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).
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
A 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
Qualifying classification Pos.NoDriverConstructorTimeGap 1 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:19.36 2 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 1:19.50 +0.14 3 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:19.54 +0.18 4 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:19.55 +0.19 5 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:19.63 +0.27 6 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.81 +0.45 7 1 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 1:19.91 +0.55 8 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 1:20.04 +0.68 9 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 1:20.14 +0.78 10 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:20.18 +0.82 11 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 1:20.33 +0.97 12 27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 1:20.36 +1.00 13 23 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 1:20.41 +1.05 14 10 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 1:20.46 +1.10 15 28 Mark Donohue March-Ford 1:20.50 +1.14 16 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:20.58 +1.22 17 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:20.60 +1.24 18 18 John Watson Surtees-Ford 1:20.83 +1.47 19 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 1:21.01 +1.65 20 22 Alan Jones Hill-Ford 1:21.19 +1.83 21 15 Brian Henton Lotus-Ford 1:21.36 +2.00 22 29 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 1:21.60 +2.24 23 19 Dave Morgan Surtees-Ford 1:21.65 +2.29 24 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:21.67 +2.31 25 6 Jim Crawford Lotus-Ford 1:21.86 +2.50 26 32 John Nicholson Lyncar-Ford 1:22.86 +3.50 27 31 Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford 1:25.02 +5.66 28 35 Hiroshi Fushida Maki-Ford 1:26.61 +7.25 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race classification 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 10 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 45 Accident 14 6 Jim Crawford Lotus-Ford 28 Accident 25 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 20 Accident 1 29 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 18 Engine 22 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 7 Engine 16 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 5 Gearbox 19 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 4 Engine 8 31 Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford 35 Hiroshi Fushida Maki-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British drivers Jim Crawford, Brian Henton and Dave Morgan.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda* 47 1 2 Emerson Fittipaldi* 33 1 3 James Hunt* 25 1 4 Carlos Reutemann* 25 5 Carlos Pace* 24Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari* 50 2 Brabham-Ford* 42 (44) 3 McLaren-Ford* 39.5 4 Hesketh-Ford* 25 5 Tyrrell-Ford* 24Source:
Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References