Monaco there had to be a pre-qualifying session again and this eliminated Keke Rosberg (Theodore), Hector Rebaque (Rebaque-Lotus), Brett Lunger (B&S McLaren), Derek Daly (Hesketh) and René Arnoux (Martini). Another driver was seen on the track but wouldn’t start the race: Jackie Stewart did a couple of laps in Tyrrell 008 stripped of its cockpit bodywork and with various film cameras mounted on it to record impressions of a lap in a Formel 1 car around the principality.
Qualifying resulted in pole position for Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari) but the Brabham-Alfas of John Watson and Niki Lauda were second and third fastest. Mario Andretti was fourth fastest with Patrick Depailler (Tyrrell) fifth, James Hunt (McLaren) sixth and Ronnie Peterson (Lotus) seventh. The top 10 was completed by Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari), Jody Scheckter (Wolf) and Alan Jones (Williams).
In the race Watson made the best start with Depailler behind him after a brilliant start from fifth on the grid. Reutemann was battling for third with Lauda and Hunt. At the chicane Lauda and Reutemann touched, Hunt had to swerve to avoid contact and hit the wall and so both he and Reutemann pitted for repairs, leaving Lauda third ahead of Andretti, Scheckter and Jones. The order did not change until lap 13 when Jones was overtaken by Peterson and Villeneuve.
On lap 38 Watson went up an escape road and dropped behind Depailler and Lauda but within a few laps the Austrian had to pit after a puncture. Andretti had also dropped down the order when he stopped to have a fuel leak fixed and so Scheckter moved to third place. Both Peterson and Villeneuve went out in the laps that followed, the Swede with a gearbox problem and the Canadian crashing while under pressure from the recovering Lauda.
Depailler duly won the race – his first F1 victory after 69 races – but Lauda’s charge took him ahead of Watson and Scheckter to claim second. But his team-mate didn’t make the podium. Watson had a second off and fell behind Scheckter who’d claim third place. Watson was fourth with Pironi fifth and Patrese sixth.
75 Laps at 2.058 miles = 154.35 miles total race distance
Pole Position Reutemann
1m 28.340s
Qualifying Record
Fastest Lap Lauda
1m 28.650s
83.573 mph on Lap 72
New Lap Record
01 4 P Depailler Tyrrell 008 75 1hr 55m 14.660s
02 1 N Lauda Brabham BT46 75 1hr 55m 37.110s
03 20 J Scheckter Wolf WR1 75 1hr 55m 46.950s
04 2 J Watson Brabham BT46 75 1hr 55m 48.190s
05 3 D Pironi Tyrrell 008 75 1hr 56m 27.720s
06 35 R Patrese Arrows FA1 75 1hr 56m 23.420s
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