1975 South African Grand Prix

  1975 South African Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 14 in the 1975 Formula One season
Date	1 March 1975
Official name	XXI South African Grand Prix
Location	Kyalami Gauteng, South Africa
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.104 km (2.550 mi)
Distance	78 laps, 320.112 km (198.908 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford
Time	1:16.41[1]
Fastest lap
Driver	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford
Time	1:17.20[2] on lap 11
Podium
First	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford
Second	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford
Third	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford

The 1975 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 1 March 1975. It was the 21st South African Grand Prix since the first Grand Prix was held in 1934 and the ninth to be held at Kyalami just outside Johannesburg. It was held over 78 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 320 kilometres.

The race was made memorable by Jody Scheckter becoming the first South African driver to win the race. Driving a Tyrrell 007 he took over the lead of the race from Carlos Pace on lap three and took a three-second win over the Brabham BT44B of Carlos Reutemann. Scheckter's Tyrrell team mate Patrick Depailler finished third.

Race summary

Ferrari had used the free month of February profitably, producing the new 312T model with a new transverse gearbox. There was also a new face in the persona of female Italian racer Lella Lombardi.

Practice was eventful – Graham Hill's car spun on oil dropped from Ronnie Peterson's car and destroyed his car, opting to sit out the race. Once the débris had been cleared and holes in the catch fencing mended, there was a second accident as Niki Lauda spun on engine oil, hitting the wall at 120 mph. With further violent accidents to Jody Scheckter and Guy Tunmer, the drivers deemed the circuit not safe and refused to continue until fencing defects were remedied and the track improved, further helped by the support of mechanics who insisted no more practice be carried out.

When the racing got under way, Carlos Pace led from pole in a Brabham 1–2 but was soon passed by Jody Scheckter and Carlos Reutemann after braking problems and Patrick Depailler soon climbed to 3rd. James Hunt retired with a broken throttle linkage, Vittorio Brambilla with oil cooler problems and Ian Scheckter crashed. Emerson Fittipaldi was challenging Depailler for 4th place when he suffered a cracked plug lead. Jody Scheckter drove maturely to hold on to his only home win from Reutemann.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	78	1:43:16.90	3	9
2	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	78	+ 3.74	2	6
3	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	78	+ 16.92	5	4
4	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	78	+ 17.31	1	3
5	12	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	78	+ 28.64	4	2
6	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	78	+ 1:03.64	16	1
7	23	Rolf Stommelen	Lola-Ford	78	+ 1:12.91	14
8	28	Mark Donohue	Penske-Ford	77	+ 1 Lap	18
9	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	77	+ 1 Lap	19
10	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	77	+ 1 Lap	8
11	34	Guy Tunmer	Lotus-Ford	76	+ 2 Laps	25
12	6	Jacky Ickx	Lotus-Ford	76	+ 2 Laps	21
13	33	Eddie Keizan	Lotus-Ford	76	+ 2 Laps	22
14	31	Dave Charlton	McLaren-Ford	76	+ 2 Laps	20
15	14	Bob Evans	BRM	76	+ 2 Laps	24
16	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	71	Throttle	9
17	27	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	70	Transmission	6
NC	21	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	69	Not classified	23
NC	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	65	Not classified	11
Ret	32	Ian Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	55	Accident	17
Ret	24	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	53	Fuel system	12
Ret	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	37	Overheating	13
Ret	10	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	23	Fuel system	26
Ret	20	Arturo Merzario	Williams-Ford	22	Engine	15
Ret	18	John Watson	Surtees-Ford	19	Clutch	10
Ret	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	16	Radiator	7
DNQ	30	Wilson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford
DNQ	22	Graham Hill	Lola-Ford
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Emerson Fittipaldi 15 2 Carlos Pace 12 3 Carlos Reutemann 10 4 Jody Scheckter 9 5 James Hunt 7

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Brabham-Ford 19 2 McLaren-Ford 16 3 Tyrrell-Ford 11 4 Ferrari 8 5 Hesketh-Ford 7

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

References

1. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 71. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
2. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 72. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
3. "1975 South African Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.