312 T3

Former Ferrari driver Mario Andretti won the World title with Reutemann ranked third, the latter winning three races (Great Britain and two in the USA). Villeneuve showed just how talented he was with a win in Canada. He was also a familiar face at the front of the pack in other races although his acrobatic driving style sometimes landed him off the track. Unfortunately, the Championship was hit by tragedy when Ronnie Peterson was killed in an accident at the start of racing at Monza.

The 312 T3 continued the evolution of the T series with an engine with 12 horizontally opposed cylinders, that was continually updated and pumped up. At Ferrari the question of when to abandon the normally aspirated engine in favour of the turbo, as required by the rules, was also posed, but the changeover was put off. All efforts instead were poured into continuing the development of the car with the Michelin tyres plus new aerodynamics in the form of a very wide body that extended right to the mid-line of the rear wheels, and new cooling and fuel ducts. The 312 T3 was only used from the South African GP onwards i.e. the third race in the 1978 World Championship as the first two (the Argentinean and Brazilian GPs) were raced using a modified version of the 1977 312 T2.