1975 Dutch Grand Prix

The 1975 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Zandvoort on 22 June 1975. It was race 8 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 24th Dutch Grand Prix. It was held over 75 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 318 kilometres.

1975 Dutch Grand Prix
Race details
Date 22 June 1975
Official name XXII Grand Prix Zandvoort
Location Zandvoort
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.252 km (2.642 mi)
Distance 75 laps, 318.9 km (198.15 mi)
Weather Wet, drying later
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:20.29[1]
Fastest lap
Driver Niki Lauda Ferrari
Time 1:21.54[2] on lap 55
Podium
First Hesketh-Ford
Second Ferrari
Third Ferrari
The podium with Lauda, Hunt and Regazzoni

The race is memorable for one of the greatest underdog victories in Formula One. British driver and future world champion James Hunt won his first Formula One Grand Prix, giving small privateer operation Hesketh Racing the highlight of its six-year history with its first and only Grand Prix win. Hunt drove his Hesketh 308 to a one-second win over the Ferrari 312T of the World Championship points leader, Austrian driver Niki Lauda. Third was taken by Lauda's Ferrari team mate, Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni.

Race summary

Niki Lauda dominated practice, with teammate Clay Regazzoni joining him on the front row. Jean-Pierre Jarier had a crash and the Maki team's weekend ended abruptly in a cloud of smoke from engine problems. James Hunt had a storming practice to take third place on the grid. On Saturday afternoon, weather conditions meant practice times would not improve, so Hunt was sent out to get some extra testing – during which something in the metering unit broke. This was fortunate as the Dutch Grand Prix did not have Sunday morning practice, so had it not been for those extra laps, the mechanical problems would have occurred during the race itself.

The race was delayed by rainstorms as the teams persuaded the organizers to let them run on wet tyres. Lauda led from Jody Scheckter whilst Vittorio Brambilla and Patrick Depailler collided. Jochen Mass was having metering unit troubles and Jacky Ickx exploded his engine. Meanwhile, Hunt had changed onto dry tyres and was gaining time rapidly on the drying surface to take the lead from Jarier and Lauda by lap 15. The Austrian championship leader was finding overtaking a very difficult prospect indeed. Emerson Fittipaldi dropped out with engine problems whilst John Watson broke a wing support and Carlos Reutemann got past Tom Pryce who was suffering from brake problems.

On lap 43, Jarier spun when a tyre burst. Lauda now pursued Hunt desperately for over 20 laps, putting him under immense pressure. Hunt had cracked under similar pressure in Buenos Aires, but this time he resisted. The Ferrari managed to gain on the slow corners, but Hunt pulled ahead on the fast corners and down the straight. The TV directors were so confused that the captions showed three laps left to go when a massive roar from the grandstands signalled it was all over. Hunt became the first Englishman since Peter Gethin to win a Grand Prix.

Lauda's second place reinforced his championship lead, which expanded to 13 points over Brabham driver Carlos Reutemann.

Classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 75 1:46:57.40 3 9
2 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 75 + 1.06 1 6
3 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 75 + 55.06 2 4
4 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 5 3
5 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 9 2
6 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 12 1
7 23 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 7  
8 28 Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 18  
9 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 73 + 2 Laps 13  
10 31 Gijs van Lennep Ensign-Ford 71 + 4 Laps 22  
11 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 71 + 4 Laps 24  
12 20 Ian Scheckter Williams-Ford 70 + 5 Laps 19  
13 22 Alan Jones Hill-Ford 70 + 5 Laps 17  
14 10 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 70 + 5 Laps 23  
15 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 69 Out of fuel 16  
16 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 67 Engine 4  
Ret 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 64 Engine 15  
Ret 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 61 Accident 8  
Ret 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 44 Tyre 10  
Ret 18 John Watson Surtees-Ford 43 Vibrations 14  
Ret 1 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 40 Engine 6  
Ret 14 Bob Evans BRM 23 Differential 20  
Ret 6 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 6 Engine 21  
Ret 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 0 Suspension 11  
DNS 35 Hiroshi Fushida Maki-Ford        
Source:[3]

Lap leaders

Laps led:[4]

  • Niki Lauda (1–12)
  • Clay Regazzoni (13–14)
  • James Hunt (15–75)

Championship standings after the race

  • 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

  1. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 83. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  2. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 84. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  3. "1975 Dutch Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. "Dutch Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 12 January 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  5. "Netherlands 1975 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
Previous race:
1975 Swedish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1975 season
Next race:
1975 French Grand Prix
Previous race:
1974 Dutch Grand Prix
Dutch Grand Prix Next race:
1976 Dutch Grand Prix
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