1972 USA Grand Prix

 1972 USA Grand Prix

Racing data
12th of 12 races of the 1972 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	United States Grand Prix
Date:	October 8, 1972
Place:	Watkins Glen
Course:	Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Length:	320.37 km in 59 laps of 5.43 km
Weather:	cold and dry at first, later light showers
Pole position
Driver:	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell
Time:	1: 40.481 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell
Time:	1: 41.644 min
Podium
First:	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell
Second:	François Cevert	Tyrrell
Third:	Denis Hulme	McLaren

The 1972 US Grand Prix, which took place in Watkins Glen on October 8, was the twelfth and final race of the 1972 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

A total of 31 vehicles were registered for the season finale. Many teams competed with three or four cars. In addition to Emerson Fittipaldi and Dave Walker , Reine Wisell , who had already competed for the team at the previous Canadian Grand Prix, was signed up again at Lotus . As in the French Grand Prix, Tyrrell fielded a third car for Patrick Depailler . McLaren enabled Jody Scheckter to make his Formula 1 debut at the wheel of the previous replacement car for the two regular drivers.

Surtees trained with four drivers, with John Surtees declining to participate in the race in favor of Tim Schenken . He finally ended his career as a Formula 1 driver and from then on concentrated entirely on his work as a designer and team boss. Another Surtees racing car was rented to guest starter Sam Posey , who used it privately. BRM also brought four cars to the start again, this time the fourth being driven by Brian Redman , who had occasionally been a substitute driver for McLaren during the season.

training

Last year's world champion, Jackie Stewart , secured pole position in front of the two regular McLaren drivers Peter Revson and Denis Hulme . Behind them, François Cevert and Carlos Reutemann qualified ahead of Clay Regazzoni , Chris Amon and debutant Jody Scheckter.

run

Race course

After problems in the warm-up on Sunday morning, Amon decided to start from the back of the field in a replacement car. His seventh starting position then remained empty.

Stewart took the lead in front of Hulme. Behind it, Regazzoni collided with Reutemann and Revson. This enabled Emerson Fittipaldi to take third place. This was followed by Scheckter, the well-started Jacky Ickx and finally Regazzoni, who was able to continue the race without any problems despite the collision, while his two opponents each had to pit for repairs.

Fittipaldi had to pit on the fifth lap due to a puncture. As a result, Scheckter took third place. Meanwhile, Cevert overtook the two Ferraris and, a little later, Scheckter as well. About halfway through the race he also managed to overtake Hulme and thus enable a Tyrrell double victory.

When it started to rain lightly towards the end of the race, Scheckter made a mistake on the slippery track and thereby lost his fourth place to Ronnie Peterson, who started from 26th, and ended up ninth.

The double victory in the most highly endowed race of the year brought the Tyrrell team a considerable amount of money. Stewart also managed a Grand Slam by taking pole position, the fastest race lap and the win, and by leading the race throughout.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Eleven Team Tyrrell	1	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell 005	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	2	François Cevert	Tyrrell 006
	3	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell 004
STP March Racing Team	4th	Ronnie Peterson	March 721 G		G
	5	Niki Lauda
Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing	6th	Mike Beuttler			G
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	7th	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari 312B2	Ferrari 001/1 3.0 F12	F.
	8th	Clay Regazzoni
	9	Mario Andretti
John Player Team Lotus	10	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus 72 D	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
	11	Dave Walker
	12	Pure Wisell
Marlboro BRM	14th	Peter Gethin	BRM P160 C	BRM P142 3.0 V12	F.
	15th	Brian Redman	BRM P180
	16	Howden Ganley	BRM P160 C
	17th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM P180
Equipe Matra Sports	18th	Chris Amon	Matra MS120 D	Matra MS72 3.0 V12	G
Yardley Team McLaren	19th	Denis Hulme	McLaren M19 C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	20th	Peter Revson
	21st	Jody Scheckter	McLaren M19 A
Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees	23	Mike Hailwood	Surtees TS9 B		F.
	24T		Surtees TS14 1
Team Surtees	24 2	John Surtees
		Tim donation
Ceramica Pagnossin Team Surtees	25th	Andrea de Adamich	Surtees TS9 B
Team Williams Motul	26th	Henri Pescarolo	March 721		G
	27	Carlos Pace	March 711
Motor Racing Developments	28	Graham Hill	Brabham BT37		G
	29	Carlos Reutemann
	30th	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham BT34
Martini Racing Team	31	Derek Bell	Tecno PA123 / 3	Tecno Series-P 3.0 F12	F.
Gene Mason Racing	33	Skip Barber	March 711	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Champcarr Inc.	34	Sam Posey	Surtees TS9 B		G

¹ The Surtees TS14 with the starting number 24T was available to Mike Hailwood as a T-Car , but was never used.
² John Surtees and Tim Schenken took turns during training in the Surtees TS14 with starting number 24.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 40.481	194.544 km / h	01
02	Peter Revson	McLaren-Ford	1: 40.527	194.455 km / h	02
03	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1: 41.084	193.384 km / h	03
04th	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 41.445	192.696 km / h	04th
05	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	1: 41.692	192.228 km / h	05
06th	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 41.951	191.739 km / h	06th
07th	Chris Amon	Matra	1: 41.979	191.687 km / h	07th
08th	Jody Scheckter	McLaren-Ford	1: 42.058	191.538 km / h	08th
09	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	1: 42,400	190.898 km / h	09
10	Mario Andretti	Ferrari	1: 42.482	190.746 km / h	10
11	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 42.521	190.673 km / h	11
12	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1: 42.597	190.532 km / h	12
13	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham-Ford	1: 42.766	190.219 km / h	13
14th	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	1: 43.204	189.411 km / h	14th
15th	Carlos Pace	March-Ford	1: 43.319	189.200 km / h	15th
16	Pure Wisell	Lotus Ford	1: 43.543	188.791 km / h	16
17th	Howden Ganley	BRM	1: 44.075	187.826 km / h	17th
18th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	1: 44.240	187.529 km / h	18th
19th	Andrea de Adamich	Surtees-Ford	1: 44.279	187.459 km / h	19th
20th	Skip Barber	March-Ford	1: 44.280	187.457 km / h	20th
21st	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	1: 44.369	187.297 km / h	21st
22nd	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	1: 44.433	187.182 km / h	22nd
23	Sam Posey	Surtees-Ford	1: 44.525	187.017 km / h	23
24	Brian Redman	BRM	1: 44.925	186.305 km / h	24
25th	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	1: 45.232	185.761 km / h	DNS
26th	Niki Lauda	March-Ford	1: 45.290	185.659 km / h	25th
27	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1: 46.142	184.168 km / h	26th
28	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	1: 46.313	183.872 km / h	27
29	Peter Gethin	BRM	1: 46.599	183.379 km / h	28
30th	Derek Bell	Tecno	1: 47.023	182.652 km / h	29
31	Dave Walker	Lotus Ford	1: 50.600	176.745 km / h	30th
32	Tim donation	Surtees-Ford	1: 57.674	166.120 km / h	31

run

Race course

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	59	0	1: 41: 45.354	01	1: 41.644
02	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	59	0	+ 32.268	04th
03	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	59	0	+ 37.528	03
04th	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	59	0	+1: 22.516	26th
05	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	59	0	+1: 23.119	12
06th	Mario Andretti	Ferrari	58	0	+ 1 lap	10
07th	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	11
08th	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	58	0	+ 1 lap	06th
09	Jody Scheckter	McLaren-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	08th
10	Pure Wisell	Lotus Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	16
11	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	27
12	Sam Posey	Surtees-Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	23
13	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	21st
14th	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	22nd
15th	Chris Amon	Matra	57	0	+ 2 rounds	07th
16	Skip Barber	March-Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	20th
17th	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	56	0	DNF	14th		collision
18th	Peter Revson	McLaren-Ford	54	1	DNF	02		Electrical defect
-	Niki Lauda	March-Ford	49	0	NC	25th		Unrated
-	Carlos Pace	March-Ford	48	0	DNF	15th		defective fuel pump
-	Peter Gethin	BRM	47	0	DNF	28		Engine failure
-	Howden Ganley	BRM	44	0	DNF	17th		Engine failure
-	Dave Walker	Lotus Ford	44	0	DNF	30th		Engine failure
-	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham-Ford	43	0	DNF	13		Engine failure
-	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	40	0	DNF	18th		defective ignition
-	Brian Redman	McLaren-Ford	34	0	DNF	24		Engine failure
-	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	31	1	DNF	05		Engine failure
-	Andrea de Adamich	Surtees-Ford	25th	0	DNF	19th		collision
-	Tim donation	Surtees-Ford	22nd	0	DNF	31		Suspension damage
-	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	17th	0	DNF	09		Suspension damage
-	Derek Bell	Tecno	08th	0	DNF	29		Engine failure

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Emerson Fittipaldi lotus 61 02  Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 45 03  Denis Hulme McLaren 39 04th  Jacky Ickx Ferrari 27 05  Peter Revson McLaren 23 06th  François Cevert Tyrrell 15th 07th  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 15th 08th  Mike Hailwood Surtees 13 09  Ronnie Peterson March 12 10  Chris Amon Matra 12 11  Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 9

Item driver constructor Points 12  Mario Andretti Ferrari 4th 13  Brian Redman McLaren 4th 14th  Graham Hill Brabham 4th 15th  Howden Ganley BRM 4th 16  Carlos Pace March 3 17th  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 3 18th  Andrea de Adamich Surtees 3 19th  Tim donation Surtees 2 20th  Arturo Merzario Ferrari 1 21st  Peter Gethin BRM 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  lotus 61 02  Tyrrell 51 03  McLaren 47 04th  Ferrari 33 05  Surtees 18th

Item constructor Points 06th  March 15th 07th  BRM 14th 08th  Matra 12 09  Brabham 7th

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on July 12, 2011)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on July 12, 2011)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on July 12, 2011)