The 1975 British Grand Prix (formally the John Player Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 19 July 1975. It was race 10 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 30th British Grand Prix to be held since the race was first held in 1926 and the 17th time the race had been held at Silverstone. The race was held over 56 of the scheduled 67 laps of the four kilometre venue for a race distance of 264 kilometres. This was the first race that used the traffic light system with coloured lights (red and green) at the start (system used until the 1995 Australian Grand Prix).
| 1975 British Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 19 July 1975 | ||
| Official name | John Player Grand Prix[1] | ||
| Location | Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, Great Britain | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.719 km (2.932 miles) | ||
| Distance | 56 laps, 264.264 km (164.192 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny, then overcast, then heavy rain | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Shadow-Ford | ||
| Time | 1:19.36[2] | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Clay Regazzoni | Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:20.9 on lap 16[3] | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Ford | ||
| Second | Brabham-Ford | ||
| Third | Tyrrell-Ford | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
The results were overshadowed by a heavy hail storm from Lap 53, which caused three out of the top four cars (Jody Scheckter, James Hunt, and Mark Donohue), to aquaplane and crash in the same corner, bringing an early finish to the race, and a significant absence on the podium. A number of other cars crashed at the same corner as well, including Wilson Fittipaldi, Jochen Mass, and John Watson. The race results were finalised the lap after the lap most cars crashed, giving Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, who had been the race leader prior to the storm, a one lap win in his McLaren M23. Carlos Pace, who was one of the crashers in his Brabham BT44B was classified in second position with another of the crashers, Tyrrell 007 driver Jody Scheckter classified third.
Race summary
editA new chicane had been installed at Woodcote Corner, bringing complaints from the purists but also arguments that it was necessary in the interests of safety. Tom Pryce gained his only career pole position in his home race, whilst the Ferraris were on the second row, with James Hunt languishing on the fifth row.
Graham Hill, who had already announced his retirement as a driver after 17 seasons and 176 races after failing in his attempt to qualify in Monaco, made a farewell lap one hour before the start of the race (without overalls and helmet), and concentrated on the leadership of his Embassy Hill team.
From the start – in which a lights system was being used for the first time in any Grand Prix, replacing the traditional national flag – Carlos Pace led from Pryce.
Following the hail storm, only six cars were running at the end. The RAC declared the race finished officially on the lap after the lap when most cars were running – lap 56. Ferrari, with both of their cars stuck on lap 54 in the classification protested, but the RAC threw these protests out and three days later, the provisional results were confirmed.
The win was the 14th and final win of Fittipaldi's career which had included two world championships. He would continue racing in Formula One until 1980. The win also vaulted Fittipaldi past Carlos Reutemann into second place in the championship, 14 points behind Lauda.
Classification
editQualifying classification
edit*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race classification
edit| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Emerson Fittipaldi
|
McLaren-Ford | 56 | 1:22:05.0 | 7 | 9 |
| 2 | 8 | Carlos Pace
|
Brabham-Ford | 55 | Accident | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 3 |  Jody Scheckter
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 55 | Accident | 6 | 4 |
| 4 | 24 |  James Hunt
|
Hesketh-Ford | 55 | Accident | 9 | 3 |
| 5 | 28 |  Mark Donohue
|
March-Ford | 55 | Accident | 15 | 2 |
| 6 | 9 |  Vittorio Brambilla
|
March-Ford | 55 | + 1 Lap | 5 | 1 |
| 7 | 2 |  Jochen Mass
|
McLaren-Ford | 55 | Accident | 10 | |
| 8 | 12 |  Niki Lauda
|
Ferrari | 54 | + 2 Laps | 3 | |
| 9 | 4 |  Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 54 | Accident | 17 | |
| 10 | 22 |  Alan Jones
|
Hill-Ford | 54 | + 2 Laps | 20 | |
| 11 | 18 | John Watson
|
Surtees-Ford | 54 | Accident | 18 | |
| 12 | 27 | Mario Andretti
|
Parnelli-Ford | 54 | + 2 Laps | 12 | |
| 13 | 11 | Clay Regazzoni
|
Ferrari | 54 | + 2 Laps | 4 | |
| 14 | 17 | Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
Shadow-Ford | 53 | Accident | 11 | |
| 15 | 23 | Tony Brise
|
Hill-Ford | 53 | Accident | 13 | |
| 16 | 15 | Brian Henton
|
Lotus-Ford | 53 | Accident | 21 | |
| 17 | 32 |  John Nicholson
|
Lyncar-Ford | 51 | Accident | 26 | |
| 18 | 19 | Dave Morgan
|
Surtees-Ford | 50 | Accident | 23 | |
| 19 | 30 | Wilson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 50 | Accident | 24 | |
| Ret | 10 | Hans-Joachim Stuck
|
March-Ford | 45 | Accident | 14 | |
| Ret | 6 | Jim Crawford
|
Lotus-Ford | 28 | Accident | 25 | |
| Ret | 16 | Tom Pryce
|
Shadow-Ford | 20 | Accident | 1 | |
| Ret | 29 | Lella Lombardi
|
March-Ford | 18 | Engine | 22 | |
| Ret | 5 |  Ronnie Peterson
|
Lotus-Ford | 7 | Engine | 16 | |
| Ret | 21 | Jacques Laffite
|
Williams-Ford | 5 | Gearbox | 19 | |
| Ret | 7 |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Brabham-Ford | 4 | Engine | 8 | |
| DNQ | 31 |  Roelof Wunderink
|
Ensign-Ford | ||||
| DNQ | 35 |  Hiroshi Fushida
|
Maki-Ford | ||||
Source:[5]
| |||||||
Notes
edit- This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British drivers Jim Crawford, Brian Henton and Dave Morgan.
Championship standings after the race
edit
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 6 results from the first 7 races and the best 6 results from the last 7 races counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
References
edit- ^ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1975". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 88. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
- ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 90. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
- ^ "British Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ "1975 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Britain 1975 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
