1975 Argentine Grand Prix

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1975 Argentine Grand Prix
Race details
Date January 12, 1975
Official name XII Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Location Autódromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.968 km (3.708 miles)
Distance 53 laps, 316.315 km (196.549 miles)
Weather Hot and sunny
Pole position
Driver Shadow-Ford
Time 1:49.21[1]
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom James Hunt Hesketh-Ford
Time 1:50.91[2] on lap 34
Podium
First McLaren-Ford
Second Hesketh-Ford
Third Brabham-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1975 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Buenos Aires on 12 January 1975. It was race 1 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the twelfth Argentine Grand Prix and only the second to be held on the lengthened six kilometre version of the race track that runs out towards Curvon Salotto around the lake which lies to the north-east of the circuit.

The race was won for the second time by Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi driving a McLaren M23. He took a six-second victory over James Hunt in his Hesketh 308. Carlos Reutemann scored his best result to that time on his home race finishing third in his Brabham BT44B.

Race summary[edit]

The close season had been fairly quiet – Jochen Mass had replaced Denny Hulme at McLaren, John Watson had joined Surtees and Mike Wilds, Rolf Stommelen and Jacques Laffite were confirmed at BRM, Hill and Williams respectively.

March had announced their retirement, but then in a dramatic U-turn confirmed their entry for 1975 with Vittorio Brambilla and Lella Lombardi.

There were contractual wrangles with Ronnie Peterson, reportedly discontent at Lotus and it was uncertain up until the start of practice whether he would be driving for them or Shadow.

Jean-Pierre Jarier proved the Shadow's effectiveness, putting in the fastest ever lap of the circuit, averaging 122 mph to gain his first pole from Carlos Pace and Carlos Reutemann.

However it was all in vain. On the warm-up lap, his crown-wheel-and-pinion stripped, leaving him a non-starter. Local hero Reutemann gratefully accepted the lead from Pace. James Hunt driving the newest Hesketh with new rubber suspension climbed from the 6th row up to third place, duelling with Niki Lauda. Jochen Mass and Jody Scheckter tangled. Meanwhile, John Watson was stranded with a loose fuel-pipe and was disqualified after attempting trackside repairs.

Wilson Fittipaldi crashed on lap 13, his car catching fire and requiring the fire engine to be deployed. By now, Hunt had passed Lauda and was catching the two Brabhams. Pace took the lead on lap 15, but spun on the very next lap. Reutemann having retaken the lead, was understeering badly and on lap 25 was passed by Hunt. There was a ferocious battle with Emerson Fittipaldi for the lead.

Classification[edit]

Qualifying[edit]

Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap
1 France Jean-Pierre Jarier ShadowFord 1:49.21
2 Brazil Carlos Pace BrabhamFord +0.43
3 Argentina Carlos Reutemann BrabhamFord +0.59
4 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari +0.75
5 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi McLarenFord +0.81
6 United Kingdom James Hunt HeskethFord +1.05
7 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari +1.50
8 France Patrick Depailler TyrrellFord +1.59
9 South Africa Jody Scheckter TyrrellFord +1.61
10 United States Mario Andretti ParnelliFord +1.85
11 Sweden Ronnie Peterson LotusFord +2.23
12 Italy Vittorio Brambilla MarchFord +2.56
13 West Germany Jochen Mass McLarenFord +2.61
14 United Kingdom Tom Pryce ShadowFord +2.71
15 United Kingdom John Watson SurteesFord +2.92
16 United States Mark Donohue PenskeFord +3.15
17 France Jacques Laffite WilliamsFord +3.67
18 Belgium Jacky Ickx LotusFord +3.69
19 West Germany Rolf Stommelen LolaFord +3.91
20 Italy Arturo Merzario WilliamsFord +4.22
21 United Kingdom Graham Hill LolaFord +4.79
22 United Kingdom Mike Wilds BRM +5.27
23 Brazil Wilson Fittipaldi FittipaldiFord +11.01
Source:[4]

Race[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford G 53 1:39:26.29 5 9
2 24 United Kingdom James Hunt Hesketh-Ford G 53 + 5.91 6 6
3 7 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford G 53 + 17.06 3 4
4 11 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari G 53 + 35.79 7 3
5 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford G 53 + 54.25 8 2
6 12 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari G 53 + 1:19.65 4 1
7 28 United States Mark Donohue Penske-Ford G 52 + 1 Lap 16  
8 6 Belgium Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford G 52 + 1 Lap 18  
9 9 Italy Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford G 52 + 1 Lap 12  
10 22 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lola-Ford G 52 + 1 Lap 21  
11 3 South Africa Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford G 52 + 1 Lap 9  
12 16 United Kingdom Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford G 51 Transmission 14  
13 23 Germany Rolf Stommelen Lola-Ford G 51 + 2 Laps 19  
14 2 Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford G 50 + 3 Laps 13  
Ret 8 Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford G 46 Engine 2  
NC 20 Italy Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford G 44 Not Classified 20  
Ret 27 United States Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford F 27 Transmission 10  
Ret 14 United Kingdom Mike Wilds BRM G 24 Engine 22  
Ret 5 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford G 15 Engine 11  
Ret 21 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford G 15 Gearbox 17  
Ret 30 Brazil Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford G 12 Accident 23  
DSQ 18 United Kingdom John Watson Surtees-Ford G 6 Disqualified 15  
DNS 17 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford G 0 Transmission 1  
WD 29 Argentina Nestor García-Veiga Berta-Ford G Withdrew[5]
Source:[6][7]

Championship standings after the race[edit]

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 66. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  2. ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 68. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  3. ^ "Argentinian Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
  4. ^ "Formula One 1975 Argentine Grand Prix Classification | Motorsport Stats".
  5. ^ "The Grand Prix car Argentina almost had". forix.autosport.com. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  6. ^ "1975 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  7. ^ "1975 Argentine Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 12 January 1975. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Argentina 1975 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.


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1974 United States Grand Prix
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1975 Brazilian Grand Prix
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