Grand Prix of Austria 1975

 Grand Prix of Austria 1975

Racing data
12th of 14 races of the 1975 automobile world championship
Surname:	XIII Grand Prix of Austria Grand Prix of Europe
Date:	17th August 1975
Place:	Spielberg
Course:	Österreichring
Length:	171.419 km in 29 laps of 5.911 km
Planned:	319.194 km in 54 laps of 5.911 km
Weather:	heavy rain
Spectator:	~ 140,000
Pole position
Driver:	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time:	1: 34.85 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Vittorio Brambilla	March
Time:	1: 53.90 min
Podium
First:	Vittorio Brambilla	March
Second:	James Hunt	Hesketh
Third:	Tom Pryce	Shadow

The 1975 Austrian Grand Prix took place on August 17th at the Österreichring near Zeltweg and was the twelfth race of the 1975 automobile world championship . The race also had the FIA title of honor European Grand Prix .

Reports

background

Before his home race, Niki Lauda was 17 points ahead of his pursuers Carlos Reutemann in the World Championship standings . Defending champion Emerson Fittipaldi was 18 points short of the Austrian with three remaining World Cup races.

30 participants were registered for the race weekend and took part in the training.

The Surtees team , which had skipped the German Grand Prix due to damage to the works car, returned to the field with regular driver John Watson after a successful repair , whereupon Lotus instead of Watson competed again with Brian Henton and regular driver Ronnie Peterson .

Rolf Stommelen , who had a serious accident at the Spanish Grand Prix , returned to the Embassy Hill team, whereupon Alan Jones had to vacate his cockpit. Also after several months of absence, Chris Amon dared to make a comeback in Formula 1 at the wheel of a second factory Ensign .

At Shadow , one of the two works cars was equipped with a V12 engine from Matra. This was driven by Jean-Pierre Jarier , while his team-mate Tom Pryce continued to race with the conventional Ford V8 engine.

Two drivers made their debut in Formula 1 this weekend. They were Jo Vonlanthen as pay driver in the second Williams and Brett Lunger , who drove the second factory Hesketh , while the Warsteiner Brewery continued to finance Harald Ertl's work , but in good shape from now on of a private team.

training

For the seventh time this season, Niki Lauda secured pole position. James Hunt achieved second place on the front row with a training time that was almost a tenth of a second slower. It was followed by Emerson Fittipaldi and Hans-Joachim Stuck , who shared the second row. Clay Regazzoni , Carlos Pace , Patrick Depailler and Vittorio Brambilla qualified behind .

Even before the actual race, the weekend was overshadowed by two serious accidents. Wilson Fittipaldi sustained broken bones in one hand when he had an accident with his Copersucar while training. In the warm-up before the race, however, an even more dramatic incident occurred. Mark Donohue came off the track due to a puncture in the fast Vöst-Hügel curve, which at that time had not yet been modified by a braking chicane, and hit the crash barriers and an advertising board. Two marshals were seriously injured. One of them later died. Donohue was initially conscious, but lost it a little later on the way to the hospital in Graz . On Tuesday after the race, he died there from his serious injuries.

run

Shortly before the start, the clouds condensed over the racetrack and it began to rain heavily on some sections of the course. The vehicles were converted to rain tires. The start was postponed for a few minutes.

Lauda took the lead ahead of Hunt and the well-started Depailler. Stuck, Fittipaldi, Brambilla and Scheckter followed. The Italian impressed by overtaking Fittipaldi, Stuck and Depailler during the first few laps and thus taking third place.

In the 15th lap, both Hunt and Brambilla passed Lauda and even gained a clear lead over him. When Hunt ran into Brett Lunger to be lapped on the 19th lap, Brambilla took the opportunity and pulled past both vehicles to the front.

While the weather conditions gradually deteriorated, the organizers thought about stopping the race. Participants who had already failed, who had experienced the difficult visibility and the slippery route from the cockpit, encouraged them to make this decision.

At the end of the 29th lap the race was finally stopped. The leader Brambilla was taken by surprise and jubilantly jerked his arms up as he crossed the finish line. In doing so, he lost control of his car and hit the guardrails. However, he managed to get back on the track and completed the lap of honor with a clearly demolished vehicle.

This was the second victory for a March car . Since Jackie Stewart's success at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1970 had come about under the direction of the then Tyrrell customer team , it was now the first victory of the March factory team.

For Brambilla this was the first and only Grand Prix victory of his career. At the same time, this was his only podium finish and he had completed the fastest race lap for the only time. Tom Pryce, who finished third behind James Hunt, also climbed the podium for the first time. Since less than 75 percent of the originally planned race distance had been completed, only half the number of points was awarded in accordance with the regulations.

Niki Lauda only had to score one point in the two remaining races to become world champion. Should he not succeed in this, Reutemann would only be sure of the title in the event of two wins.

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
John Player Team Lotus	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus 72E		G
	6th	Brian Henton
Martini Racing	7th	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham BT44B		G
	8th	Carlos Pace
Beta Team March	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March 751		G
Lavazza March	10	Hans-Joachim Stuck			G
	29	Lella Lombardi
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari 312T	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	G
	12	Niki Lauda
Stanley BRM	14th	Bob Evans	BRM P201	BRM P200 3.0 V12	G
UOP Shadow Racing Team	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow DN5	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	17th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow DN7	Matra MS73 3.0 V12
Team Surtees	18th	John Watson	Surtees TS16	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Frank Williams Racing Cars	20th	Jo Vonlanthen	Iso-Marlboro FW03		G
	21st	Jacques Laffite	Williams FW04
Embassy Racing with Graham Hill	22nd	Rolf Stommelen	Hill GH1		G
	23	Tony Breeze
Hesketh Racing	24	James Hunt	Hesketh 308		G
	25th	Brett Lunger
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing	27	Mario Andretti	Parnelli VPJ4		G
Penske Cars	28	Mark Donohue	March 751		G
Copersucar-Fittipaldi	30th	Wilson Fittipaldi	Copersucar FD03		G
HB Bewaking Team Ensign	31	Chris Amon	Ensign N175		G
	33	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign N174
Warsteiner Brewery	32	Harald Ertl	Hesketh 308		G
Maki engineering	35	Tony Trimmer	Maki F101C		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1: 34.85	224.350 km / h	01
02	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	1: 34.97	224.067 km / h	02
03	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	1: 35.21	223.502 km / h	03
04th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1: 35.38	223.103 km / h	04th
05	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 35.41	223.033 km / h	05
06th	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	1: 35.71	222.334 km / h	06th
07th	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 35.78	222.172 km / h	07th
08th	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1: 35.80	222.125 km / h	08th
09	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1: 36.12	221.386 km / h	09
10	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 36.14	221.340 km / h	10
11	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	1: 36.43	220.674 km / h	11
12	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	1: 37.60	218.029 km / h	12
13	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	1: 37.61	218.006 km / h	13
14th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Matra	1: 37.62	217.984 km / h	14th
15th	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	1: 37.64	217.939 km / h	15th
16	Tony Breeze	Hill-Ford	1: 37.69	217.828 km / h	16
17th	Brett Lunger	Hesketh-Ford	1: 37.87	217.427 km / h	17th
18th	John Watson	Surtees-Ford	1: 37.96	217.227 km / h	18th
19th	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	1: 37.97	217.205 km / h	19th
20th	Wilson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	1: 38.14	216.829 km / h	DNS
21st	Mark Donohue	March-Ford	1: 38.19	216.719 km / h	DNS
22nd	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	1: 38.43	216.190 km / h	20th
23	Brian Henton	Lotus Ford	1: 38.72	215.555 km / h	DNS
24	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	1: 38.75	215.490 km / h	21st
25th	Bob Evans	BRM	1: 39.53	213.801 km / h	22nd
26th	Rolf Stommelen	Hill-Ford	1: 39.56	213.736 km / h	23
27	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1: 40.72	211.275 km / h	24
28	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign-Ford	1: 42.58	207.444 km / h	25th
29	Jo Vonlanthen	Williams-Ford	1: 42.80	207,000 km / h	26th
DNQ	Tony Trimmer	Maki-Ford	1: 44.88	202.895 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	29	0	0: 57: 56: 69	08th	1: 53.90
02	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	29	0	+ 27.03	02
03	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	29	0	+ 34.85	15th
04th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	29	0	+1: 12.66	09
05	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	29	1	+1: 23.33	13
06th	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	29	0	+1: 30.28	01
07th	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	29	0	+1: 39.07	05
08th	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	28	1	+ 1 lap	10
09	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	28	0	+ 1 lap	03
10	John Watson	Surtees-Ford	28	0	+ 1 lap	18th
11	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	28	0	+ 1 lap	07th
12	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	28	0	+ 1 lap	21st
13	Brett Lunger	Hesketh-Ford	28	0	+ 1 lap	17th
14th	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	28	0	+ 1 lap	11
15th	Tony Breeze	Hill-Ford	28	0	+ 1 lap	16
16	Rolf Stommelen	Hill-Ford	27	0	+ 2 rounds	23
17th	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	26th	0	+ 3 rounds	20th
-	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign-Ford	25th	0	NC	25th		Unrated
-	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	23	0	DNF	24		Electrical damage
-	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	21st	0	DNF	12		Handling problems
-	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	17th	1	DNF	06th		Engine failure
-	Jo Vonlanthen	Williams-Ford	14th	0	DNF	26th		defective ignition
-	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	10	0	DNF	04th		Driving error
-	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Matra	10	0	DNF	14th		defective injection
-	Bob Evans	BRM	02	0	DNF	22nd		Engine failure
-	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	01	0	DNF	19th		Driving error

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 51.5 02  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 34.0 03  Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren 33.0 04th  James Hunt Hesketh 28.0 05  Carlos Pace Brabham 24.0 06th  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 19.0 07th  Jochen Mass McLaren 16.0 08th  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 16.0 09  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 12.0 10  Tom Pryce Shadow 7.0 11  Vittorio Brambilla March 6.5

Item driver constructor Points 12  Jacques Laffite Williams 6.0 13  Mario Andretti Parnelli 5.0 14th  Ronnie Peterson lotus 4.0 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 54.5 02  Brabham 51.0 03  McLaren 41.0 04th  Hesketh 28.0 05  Tyrrell 24.0 06th  Shadow 8.5 07th  March 7.5

Item constructor Points 08th  lotus 7.0 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 December 24, 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. ^ "Report" (accessed on January 22, 2012)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from May 10, 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 January 22, 2012)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website