| Circuit | Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez |
|---|---|
| Date | 1978-01-15 |
| Round | 1 |
| Pos | Driver | Team | Grid | Laps | Time/Status | Fastest Lap | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mario Andretti | Team Lotus | 1 | 52 | 1:37:04.470 | — | 9 |
| 2 | Niki Lauda | Brabham | 5 | 52 | +13.210 | — | 6 |
| 3 | Patrick Depailler | Tyrrell | 10 | 52 | +13.640 | — | 4 |
| 4 | James Hunt | McLaren | 6 | 52 | +16.050 | — | 3 |
| 5 | Ronnie Peterson | Team Lotus | 3 | 52 | +1:14.850 | — | 2 |
| 6 | Patrick Tambay | McLaren | 9 | 52 | +1:19.900 | — | 1 |
| 7 | Carlos Reutemann | Ferrari | 2 | 52 | +1:22.600 | — | 0 |
| 8 | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 7 | 52 | +1:38.880 | — | 0 |
| 9 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Fittipaldi | 17 | 52 | +1:40.600 | — | 0 |
| 10 | Jody Scheckter | Wolf | 15 | 52 | +1:43.500 | — | 0 |
| 11 | Jochen Mass | ATS | 13 | 52 | +1:49.070 | — | 0 |
| 12 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | ATS | 11 | 51 | +1 Lap | — | 0 |
| 13 | Brett Lunger | McLaren | 24 | 51 | +1 Lap | — | 0 |
| 14 | Didier Pironi | Tyrrell | 23 | 51 | +1 Lap | — | 0 |
| 15 | Clay Regazzoni | Shadow | 16 | 51 | +1 Lap | — | 0 |
| 16 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier | 8 | 50 | Engine | — | 0 |
| 17 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | Shadow | 18 | 50 | +2 Laps | — | 0 |
| 18 | Vittorio Brambilla | Surtees | 12 | 50 | +2 Laps | — | 0 |
| 19 | John Watson | Brabham | 4 | 41 | Engine | — | 0 |
| 20 | Alan Jones | Williams | 14 | 36 | Fuel system | — | 0 |
| 21 | Danny Ongais | Ensign | 21 | 35 | Distributor | — | 0 |
| 22 | Lamberto Leoni | Ensign | 22 | 28 | Engine | — | 0 |
| 23 | Arturo Merzario | Merzario | 20 | 9 | Differential | — | 0 |
| 24 | Rupert Keegan | Surtees | 19 | 4 | Overheating | — | 0 |