1974 USA Grand Prix
Racing data | ||
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15th of 15 races of the 1974 Automobile World Championship | ||
Surname: | XVII United States Grand Prix | |
Date: | October 6, 1974 | |
Place: | Watkins Glen | |
Course: | Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course | |
Length: | 320.665 km in 59 laps of 5.435 km
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Weather: | sunny and warm | |
Pole position | ||
Driver: | Carlos Reutemann | Brabham |
Time: | 1: 38.978 min | |
Fastest lap | ||
Driver: | Carlos Pace | Brabham |
Time: | 1: 40.608 min | |
Podium | ||
First: | Carlos Reutemann | Brabham |
Second: | Carlos Pace | Brabham |
Third: | James Hunt | Hesketh |
The 1974 USA Grand Prix, which took place in Watkins Glen on October 6, was the fifteenth and final race of the 1974 World Automobile Championship .
Reports
background
The 1974 season, whose previous 14 races had produced seven different winners, ended with the US Grand Prix, which was held again in Watkins Glen almost exactly one year after François Cevert's fatal accident . For the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks previously competed four title contenders. Before the final run it was only a trio, as Niki Lauda was now too far behind in the points table to be able to become world champion.
Emerson Fittipaldi and Clay Regazzoni were tied at the top of the table. Since Fittipaldi had already won three races this season and Regazzoni only one, the Brazilian would have the decisive advantage in the event of another tie after the last race. If the two opponents achieved a result outside of the points, Fittipaldi would be world champion. However, this only applied if the third competitor Jody Scheckter had taken second place at most. Conversely, this meant that Scheckter would definitely have to win the race to become world champion. This, in turn, would only have been enough to triumph if Regazzoni had finished fourth and Fittipaldi had finished fifth. Regazzoni needed a place ahead of Fittipaldi to win the title. A single rank would have been enough. In the event of a fifth or sixth place, however, Scheckter could have finished second at most.
During test drives that followed the Canadian GP, one of the Ferrari 312B3s was badly damaged by Clay Regazzoni in an accident . The Scuderia Ferrari was then rushed two spare chassis from Italy fly. After his accident that he had during the Canadian Grand Prix, Jody Scheckter also needed a new car, which the Tyrrell team had to get from Great Britain as quickly as possible.
After repeated non-qualification, the Surtees had decided against Derek Bell before the final run and instead decided on a return of José Dolhem . One of the few other changes in the entry list compared to the previous race was Tim Schenken's guest start in a third Lotus factory car. He drove the problematic Type 76 , while the two regular drivers Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx continued to prefer the outdated, but mature Type 72 .
Team McLaren , which was still in the duel for the constructors' championship with Ferrari, surprised the competition with an innovation. The helmets of the two regular drivers Emerson Fittipaldi and Denis Hulme were equipped with radio equipment. What became the standard in motorsport a few years later was an experiment that was stopped during training because the engine noise made it impossible for the driver and pit crew to communicate.
training
The training began with a serious accident involving Jean-Pierre Beltoise , who was unable to take part in the rest of the weekend due to his foot injuries.
During the first day of training, Mario Andretti caused a little sensation by setting the fastest time of the day with the new Parnelli VPJ4 . The vehicle, like the Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing team , was only registered for a Grand Prix for the second time. Even during the training sessions on Saturday, the best time lasted for some time before it was undercut by Carlos Reutemann and James Hunt towards the end of the final training . Carlos Pace underlined the competitiveness of the Brabham team this weekend with the fourth fastest time .
Behind the fifth placed Lauda, the first of the three title contenders followed in sixth place with Jody Scheckter. Behind John Watson , his opponents Fittipaldi and Regazzoni followed in eighth and ninth place.
The twelfth starting position for Chris Amon in the only remaining BRM was positive, while the disappointing positions of the two Lotus regular drivers Peterson and Ickx with starting positions 16 and 19 were negative. Tim Schenken in the third factory Lotus was even one of the four drivers who failed at the qualification hurdle. Nevertheless, he entered the race without permission.
run
On race Sunday the weather was clear and sunny with pleasantly warm temperatures. Andretti noticed problems with the ignition during the warm-up lap. After these had apparently been fixed by his pit crew, the race started 25 minutes late. Andretti had taken his starting place in the second row, but his ignition failed again at the start, so that the other pilots had to quickly evade his stalled car, which everyone succeeded. Andretti was only able to start the race after another intervention by his mechanics. Since this was not done in the pit lane, but forbidden on the grid, he was disqualified after four laps. Two laps later, Schenken was also shown the black flag because he had entered the race despite having failed to qualify.
Reutemann meanwhile led ahead of Hunt, Pace, Lauda, Scheckter and Fittipaldi. It was followed by Regazzoni, who, however, ran into numerous competitors after just a few laps. Among them were John Watson and Arturo Merzario , who overtook him a little later. Fourth-placed Lauda then tried to support his teammate in the fight for the title by keeping Scheckter and Fittipaldi behind after his team had alerted him to Regazzoni's obvious handling problems via a pit board.
In the tenth lap, Helmut Koinigg , who had only started a Grand Prix for the second time, came off the track and crashed head-on into the guardrails. The tip of his vehicle pushed the two lower of the three guardrails mounted on top of one another and insufficiently fastened backwards. The top one killed him on impact on the head. When news of his death reached the pits, in response, his team took the second driver, José Dolhem, out of the race after the 25th lap.
Regazzoni came to the pits to change tires, but could not notice any improvement in the driving behavior of his car and had to put up with the fact that he had been eliminated from the fight for the title. In the meantime, no position changes had taken place among the drivers placed in the first six places in the race.
Around the beginning of the second half of the race, the second Ferrari driver Lauda also had handling problems, which meant that he initially fell behind Scheckter and Fittipaldi. In the 38th lap he headed for the pits, where the cause was determined to be a defective shock absorber that could have been replaced. However, given the news of his compatriot's death that he received from his team during the pit stop, Lauda decided against continuing the race.
When Scheckter retired on lap 45 due to problems with the fuel system, Fittipaldi was definitely the world champion for the second time. Team McLaren was also unable to take away the constructors' title due to the problems with the rival Ferrari team.
During the latter part of the race, Hunt also got into increasing difficulties due to worn brakes. Pace caught up and passed the Brit with four laps to go.
The Brabham team achieved their first one-two since the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix .
Registration list
Classifications
Starting grid
Item | driver | constructor | time | Ø speed | begin |
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1 | Carlos Reutemann | Brabham-Ford | 1: 38.978 | 197.680 km / h | 1 |
2 | James Hunt | Hesketh-Ford | 1: 38.995 | 197.646 km / h | 2 |
3 | Mario Andretti | Parnelli-Ford | 1: 39.209 | 197.220 km / h | 3 |
4th | Carlos Pace | Brabham-Ford | 1: 39.284 | 197.071 km / h | 4th |
5 | Niki Lauda | Ferrari | 1: 39.327 | 196.986 km / h | 5 |
6th | Jody Scheckter | Tyrrell-Ford | 1: 39.478 | 196.687 km / h | 6th |
7th | John Watson | Brabham-Ford | 1: 39.527 | 196.590 km / h | 7th |
8th | Emerson Fittipaldi | McLaren-Ford | 1: 39.538 | 196.568 km / h | 8th |
9 | Clay Regazzoni | Ferrari | 1: 39,600 | 196.446 km / h | 9 |
10 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Shadow Ford | 1: 40.317 | 195.042 km / h | 10 |
11 | Jacques Laffite | Iso-Ford | 1: 40.597 | 194.499 km / h | 11 |
12 | Chris Amon | BRM | 1: 40.700 | 194.300 km / h | 12 |
13 | Patrick Depailler | Tyrrell-Ford | 1: 40.700 | 194.300 km / h | 13 |
14th | Mark Donohue | Penske-Ford | 1: 40.834 | 194.042 km / h | 14th |
15th | Arturo Merzario | Iso-Ford | 1: 40.854 | 194.003 km / h | 15th |
16 | Jacky Ickx | Lotus Ford | 1: 40.876 | 193.961 km / h | 16 |
17th | Denis Hulme | McLaren-Ford | 1: 41.027 | 193.671 km / h | 17th |
18th | Tom Pryce | Shadow Ford | 1: 41.188 | 193.363 km / h | 18th |
19th | Ronnie Peterson | Lotus Ford | 1: 41.195 | 193.349 km / h | 19th |
20th | Jochen Mass | McLaren-Ford | 1: 41,300 | 193.149 km / h | 20th |
21st | Rolf Stommelen | Lola Ford | 1: 41.370 | 193.016 km / h | 21st |
22nd | Mike Wilds | Ensign-Ford | 1: 41,500 | 192.768 km / h | 22nd |
23 | Helmut Koinigg | Surtees-Ford | 1: 41.763 | 192.270 km / h | 23 |
24 | Graham Hill | Lola Ford | 1: 41.901 | 192.010 km / h | 24 |
25th | Vittorio Brambilla | March-Ford | 1: 42.031 | 191.765 km / h | 25th |
26th | José Dolhem | Surtees-Ford | 1: 42.914 | 190.120 km / h | 26th |
DNQ | Tim donation | Lotus Ford | 1: 43.243 | 189.514 km / h | 27 1 |
DNQ | Hans-Joachim Stuck | March-Ford | 1: 43.606 | 188.850 km / h | - |
DNQ | Ian Ashley | Brabham-Ford | 1: 43.801 | 188.495 km / h | - |
DNQ | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | BRM | no time | - | - |
1 Tim Schenken started despite not qualifying.
run
Item | driver | constructor | Round | Stops | time | begin | Fastest lap | Failure reason |
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1 | Carlos Reutemann | Brabham-Ford | 59 | 0 | 1: 40: 21.439 | 1 | ||
2 | Carlos Pace | Brabham-Ford | 59 | 0 | + 10.735 | 4th | 1: 40.608 | |
3 | James Hunt | Hesketh-Ford | 59 | 0 | +1: 10.384 | 2 | ||
4th | Emerson Fittipaldi | McLaren-Ford | 59 | 0 | +1: 17.753 | 8th | ||
5 | John Watson | Brabham-Ford | 59 | 0 | +1: 25.804 | 7th | ||
6th | Patrick Depailler | Tyrrell-Ford | 59 | 0 | +1: 27.506 | 13 | ||
7th | Jochen Mass | McLaren-Ford | 59 | 0 | +1: 30.012 | 20th | ||
8th | Graham Hill | Lola Ford | 58 | 0 | + 1 lap | 24 | ||
9 | Chris Amon | BRM | 57 | 0 | + 2 rounds | 12 | ||
10 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Shadow Ford | 57 | 1 | + 2 rounds | 10 | ||
11 | Clay Regazzoni | Ferrari | 55 | 3 | + 4 rounds | 9 | ||
12 | Rolf Stommelen | Lola Ford | 54 | 2 | + 5 rounds | 21st | ||
- | Ronnie Peterson | Lotus Ford | 52 | 1 | + 7 rounds | 19th | defective fuel supply | |
- | Mike Wilds | Ensign-Ford | 50 | 1 | NC | 22nd | Unrated | |
- | Tom Pryce | Shadow Ford | 47 | 1 | NC | 18th | Unrated | |
- | Jody Scheckter | Tyrrell-Ford | 44 | 0 | DNF | 6th | defective fuel supply | |
- | Arturo Merzario | Iso-Ford | 43 | 0 | DNF | 15th | Electrical defect | |
- | Niki Lauda | Ferrari | 38 | 0 | DNF | 5 | Suspension damage | |
- | Jacques Laffite | Iso-Ford | 31 | 0 | DNF | 11 | Engine failure | |
- | Mark Donohue | Penske-Ford | 27 | 0 | DNF | 14th | Suspension damage | |
- | José Dolhem | Surtees-Ford | 25th | 0 | WD | 26th | task | |
- | Vittorio Brambilla | March-Ford | 21st | 0 | DNF | 25th | defective fuel supply | |
- | Helmut Koinigg | Surtees-Ford | 9 | 0 | DNF | 23 | deadly accident | |
- | Jacky Ickx | Lotus Ford | 7th | 0 | DNF | 16 | Suspension damage | |
- | Tim donation | Lotus Ford | 6th | 0 | DSQ | 27 | disqualified | |
- | Mario Andretti | Parnelli-Ford | 4th | 0 | DSQ | 3 | disqualified | |
- | Denis Hulme | McLaren-Ford | 4th | 0 | DNF | 17th | 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
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Constructors' championship
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Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fight at the limit. The Formula 1 Chronicle 1950–2000 , ed. v. Willy Knupp, RTL book edition: Zeitgeist Publisher: Düsseldorf / Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-89748-277-0
- ↑ "Training" ( memento of the original from January 29, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on November 18, 2011)
- ^ "Report" (accessed on November 18, 2011)
- ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on November 18, 2011)