Austrian GP 1974

Austrian GP, 1974

There were four drivers in the fight for the 1974 World Championship when the F1 teams arrived in Austria. Clay Regazzoni was leading with 44 points but Jody Scheckter (41), Niki Lauda (38) and Emerson Fittipaldi (37) were all within striking distance.

The two weeks between the German and Austrian races had been busy with Jochen Mass leaving Surtees, taking his Bang & Olufsen sponsorship with him. Jean-Pierre Jabouille was hired to replace him. Ensign had fallen out with Teddy Yip and so Vern Schuppan was replaced by Mike Wilds while Guy Edwards was out of action again with the Hill team because his wrist was not properly healed and so Rolf Stommelen replaced him. With Mike Hailwood out with a broken leg McLaren handed the Yardley car over to David Hobbs. BRM was down to just one car because of engine supply problems. Ian Scheckter rented a second Hesketh while Austrian rising stars Dieter Quester (Surtees) and Helmut Koinigg (Finotto Brabham) completed the field.

Qualifying produced a popular pole position for Lauda with Carlos Reutemann alongside him on the front row of the grid. Fittipaldi was third with Carlos Pace fourth in the second Brabham while Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell) and Ronnie Peterson (Lotus) were on the third row. Next up was James Hunt (Hesketh) with Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari alongside him while the top 10 was completed by Arturo Merzario in the Iso-Marlboro and Denny Hulme's McLaren.

At the start Reutemann took the lead. He would hold it for the rest of the afternoon. Lauda was second with Pace third and Regazzoni fourth and then came Hunt., Scheckter, Fittipaldi and Merzario. Peterson had made a bad start and was only ninth. In the early laps Regazzoni passed Pace and Scheckter overtook Hunt while Peterson made quick work of Merzario. Scheckter chased after Pace and overtook him on the ninth lap but then went out with a blown engine. Fittipaldi and Peterson were able to catch and pass Hunt and then Pace while Lauda began to drop back with a misfiring engine and was overtaken by Regazzoni, Fittipaldi, Peterson and Pace. The Austrian retired soon afterwards. In the mid-race Peterson faded and was overtaken for fourth place by Pace.

Fittipaldi disappeared with an engine failure on lap 38 and then Regazzoni began to fade with a slow puncture. He was passed by Pace for second place but almost immediately the Brazilian stopped with a fuel pipe problem and so Peterson moved into second place. Three laps later he too was gone with a transmission problem. This left Hulme to finish second with Hunt third and John Watson fourth in his Hexagon Brabham. Regazzoni recovered to finish fifth while the final point went to Vittorio Brambilla in the Beta March.

Regazzoni's two points helped him to ease ahead in the World Championship as none of his rivals had scored.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44 54 1h28m44.720s  
Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M23 54 1h29m27.640s  10 
24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308 54 1h29m46.260s  
28 John Watson Brabham-Cosworth BT44 54 1h29m54.110s  11 
11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B3 54 1h29m57.800s  
10 Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 741 54 1h29m58.540s  20 
33 David Hobbs McLaren-Cosworth M23 53  17 
17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN3 52  23 
30 Dieter Quester Surtees-Cosworth TS16 51  25 
10 23 Tim Schenken Trojan-Cosworth T103 50  19 
11r Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Cosworth 741 48 Suspension/ Spin 15 
12 26 Graham Hill Lola-Cosworth T370 48  21 
nc 35 Ian Ashley Token-Cosworth RJ02 46  24 
Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 45 Mechanical 
Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 76 43 Accident 22 
Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 42 Accident 14 
Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44 41 Fuel Leak 
Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 37 Engine 
nc 21 Jacques Laffite Iso Marlboro-Cosworth FW 37  12 
20 Arturo Merzario Iso Marlboro-Cosworth FW 24 Fuel Pressure 
14 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM P201 22 Engine 18 
16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN3 22 Spin 16 
12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312B3 17 Engine 
27 Rolf Stommelen Lola-Cosworth T370 14 Puncture/ Accident 13 
Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 Engine 
nq 31 Ian Scheckter Hesketh-Cosworth 308   26 
nq 43 Leo Kinnunen Surtees-Cosworth TS16   27 
nq 18 Derek Bell Surtees-Cosworth TS16   28 
nq 22 Mike Wilds Ensign-Cosworth N174   29 
nq 19 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Surtees-Cosworth TS16   30 
nq 32 Helmut Koinigg Brabham-Cosworth BT42   31