1974 USA Grand Prix

 1974 USA Grand Prix

Racing data
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
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

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
John Player Team Lotus	1	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus 72 E	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	2	Jacky Ickx
	31	Tim donation	Lotus 76
Eleven Team Tyrrell	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell 007		G
	4th	Patrick Depailler
Marlboro Team Texaco	5	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren M23		G
	6th	Denis Hulme
Yardley Team McLaren	33	Jochen Mass
Motor Racing Developments	7th	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham BT44		G
	8th	Carlos Pace
March engineering	9	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March 741		G
	10	Vittorio Brambilla
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari 312B3	Ferrari 001/11 3.0 F12	G
	12	Niki Lauda
Team Motul BRM	14th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM P201	BRM P200 3.0 V12	F.
	15th	Chris Amon
UOP Shadow Racing Team	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow DN3	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	17th	Jean-Pierre Jarier
Team Surtees	18th	José Dolhem	Surtees TS16		F.
	19th	Helmut Koinigg
Frank Williams Racing Cars	20th	Arturo Merzario	Iso-Marlboro FW03		F.
	21st	Jacques Laffite	Iso-Marlboro FW02
Team Ensign	22nd	Mike Wilds	Ensign N174		F.
Hesketh Racing	24	James Hunt	Hesketh 308		G
Embassy Racing with Graham Hill	26th	Graham Hill	Lola T370		F.
	27	Rolf Stommelen
John Goldie Racing with Hexagon	28	John Watson	Brabham BT44		F.
Checkered Flag	42	Ian Ashley	Brabham BT42		G
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing	55	Mario Andretti	Parnelli VPJ4		F.
Penske Cars	66	Mark Donohue	Penske PC1		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	1: 38.978	197.680 km / h	01
02	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	1: 38.995	197.646 km / h	02
03	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	1: 39.209	197.220 km / h	03
04th	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	1: 39.284	197.071 km / h	04th
05	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1: 39.327	196.986 km / h	05
06th	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 39.478	196.687 km / h	06th
07th	John Watson	Brabham-Ford	1: 39.527	196.590 km / h	07th
08th	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	1: 39.538	196.568 km / h	08th
09	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 39,600	196.446 km / h	09
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
01	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	59	0	1: 40: 21.439	01
02	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	59	0	+ 10.735	04th	1: 40.608
03	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	59	0	+1: 10.384	02
04th	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	59	0	+1: 17.753	08th
05	John Watson	Brabham-Ford	59	0	+1: 25.804	07th
06th	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	59	0	+1: 27.506	13
07th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	59	0	+1: 30.012	20th
08th	Graham Hill	Lola Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	24
09	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	09
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	06th		defective fuel supply
-	Arturo Merzario	Iso-Ford	43	0	DNF	15th		Electrical defect
-	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	38	0	DNF	05		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	09	0	DNF	23		deadly accident
-	Jacky Ickx	Lotus Ford	07th	0	DNF	16		Suspension damage
-	Tim donation	Lotus Ford	06th	0	DSQ	27		disqualified
-	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	04th	0	DSQ	03		disqualified
-	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	04th	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

Item driver constructor Points 01  Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren 55 02  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 52 03  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 45 04th  Niki Lauda Ferrari 38 05  Ronnie Peterson lotus 35 06th  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 32 07th  Denis Hulme McLaren 20th 08th  James Hunt Hesketh 15th 09  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 14th 10  Mike Hailwood McLaren 12

Item driver constructor Points 11  Jacky Ickx lotus 12 12  Carlos Pace Surtees / Brabham 11 13  Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 10 14th  Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow 6th 15th  John Watson Brabham 6th 16  Hans-Joachim Stuck March 5 17th  Arturo Merzario Iso-Marlboro 4th 18th  Vittorio Brambilla March 1 19th  Tom Pryce Shadow 1 20th  Graham Hill Lola 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  McLaren 73 02  Ferrari 65 03  Tyrrell 52 04th  lotus 42 05  Brabham 35 06th  Hesketh 15th

Item constructor Points 07th  BRM 10 08th  Shadow 7th 09  March 6th 10  Iso-Marlboro 4th 11  Surtees 3 12  Lola 1

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 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
2. ↑ "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)  
3. ^ "Report" (accessed on November 18, 2011)
4. ↑ "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)