1975 USA Grand Prix

 1975 USA Grand Prix

Racing data
14th of 14 races of the 1975 automobile world championship
Surname:	XVIII United States Grand Prix
Date:	5th October 1975
Place:	Watkins Glen
Course:	Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Length:	320.665 km in 59 laps of 5.435 km
Weather:	cloudy but warm
Pole position
Driver:	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time:	1: 42.003 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren
Time:	1: 43.374 min
Podium
First:	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Second:	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren
Third:	Jochen Mass	McLaren

The 1975 USA Grand Prix took place on October 5th as the 14th and final race of the 1975 Automobile World Championship in Watkins Glen.

Reports

background

Tom Pryce in the Shadow DN5

About a month after the Italian Grand Prix , in which the world championship had already been decided in favor of Niki Lauda and Ferrari , the season finale took place in Watkins Glen.

The teams BRM , Surtees and Maki completely waived their participation, while Hill and Ensign each competed with only one car. Also March reduced its exposure by only two instead of the three usually works cars were reported recently. The driver of the third car, Lella Lombardi , then switched to Williams .

Wilson Fittipaldi and Brian Henton returned to the field, the latter again replacing Jim Crawford in the second factory Lotus .

Tyrrell main sponsor Elf financed the use of a third Tyrrell 007 for the newcomer Michel Leclère . At Penske it was decided to bring the in-house development PC1 back to the start for the home race , after having used a customer march several times in the previous races in Europe. John Watson , who was unemployed due to the non-participation of the Surtees team, was hired as the driver, who had to switch to a different team and vehicle for the third time this season.

training

Niki Lauda, ​​who had by far the most pole positions in the season so far, also qualified for the best starting position in the finale. Emerson Fittipaldi , who had been replaced as the reigning world champion, started alongside him . The second row formed the Brabham of Carlos Reutemann and the Shadow of Jean-Pierre Jarier . With Parnelli drivers Mario Andretti and Vittorio Brambilla on March, there were six different vehicles on the first three rows. Tom Pryce, the second factory shadow next to Patrick Depailler, followed in seventh place .

run

Lella Lombardi was unable to start during the warm-up laps due to a technical defect. Jacques Laffite had accidentally treated his sore eyes with a helmet visor cleaner instead of eye drops. Thus, both vehicles of Frank Williams' team could not take part in the race.

Lauda won the starting duel against Fittipaldi. The order of the first two did not change during the entire race.

In third place was Jarier, ahead of Brambilla, Reutemann, Andretti and James Hunt , who started from 15th place and who quickly caught up. Pace and Depailler collided on the second lap and were eliminated.

When Regazzoni was far behind after a pit stop, he prevented Fittipaldi from lapping for six laps, despite the blue flags being waved by the marshals. The race director then showed him the black flag in order to order him into the pits for a verbal warning. In protest against this action by the race management, Ferrari's team boss Luca di Montezemolo decided to take Regazzoni out of the race.

After Reutemann and Andretti as well as Jarier had retired due to technical defects, Hunt was in third place ahead of Jochen Mass , Ronnie Peterson and Jody Scheckter . On the 33rd lap, Mass managed to overtake Hunt. In the 50th lap Peterson succeeded, but Hunt successfully countered in the last lap and thus secured fourth place behind Mass and in front of Peterson.

It was Ferrari's first win at the US Grand Prix. In addition, the first time the pilot won the race who also finished the season as world champion.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Marlboro Team Texaco	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren M23	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	2	Jochen Mass
Eleven Team Tyrrell	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell 007		G
	4th	Patrick Depailler
	15th	Michel Leclère
John Player Team Lotus	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus 72 E		G
	6th	Brian Henton
Martini Racing	7th	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham BT44 B		G
	8th	Carlos Pace
Beta Team March	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March 751		G
Lavazza March	10	Hans-Joachim Stuck			G
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari 312T	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	G
	12	Niki Lauda
UOP Shadow Racing Team	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow DN5	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	17th	Jean-Pierre Jarier
Frank Williams Racing Cars	20th	Lella Lombardi	Williams FW04		G
	21st	Jacques Laffite
Embassy Racing with Graham Hill	23	Tony Breeze	Hill GH1		G
Hesketh Racing	24	James Hunt	Hesketh 308 C.		G
	25th	Brett Lunger	Hesketh 308
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing	27	Mario Andretti	Parnelli VPJ4		G
Penske Cars	28	John Watson	Penske PC1		G
Copersucar-Fittipaldi	30th	Wilson Fittipaldi	Copersucar FD03		G
HB Bewaking Team Ensign	31	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign N175		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1: 42.003	191.818 km / h	01
02	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	1: 42.360	191.149 km / h	02
03	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	1: 42.685	190.544 km / h	03
04th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	1: 42.759	190.407 km / h	04th
05	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	1: 42.822	190.290 km / h	05
06th	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1: 42.846	190.246 km / h	06th
07th	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	1: 42.960	190.035 km / h	07th
08th	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 43.032	189.902 km / h	08th
09	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1: 43,100	189.777 km / h	09
10	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 43.127	189.727 km / h	10
11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 43.246	189.509 km / h	11
12	John Watson	Penske-Ford	1: 43.310	189.391 km / h	12
13	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1: 43.417	189.195 km / h	13
14th	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	1: 43.570	188.916 km / h	14th
15th	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	1: 43.820	188.461 km / h	15th
16	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	1: 44.054	188.037 km / h	16
17th	Tony Breeze	Hill-Ford	1: 44.064	188.019 km / h	17th
18th	Brett Lunger	Hesketh-Ford	1: 45.236	185.925 km / h	18th
19th	Brian Henton	Lotus Ford	1: 45.244	185.911 km / h	19th
20th	Michel Leclère	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 46.023	184.545 km / h	20th
21st	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	1: 46.032	184.529 km / h	21st
22nd	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign-Ford	1: 47.227	182.473 km / h	22nd
23	Wilson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	1: 48.226	180.788 km / h	23
24	Lella Lombardi	Williams-Ford	1: 49.734	178.304 km / h	24

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	59	0	1: 42: 58.175	01	1: 43.386
02	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	59	0	+ 4.943	02	1: 43.374
03	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	59	0	+ 47.637	09	1: 43.716
04th	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	59	0	+ 49.475	15th	1: 44.835
05	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	59	0	+ 49.986	14th	1: 43.558
06th	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	59	0	+ 50.321	10	1: 43.641
07th	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	59	0	+1: 44.031	06th	1: 43.717
08th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	58	1	+ 1 lap	13	1: 43.811
09	John Watson	Penske-Ford	57	1	+ 2 rounds	12	1: 46.040
10	Wilson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	55	0	+ 4 rounds	23	1: 50.019
-	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	52	0	NC	07th	1: 43.869	Unrated
-	Brian Henton	Lotus Ford	49	1	NC	19th	1: 47.451	Unrated
-	Brett Lunger	Hesketh-Ford	46	0	DNF	18th	1: 44.784	Driving error
-	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign-Ford	41	0	DNF	22nd	1: 48.291	Gearbox damage
-	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	28	1	DNF	11	1: 45.851	task
-	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	19th	0	DNF	04th	1: 45.396	Wheel bearing damage
-	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	09	0	DNF	03	1: 46.616	Engine failure
-	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	09	0	DNF	05	1: 45.938	Suspension damage
-	Tony Breeze	Hill-Ford	05	0	DNF	17th	1: 48.501	Driving error
-	Michel Leclère	Tyrrell-Ford	05	0	DNF	20th	1: 51.229	Engine failure
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	02	0	DNF	08th	1: 50.809	collision
-	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	02	0	DNF	16	1: 49.613	collision
-	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	-	0	DNS	21st	-	not started
-	Lella Lombardi	Williams-Ford	-	0	DNS	24	-	not started

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  Niki Lauda Ferrari 64.5 02  Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren 45.0 03  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 37.0 04th  James Hunt Hesketh 33.0 05  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 25.0 06th  Carlos Pace Brabham 24.0 07th  Jochen Mass McLaren 20.0 08th  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 20.0 09  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 12.0 10  Tom Pryce Shadow 8.0 11  Vittorio Brambilla March 6.5

Item driver constructor Points 12  Ronnie Peterson lotus 6.0 13  Jacques Laffite Williams 6.0 14th  Mario Andretti Parnelli 5.0 15th  Mark Donohue Penske / March 4.0 16  Jacky Ickx lotus 3.0 17th  Alan Jones Hill 2.0 18th  Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow 1.5 19th  Gijs van Lennep Ensign 1.0 20th  Tony Breeze Hill 1.0 21st  Lella Lombardi March 0.5

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 72.5 02  Brabham 54.0 03  McLaren 53.0 04th  Hesketh 33.0 05  Tyrrell 25.0 06th  Shadow 9.5 07th  lotus 9.0

Item constructor Points 08th  March 7.5 09  Williams 6.0 10  Parnelli 5.0 11  Hill 3.0 12  Penske 2.0 13  Ensign 1.0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training" ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2015 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 January 22, 2012)  
2. ↑ "Race" ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on January 22, 2012)  
3. ^ "Report" (accessed on January 22, 2012)
4. ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2015 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 January 22, 2012)  

Web links

Commons : 1975 USA Grand Prix  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website