1973 French Grand Prix

 1973 French Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 15 races of the 1973 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	LIX Grand Prix de France
Date:	July 1, 1973
Place:	Le Castellet
Course:	Circuit Paul Ricard
Length:	313.74 km in 54 laps of 5.81 km
Weather:	sunny and hot
Spectator:	~ 25,000
Pole position
Driver:	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell
Time:	1: 48.37 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Denis Hulme	McLaren
Time:	1: 50.99 min
Podium
First:	Ronnie Peterson	lotus
Second:	François Cevert	Tyrrell
Third:	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham

The 1973 French Grand Prix took place on July 1st at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet and was the eighth race of the 1973 Automobile World Championship .

Reports

background

After the teams had covered the long distance from Monaco to Sweden a few weeks earlier , the almost equally long return trip to southern France followed after the Grand Prix there. This left little time for further technical developments on the vehicles.

Ferrari competed with two cars again, so Arturo Merzario returned to the field. With Andrea de Adamich in the third Brabham , a second Italian was back at the start.

Mike Beuttler , who sustained injuries in a Formula 2 race, was represented in the private march of the Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie team by Reine Wisell , who had already participated as a guest starter in a private march of the Swedish Grand Prix . The Hesketh Racing team once again launched a customer march, which, as at the premiere at the Monaco Grand Prix , was driven by James Hunt .

Due to obligations at a race in the USA, Peter Revson at McLaren was repeatedly replaced by Jody Scheckter .

The new Ensign team made their debut this weekend with Formula 1 newcomer Rikky from Opel as a driver.

Originally, two more reports were planned. John Watson wanted to make his Grand Prix debut in a fourth factory Brabham. The mission should be financed by Andrea de Adamich's main sponsor. However, due to a broken leg, Watson was unable to compete. In addition, the Tecno team did not show up for the race weekend due to differences with the sponsor Martini .

Frank Williams gave Henri Pescarolo the opportunity to compete in his home Grand Prix in the second Iso-Ford alongside Howden Ganley .

training

The pole position was won by Jackie Stewart . In addition, the once again impressive Jody Scheckter and Emerson Fittipaldi qualified for the front row. The second row was taken by François Cevert and Ronnie Peterson .

run

Scheckter took the lead from the front row ahead of Peterson, who had a good start from the second row. It was followed by Jackie Stewart, Denis Hulme and Emerson Fittipaldi. These five opponents stayed together at the top until the 16th round. Then Hulme fell back with a tire problem and had to make a pit stop. A few laps later, Stewart had to stop because of a similar problem.

Since the now runner-up Peterson could not keep up with the leading Scheckter, he waved his team-mate Fittipaldi, who was leading in the world championship, through so that he could try to fight for the top. When Scheckter got into trouble briefly on lap 42 while lapping Jean-Pierre Beltoise , Fittipaldi saw a chance to overtake him. However, since Scheckter defended himself, the two duelists collided. Fittipaldi was then unable to continue, his opponent was also eliminated two laps later due to consequential damage. Peterson thus came to his first Grand Prix victory.

James Hunt scored his first championship point after another strong performance.

Stewart reached fourth place and thus took the lead in the drivers' world championship. In return, Peterson's win in the Constructors' World Championship led Lotus to pass Tyrrell to first place.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
John Player Team Lotus	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus 72E	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	2	Ronnie Peterson
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	3	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari 312B3	Ferrari 001/11 3.0 F12	G
	4th	Arturo Merzario
Eleven Team Tyrrell	5	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell 006	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	6th	François Cevert
Yardley Team McLaren	7th	Denis Hulme	McLaren M23		G
	8th	Jody Scheckter
Ceramica Pagnossin team	9	Andrea de Adamich	Brabham BT37		G
Motor Racing Developments	10	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham BT42
	11	Wilson Fittipaldi
Embassy Racing	12	Graham Hill	Shadow DN1		G
STP March Racing Team	14th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	March 731		G
Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing	15th	Pure Wisell			G
UOP Shadow Racing Team	16	George Follmer	Shadow DN1		G
	17th	Jackie Oliver
Marlboro BRM	19th	Clay Regazzoni	BRM P160E	BRM P142 3.0 V12	F.
	20th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise
	21st	Niki Lauda
Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees	23	Mike Hailwood	Surtees TS14A	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
	24	Carlos Pace
Frank Williams Racing Cars	25th	Howden Ganley	Iso-Marlboro IR2		F.
	26th	Henri Pescarolo	Iso-Marlboro IR1
Hesketh Racing	27	James Hunt	March 731		F.
Team Ensign	29	Rikky from Opel	Ensign N173		F.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 48.37	193.005 km / h	01
02	Jody Scheckter	McLaren-Ford	1: 49.18	191.574 km / h	02
03	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	1: 49.36	191.258 km / h	03
04th	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 49.39	191.206 km / h	04th
05	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	1: 49.45	191.101 km / h	05
06th	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1: 49.68	190.700 km / h	06th
07th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	March-Ford	1: 50.69	188.960 km / h	07th
08th	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	1: 50.75	188.858 km / h	08th
09	Clay Regazzoni	BRM	1: 50.99	188.449 km / h	09
10	Arturo Merzario	Ferrari	1: 51.17	188.144 km / h	10
11	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	1: 51.17	188.144 km / h	11
12	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1: 51.44	187.688 km / h	12
13	Andrea de Adamich	Brabham-Ford	1: 51.53	187.537 km / h	13
14th	James Hunt	March-Ford	1: 51.63	187.369 km / h	14th
15th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	1: 51.67	187.302 km / h	15th
16	Graham Hill	Shadow Ford	1: 51.70	187.252 km / h	16
17th	Niki Lauda	BRM	1: 51.78	187.118 km / h	17th
18th	Carlos Pace	Surtees-Ford	1: 51.88	186.950 km / h	18th
19th	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham-Ford	1: 52.07	186.633 km / h	19th
20th	George Follmer	Shadow Ford	1: 52.30	186.251 km / h	20th
21st	Jackie Oliver	Shadow Ford	1: 52.94	185.196 km / h	21st
22nd	Pure Wisell	March-Ford	1: 53.20	184.770 km / h	22nd
23	Henri Pescarolo	Iso-Ford	1: 53.56	184.185 km / h	23
24	Howden Ganley	Iso-Ford	1: 53.87	183.683 km / h	24
25th	Rikky from Opel	Ensign-Ford	1: 55.55	181.013 km / h	25th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus Ford	54	0	1: 41: 36.52	05	1: 51.65
02	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	54	0	+ 40.92	04th	1: 52.06
03	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	54	0	+ 46.48	08th	1: 52.15
04th	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	54	1	+ 46.93	01	1: 51.00
05	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	54	0	+ 48.90	12	1: 52.85
06th	James Hunt	March-Ford	54	0	+1: 22.54	14th	1: 53.42
07th	Arturo Merzario	Ferrari	54	0	+1: 29.19	10	1: 53.33
08th	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	54	1	+1: 29.53	06th	1: 50.99
09	Niki Lauda	BRM	54	0	+1: 45.76	17th	1: 53.18
10	Graham Hill	Shadow Ford	53	0	+ 1 lap	16	1: 54.27
11	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	53	0	+ 1 lap	15th	1: 54.36
12	Clay Regazzoni	BRM	53	0	+ 1 lap	09	1: 54.58
13	Carlos Pace	Surtees-Ford	51	0	+ 3 rounds	18th	1: 54.39
14th	Howden Ganley	Iso-Ford	51	0	+ 3 rounds	24	1: 54.20
15th	Rikky from Opel	Ensign-Ford	51	0	+ 3 rounds	25th	1: 58.00
16	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham-Ford	50	0	DNF	19th	1: 53.24	cracked throttle cable
-	Jody Scheckter	McLaren-Ford	43	0	DNF	02	1: 52.03	Collision damage
-	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	41	0	DNF	03	1: 51.58	collision
-	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	29	0	DNF	11	1: 54.62	Oil loss
-	Andrea de Adamich	Brabham-Ford	28	0	DNF	13	1: 54.20	broken half-wave
-	Pure Wisell	March-Ford	20th	1	DNF	22nd	1: 54.39	overheated engine
-	George Follmer	Shadow Ford	16	0	DNF	20th	1: 53.71	defective fuel pump
-	Henri Pescarolo	Iso-Ford	16	0	DNF	23	1: 54.97	defective cooling water pump
-	Jean-Pierre Jarier	March-Ford	07th	0	DNF	07th	1: 52.87	Differential damage
-	Jackie Oliver	Shadow Ford	00	0	DNF	21st	-	Clutch damage

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  Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 42 02  Emerson Fittipaldi lotus 41 03  François Cevert Tyrrell 31 04th  Denis Hulme McLaren 19th 05  Ronnie Peterson lotus 19th 06th  Peter Revson McLaren 11 07th  Jacky Ickx Ferrari 8th 08th  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 7th 09  Arturo Merzario Ferrari 6th

Item driver constructor Points 10  George Follmer Shadow 5 11  Andrea de Adamich Brabham 3 12  Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 2 13  Niki Lauda BRM 2 14th  Clay Regazzoni BRM 1 15th  James Hunt March 1 16  Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham 1 17th  Chris Amon Tecno 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  lotus 52 02  Tyrrell 51 03  McLaren 26th 04th  Ferrari 12 05  Brabham 11

Item constructor Points 06th  Shadow 5 07th  BRM 5 08th  Tecno 1 09  March 1

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 23, 2011)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on July 23, 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 23, 2011)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website