1975 British Grand Prix

United Kingdom  1975 British Grand Prix
Race details
Race 10 of 14 in the 1975 Formula One season
Date 19 July 1975
Official name XXVIII British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, Great Britain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.719 km (2.932 mi)
Distance 56 laps, 264.264 km (164.192 mi)
Weather Sunny, then overcast, then heavy rain
Pole position
Driver Shadow-Ford
Time 1:19.36[1]
Fastest lap
Driver Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari
Time 1:20.9 on lap 16[2]
Podium
First McLaren-Ford
Second Brabham-Ford
Third Tyrrell-Ford

The 1975 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 19 July 1975. It was the 30th British Grand Prix to be held since the race was first held in 1926 and the 17th time the race had been held at Silverstone. The race was held over 56 of the scheduled 67 laps of the four kilometre venue for a race distance of 264 kilometres.

The results were overshadowed by a heavy hail storm from Lap 53, which caused three out of the top four cars (Jody Scheckter, James Hunt, and Mark Donohue), to aquaplane and crash in the same corner, bringing an early finish to the race, and a significant absence on the podium. A number of other cars crashed at the same corner as well, including Wilson Fittipaldi, Jochen Mass, and John Watson. The race results were finalised the lap after the lap most cars crashed, giving Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, who had been the race leader prior to the storm, a one lap win in his McLaren M23. Carlos Pace, who was one of the crashers in his Brabham BT44B was classified in second position with another of the crashers, Tyrrell 007 driver Jody Scheckter classified third.

The win was the 14th and final win of Fittipaldi's career which had included two world championships. He would continue racing in Formula One until 1980. The win also vaulted Fittpaldi past Carlos Reutemann into second place in the championship, 14 points behind Lauda.

Race summary

A new chicane had been installed at Woodcote Corner, bringing complaints from the purists but also arguments that it was necessary in the interests of safety. Tom Pryce gained his only career pole position in his home race, whilst the Ferraris were on the second row, with James Hunt languishing on the fifth row.

Graham Hill announced his retirement as a driver after 17 seasons and 176 races to concentrate on his Embassy Hill team.

From the start – in which a lights system was being used for the first time in any Grand Prix, replacing the traditional national flag – Carlos Pace led from Pryce.

Following the hail storm, only five cars were running at the end. The RAC declared the race finished officially on the lap after the lap when most cars were running – lap 56. Ferrari, with both of their cars stuck on lap 54 in the classification protested, but the RAC threw these protests out and three days later, the provisional results were confirmed.

Classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 56 1:22:05.0 7 9
2 8 Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 55 Accident 2 6
3 3 South Africa Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 55 Accident 6 4
4 24 United Kingdom James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 55 Accident 9 3
5 28 United States Mark Donohue March-Ford 55 Accident 15 2
6 9 Italy Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 55 + 1 Lap 5 1
7 2 Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 55 Accident 10  
8 12 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 54 Accident 3  
9 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 54 Accident 17  
10 22 Australia Alan Jones Hill-Ford 54 + 2 Laps 20  
11 18 United Kingdom John Watson Surtees-Ford 54 Accident 18  
12 27 United States Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 54 + 2 Laps 12  
13 11 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 54 + 2 Laps 4  
14 17 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 53 Accident 11  
15 23 United Kingdom Tony Brise Hill-Ford 53 Accident 13  
16 15 United Kingdom Brian Henton Lotus-Ford 53 Accident 21  
17 32 New Zealand John Nicholson Lyncar-Ford 51 Accident 26  
18 19 United Kingdom Dave Morgan Surtees-Ford 50 Accident 23  
19 30 Brazil Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 50 Accident 24  
Ret 10 Germany Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford 45 Accident 14  
Ret 6 United Kingdom Jim Crawford Lotus-Ford 28 Accident 25  
Ret 16 United Kingdom Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 20 Accident 1  
Ret 29 Italy Lella Lombardi March-Ford 18 Engine 22  
Ret 5 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 7 Engine 16  
Ret 21 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 5 Gearbox 19  
Ret 7 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 4 Engine 8  
DNQ 31 Netherlands Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford        
DNQ 35 Japan Hiroshi Fushida Maki-Ford        
Source:[3]

Lap leaders

Carlos Pace 17 laps led (Laps 1-12, 22-26), Clay Regazzoni 6 (13-18), Tom Pryce 2 (19-20), Jody Scheckter 7 (21, 27-32), Jean-Pierre Jarier 2 (33-34), James Hunt 8 (35-42), Emerson Fittipaldi 14 (43-56) [4]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Austria Niki Lauda 47
2 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 33
3 United Kingdom James Hunt 25
4 Argentina Carlos Reutemann 25
5 Brazil Carlos Pace 24

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 Italy Ferrari 50
2 United Kingdom Brabham-Ford 42 (44)
3 United Kingdom McLaren-Ford 39.5
4 United Kingdom Hesketh-Ford 25
5 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 24

References

  1. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 88. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  2. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 90. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  3. "1975 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. "British Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
Previous race:
1975 French Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1975 season
Next race:
1975 German Grand Prix
Previous race:
1974 British Grand Prix
British Grand Prix Next race:
1976 British Grand Prix
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