1973 Swedish Grand Prix

  1973 Swedish Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 15 in the 1973 Formula One season
Date	17 June 1973
Official name	IV Hitachi Grand Prix of Sweden
Location	Scandinavian Raceway, Anderstorp, Sweden
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.025 km (2.501 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 322 km (200.08 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:23.810
Fastest lap
Driver	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford
Time	1:26.146 on lap 7
Podium
First	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford
Second	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Third	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford

The 1973 Grand Prix of Sweden was a Formula One motor race held at the Scandinavian Raceway, Anderstorp on 17 June 1973. It was the seventh round of the 1973 Formula One season. The 80-lap race was won by McLaren driver Denny Hulme after he started from sixth position. Ronnie Peterson finished second for the Lotus team and Tyrrell driver François Cevert came in third.

Ronnie Peterson's success with John Player Team Lotus was the catalyst for a Swedish Grand Prix and the race was held for the first time, at World Championship level, at the grandly-named Scandinavian Raceway in 1973.^[1][2]

Report

Entry

A total of 29 F1 cars were entered for this event, however only 22 arrived for the race. The field was smaller than usual as there was no time for teams to repair damages cars after the Monaco, as they had to be transported 1,200 miles from Monaco to Anderstorp.^[1][3]

A number of drivers were missing from action; Arturo Merzario (Scuderia Ferrari), Chris Amon (Martini Racing Team Tecno), Andrea de Adamich (Ceramica Pagnossin Brabham)., David Purley (LEC Refrigeration Racing March) and James Hunt (Hesketh Racing March). Meanwhile, Nanni Galli had decided to retire, so Frank Williams Racing Cars entered Danish driver, Tom Belsø, however it became clear that there was no funding available from his sponsors for the race. Swedish driver, Reine Wisell had rented LEC’s March 731.^[1][4][5]

Qualifying

Ronnie Peterson did not disappoint his fans in qualifying, taking pole in his Lotus 72E from Tyrrell’s François Cevert. Peterson secured pole position, for John Player Team Lotus, averaging a 107.398 speed of mph. Cevert came close to taking pole, but Peterson took it by just 0.089 of a second. The World Championship contenders shared the second row, with Jackie Stewart ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi, while Carlos Reutemann and Denny Hulme made the third row.^[1][6][7]

Race

The race was held over 80 laps of the Scandinavian Raceway circuit, in front of a crowd of over 50,000 spectators. There was a delayed start caused by the Grand Prix Drivers' Association complaining about photographers in dangerous places around the circuit. ^[3][1][7]

Emerson Fittipaldi made the best start and grabbed second behind local hero, Ronnie Peterson. The Tyrrell 006 of François Cevert was third with team-mate Jackie Stewart behind him. Carlos Reutemann and Denny Hulme completed the top six, although by lap four, the McLaren of Hulme had moved ahead of the Brabham. The order remained stable until Stewart passed Cevert and began to chase the two JPS Lotuses. By this time, Cevert was having trouble with his tyres and dropped back and was overtaken by Hulme on lap 62. Hulme then started close in on Stewart.^[1]

For 70 laps it looked like this was going to be a one-two for John Player Team Lotus with Peterson first and reigning World Champion, Fittipaldi second. However disaster struck when Fittipaldi retired with gearbox failure. With just three laps to go, Hulme overtook Stewart, when the Scot suffered a rear brake failure. Hulme quickly closed the gap on the leader, Peterson having major trouble with tyre wear and fighting to stay on the track.^[1][2]

On the 79th and penultimate lap Hulme was able to pass the local hero to snatch victory, the New Zealander's decision to run harder tyres on his McLaren-Cosworth M23 having paid off. Peterson was powerless to defend and eventually finished four seconds adrift in second place, that was as close as any Swede came to winning on home soil. Hulme expressed sadness to "have taken that away from Ronnie." Hulme won in a time of 1hr 56.46.049mins., averaging a speed of 102.811 mph. Cevert was a further 10.6 seconds behind Peterson.^[1][2]

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	7	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	80	1:56:46.049	6	9
2	2	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	80	+ 4.039	1	6
3	6	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	80	+ 14.667	2	4
4	10	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	80	+ 18.068	5	3
5	5	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	80	+ 25.998	3	2
6	3	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	79	+ 1 Lap	8	1
7	8	Peter Revson	McLaren-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	7
8	15	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	21
9	19	Clay Regazzoni	BRM	77	+ 3 Laps	12
10	24	Carlos Pace	Surtees-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	16
11	25	Howden Ganley	Iso-Marlboro-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	11
12	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	76	Gearbox	4
13	21	Niki Lauda	BRM	75	+ 5 Laps	15
14	16	George Follmer	Shadow-Ford	74	+ 6 Laps	19
Ret	20	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	57	Engine	9
Ret	17	Jackie Oliver	Shadow-Ford	50	Suspension	17
Ret	23	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	41	Tyre	10
Ret	14	Jean-Pierre Jarier	March-Ford	38	Throttle	20
Ret	12	Graham Hill	Shadow-Ford	16	Ignition	18
Ret	11	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham-Ford	0	Accident	12
Ret	27	Reine Wisell	March-Ford	0	Suspension	14
DNS	26	Tom Belsø	Iso-Marlboro-Ford		Car Raced by Ganley	22
Sources:[8][1][9]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Emerson Fittipaldi 41 2 Jackie Stewart 39 3 François Cevert 25 1 4 Denny Hulme 19 1 5 Peter Revson 11

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford 49 2 Lotus-Ford 47 3 McLaren-Ford 26 4 Ferrari 10 2 5 Brabham-Ford 7

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "Grand Prix Results: Swedish GP, 1973". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
2. "Swedish Grand Prix - WOI Encyclopedia Italia". Wheelsofitaly.com. 6 February 2014. Archived from the original on 25 April 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
3. "GP Sweden 1973". Racing Sports Cars. 17 June 1973. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
4. "Tom Belsø - Biography". f1rejects.com. 31 October 2004. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
5. "GP Sweden 1973 - Entry List". Racing Sports Cars. 17 June 1973. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
6. "GP Sweden 1973 - Qualifying Results". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
7. "1973 Swedish GP: Last-lap heartbreak for Peterson at home". F1 Fanatic. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
8. "1973 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
9. "GP Sweden 1973 - Race Results". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 19 January 2016.