1975 Monaco Grand Prix

The 1975 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held in Monaco on 11 May 1975. It was race 5 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 33rd Monaco Grand Prix since the race was first held in 1929. It was held over 75 of the scheduled 78 laps of the three kilometre street circuit, for a race distance of 245 kilometres.

1975 Monaco Grand Prix
Race details
Date 11 May 1975
Official name XXXIII Gran Prix de Monaco
Location Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course Street circuit
Course length 3.278 km (2.037 mi)
Distance 75 laps, 245.850 km (152.764 mi)
Scheduled distance 78 laps, 255.684 km (158.874 mi)
Weather Rain, later drying
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:26.40
Fastest lap
Driver Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:28.67 on lap 68
Podium
First Ferrari
Second McLaren-Ford
Third Brabham-Ford

The race was won by Austrian driver Niki Lauda giving the new Ferrari 312T its first win. The win broke a 20-year drought at Monaco for Ferrari. Lauda dominated the race, only losing the lead during a pitstop. He won by two seconds over the McLaren M23 of Emerson Fittipaldi. Carlos Pace finished third in his Brabham BT44B. This was also both the 179th and final Grand Prix for 1962 and 1968 World Champion Graham Hill, although he failed to qualify after 176 race starts.

Race summary

The future of Grand Prix racing was under scrutiny following the disastrous Spanish Grand Prix held two weeks prior. Actions had to be taken quickly: extra guard rails and catch fences were erected, kerbing resited and the chicane was modified. New measures were introduced: the grid was staggered and in addition would be restricted to just 18 cars. This last change affected Graham Hill's chance to qualify: the five-time Monaco winner had all sorts of practice problems and failed to qualify by 0.377 seconds. John Watson and Clay Regazzoni collided in practice, whilst the Surtees team was ordered to remove pro-Europe political stickers from its cars.

Niki Lauda, in a Ferrari, claimed pole position, but sensationally sharing the front row was Tom Pryce, driving a Shadow, who just 12 months earlier had been deemed 'too inexperienced' to compete. Jean-Pierre Jarier and Ronnie Peterson filled the second row.

The race began under rain conditions, so everyone went for wet tyres. Lauda was fastest at the start, while Pryce had a slow start and was passed by Jarier and Peterson;[1] the Frenchman soon attempted to pass Lauda in an ill-advised overtaking manoeuvre, and hit the barriers at the Mirabeau; his car was damaged in the collision and handled badly, which caused him to hit the wall again at the Tabac corner[1] and then retire. Peterson went into the second place with Vittorio Brambilla third, until Pryce hit the Italian's wheel. Regazzoni stopped to change a tyre and the nosecone of his car, and James Hunt stopped to change onto slick tyres, anticipating a drying of the track surface. However, his team's slow pit work cost him a substantial amount of time.

Ronnie Peterson's victory chances were damaged at his pit stop when a wheel nut was lost under the car. Tom Pryce came in to replace a broken nosecone, and by that time Niki Lauda led by 15 seconds from Emerson Fittipaldi and Carlos Pace. Many accidents happened during the race: Jochen Mass and James Hunt tangled at Mirabeau, and Patrick Depailler got embroiled in their accident; Clay Regazzoni hit the chicane and suffered damage; John Watson spun and stalled the engine of his car; Pryce hit the barrier and had to retire; Mario Andretti entered the pits with his car on fire; Mark Donohue hit the barrier, whilst Alan Jones broke a wheel.

In the last laps Lauda's oil pressure was fading and Fittipaldi was closing. With three laps left the gap was 2.75 seconds; however, the two-hour time limit was reached and the race was stopped, with Lauda winning. Ferrari had won their first Monaco Grand Prix in 20 years; the tragedy of the Spanish Grand Prix receded and the championship race was back on. Fittipaldi's second position strengthened his narrow points lead over early season points leader Pace.

Classification

Qualifying classification

Pos. Driver Constructor Time No
1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:26,40 1
2 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:27,09 2
3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 1:27,25 3
4 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:27,40 4
5 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:27,50 5
6 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:27,55 6
7 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:27,58 7
8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 1:27,67 8
9 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 1:27,77 9
10 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 1:27,93 10
11 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 1:27,94 11
12 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:27,95 12
13 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 1:28,11 13
14 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 1:28,28 14
15 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:28,49 15
16 Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 1:28,81 16
17 John Watson Surtees-Ford 1:28,90 17
18 Alan Jones Hesketh-Ford 1:29,12 18
DNQ Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 1:29,28
DNQ Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford 1:29,32
DNQ Graham Hill Hill-Ford 1:29,49
DNQ Bob Evans B.R.M. 1:30,33
DNQ Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford 1:31,60
DNQ Torsten Palm Hesketh-Ford 1:31,95
DNQ Lella Lombardi March-Ford 1:32,20
DNQ Wilson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Ford 1:33,02

Race classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 75 2:01:21.31 1 9
2 1 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 75 + 2.78 9 6
3 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 75 + 17.81 8 4
4 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 75 + 38.45 4 3
5 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 75 + 40.86 12 2
6 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 75 + 42.07 15 1
7 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 7  
8 6 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 14  
9 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 73 + 2 Laps 10  
Ret 28 Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 66 Accident 16  
Ret 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 63 Accident 11  
Ret 26 Alan Jones Hesketh-Ford 61 Wheel 18  
Ret 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 48 Accident 5  
Ret 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 39 Accident 2  
Ret 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 36 Accident 17  
Ret 18 John Watson Surtees-Ford 36 Spun off 6  
Ret 27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 9 Oil leak 13  
Ret 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 0 Accident 3  
DNQ 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford    
DNQ 20 Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford    
DNQ 23 Graham Hill Hill-Ford
Lola-Ford
   
DNQ 14 Bob Evans BRM    
DNQ 31 Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford    
DNQ 25 Torsten Palm Hesketh-Ford    
DNQ 10 Lella Lombardi March-Ford    
DNQ 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford        
Source:[2]

Lap leaders

Laps led:[3]

  • Niki Lauda (1–23, 25–75)
  • Ronnie Peterson (24)

Championship standings after the race

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

References

  1. "1975 Round 05 Monaco Grand Prix". Retrieved 4 October 2019 via www.youtube.com.
  2. "1975 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  3. "Monaco Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 2007-01-15. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
  4. "Monaco 1975 - Championship". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

Further reading

  • Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 76–77. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
Previous race:
1975 Spanish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1975 season
Next race:
1975 Belgian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1974 Monaco Grand Prix
Monaco Grand Prix Next race:
1976 Monaco Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by
None
Formula One Promotional Trophy
for Race Promoter

1975
Succeeded by
1976 United States Grand Prix West
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