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1975 Belgian Grand Prix

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1975 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Date May 25, 1975
Location Circuit Zolder, Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
Course length 4.262 km (2.648 miles)
Distance 70 laps, 298.340 km (185.380 miles)
Weather Dry and sunny
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:25.43[1]
Fastest lap
Driver Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari
Time 1:26.76[2] on lap 11
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Tyrrell-Ford
Third
Brabham-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1975 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 25 May 1975. It was race 6 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.[4] It was the 33rd Belgian Grand Prix and the second to be held at the Circuit Zolder. The race was held over 70 laps of the four kilometre venue for a race distance of 280 kilometres.

The race was won by Austrian driver Niki Lauda driving a Ferrari 312T, his second victory for the year after winning Monaco two weeks earlier. Lauda led 65 of the 70 laps, taking a 19-second victory over South African driver Jody Scheckter in a Tyrrell 007. Argentinian driver Carlos Reutemann drove his Brabham BT44B to third place. The win put Lauda into the lead of the championship for the first time in 1975, passing previous leader Emerson Fittipaldi.

Qualifying summary

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Ferrari arrived at Circuit Zolder eager for the fray and buoyed up by their Monaco victory. Niki Lauda dutifully gained pole after a technical gremlin held up early leader Carlos Pace and Saturday's qualifying was rained out. Vittorio Brambilla was third on the grid and Tony Brise stunned on his debut race for Graham Hill, gaining a fourth-row start ahead of Championship leader Emerson Fittipaldi. Ronnie Peterson suffered the unfortunate experience of being given a parking ticket during the practice session – after having parked his car in a dangerous position at the edge of the track, rather than risk a puncture by pulling into the gravel trap. Mario Andretti was missing from the field because he was competing at the Indianapolis 500.

Qualifying classification

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Pos. Driver Constructor Time No
1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:25,43 1
2 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 1:25,47 2
3 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:25,66 3
4 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:25,85 4
5 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:25,94 5
6 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 1:26,09 6
7 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 1:26,22 7
8 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 1:26,26 8
9 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:26,36 9
10 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 1:26,38 10
11 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 1:26,51 11
12 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:26,74 12
13 Alan Jones Hesketh-Ford 1:27,05 13
14 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:27,17 14
15 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:27,38 15
16 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 1:27,40 16
17 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 1:27,70 17
18 John Watson Surtees-Ford 1:28,01 18
19 Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford 1:28,18 19
20 Bob Evans BRM 1:28,57 20
21 Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 1:28,65 21
22 François Migault Hill-Ford 1:29,57 22
23 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 1:29,71 23
24 Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:30,27 24

Race summary

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Pace took the lead whilst Brambilla and Regazzoni duelled. Jochen Mass and John Watson collided – the German retired whilst Watson returned to the pits with a damaged nosecone. Alan Jones also had to retire after a collision with Jacques Laffite. Arturo Merzario was out with a burnt out clutch. Pace's fiery start was now causing problems with brakes and cold tyres and he was having to drop back.

Brambilla took the lead until lap six when he was passed by Lauda. Tony Brise spun at the chicane and retired shortly after with piston failure. Jody Scheckter was storming through the field to be in second place by lap nine. Brambilla's brakes were fading and he dropped down the order. Jean-Pierre Jarier spun into the catch-fencing, James Hunt retired with a broken gear-linkage. Clay Regazzoni had risen to third, but then dived into the pits to change a blistered tyre. Lauda led Scheckter comfortably and the race settled down into a procession.

Carlos Pace had handling problems and dropped down the order when he lost third gear. By lap 49, Ronnie Peterson crashed into the catch fencing, whilst Brambilla surrendered third place to change a blistered tyre, resuming but retiring with brake problems.

Fittipaldi was also having brake problems, leaving him helpless against the assault of Regazzoni and Tom Pryce as he dropped from fifth to seventh in the last six laps.

Classification

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 70 1:43:53.98 1 9
2 3 South Africa Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 70 + 19.22 9 6
3 7 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 70 + 41.82 6 4
4 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 70 + 1:00.08 12 3
5 11 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 70 + 1:03.84 4 2
6 16 United Kingdom Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 70 + 1:28.45 5 1
7 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 8  
8 8 Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 2  
9 14 United Kingdom Bob Evans BRM 68 + 2 Laps 20  
10 18 United Kingdom John Watson Surtees-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 18  
11 28 United States Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 67 + 3 Laps 21  
12 30 Brazil Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 67 + 3 Laps 24  
Ret 22 France François Migault Hill-Ford 57 Suspension 22  
Ret 9 Italy Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 54 Brakes 3  
Ret 6 Belgium Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 52 Brakes 16  
Ret 5 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 36 Brakes 14  
Ret 21 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 18 Gearbox 23  
Ret 10 Italy Lella Lombardi March-Ford 18 Engine 17  
Ret 23 United Kingdom Tony Brise Hill-Ford 17 Engine 7  
Ret 24 United Kingdom James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 15 Transmission 11  
Ret 17 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 13 Spun Off 10  
Ret 20 Italy Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford 2 Clutch 19  
Ret 26 Australia Alan Jones Hesketh-Ford 1 Accident 13  
Ret 2 Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 0 Accident 15  
WD 31 Netherlands Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford        
WD 35 Australia Dave Walker Maki-Ford        
Source:[5]

Notes

[edit]
  • This was the 200th race in which an American driver participated. In those 200 races, American drivers won 22 Grands Prix, achieved 99 podium finishes, 22 pole positions, 28 fastest laps, 4 Grand Slams and won 1 World Championship.
  • This was also the 100th race in which an Argentinian driver participated. In those 100 races, Argentinian drivers won 29 Grands Prix, achieved 65 podium finishes, 34 pole positions, 28 fastest laps, 9 Grand Slams and 5 World Championships.
  • This race also marked the 10th Grand Prix win for an Austrian driver.
  • This race was the 6th win of the Belgian Grand Prix for Ferrari, breaking the previous record set by Lotus at the 1972 Belgian Grand Prix.
  • It was also the 6th win of the Belgian Grand Prix for a Ferrari-powered car, equally breaking the previous record set by Coventry Climax at the 1965 Belgian Grand Prix.

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 78. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  2. ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 80. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  3. ^ "Belgian Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
  4. ^ "1975 Belgian Grand Prix Entry list".
  5. ^ "1975 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Belgium 1975 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.


Previous race:
1975 Monaco Grand Prix 		FIA Formula One World Championship
1975 season 		Next race:
1975 Swedish Grand Prix
Previous race:
1974 Belgian Grand Prix 		Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1976 Belgian Grand Prix
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