[1] Since the previous year's race, the Hella-Licht corner had been converted to a fast chicane, thus increasing the length of the circuit to 5.942 kilometres (3.692 mi).

Local hero Niki Lauda finished second in his Ferrari, having started from pole position, with West Germany's Hans-Joachim Stuck third in a Brabham-Alfa Romeo.

Nilsson pitted to replace his ruined wet tyres on his Lotus 78 while Jones moved past Hans-Joachim Stuck's Brabham and Jody Scheckter's Wolf WR3 into second position.

Scheckter spun off leaving Carlos Reutemann in the second Ferrari 312T2 to finish fourth ahead of Ronnie Peterson in the Tyrrell P34 and the second McLaren of Jochen Mass claimed the final championship point in sixth.

According to a misconception claimed by Alan Jones[2] the "Happy Birthday to You" was played for him as a winning driver during the podium ceremony instead of the national anthem of Australia.