Monaco GP 1975

Monaco GP, 1975

Coming just two weeks after the scandalous Spanish Grand Prix, the organizers at Monaco did some quick safety work on the track and decided that only 18 cars should be allowed to start and that the grid should be staggered to avoid another first corner accident. There were 26 cars entered. Jacques Laffite was back with Williams while Graham Hill took part in what would be his last event, running one of his cars but failing to qualify. Hesketh had built a third car and this was rented to Torsten Palm, who had sponsorship from Polar Caravans.

The practice was frenetic as teams tried to ensure that they qualified but there was disaster for Williams with neither Arturo Merzario or Laffite making it.

Pole position went to Niki Lauda by six-tenths of a second while the Shadows of Tom Pryce and Jean-Pierre Jarier were second and third. Ronnie Peterson was next in his Lotus while Vittorio Brambilla (March), Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari), Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell), Carlos Pace (Brabham), Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren) and Carlos Reutemann (Brabham) completed the top 10.

The track was damp at the start of the race and the field set off on wet weather tires. Lauda took off into the lead but Pryce was slow away and so Jarier went into second place with Peterson third and Pryce fourth. On the first lap Jarier hit the barriers at Mirabeau. This upset his car and he hit the wall again at the chicane. Peterson and Pryce worked their way through the wreckage and the order then remained unchanged at the front until the 19th lap when Pryce spun and dropped behind Scheckter and Fittipaldi. Not long afterwards the front-runners began to stop for slick tires and when this was completed Lauda was still ahead but Fittipaldi was up to second and Pace third, having stopped earlier than Peterson who slipped to fifth behind Scheckter. The South Africa had a puncture later and had to stop. This gave Peterson fourth place again. Little changed after that with Lauda leading Fittipaldi all the way to the flag (which came early because of the two hour time limit) although the Brazilian had closed up on the Ferrari. Pace was third and Peterson fourth. Jochen Mass (McLaren) had been running fifth but was overtaken by Depailler on the penultimate lap and so had to settle for a single point.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T 75 2h01m21.310s  
Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 75 2h01m24.090s  
Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 75 2h01m39.120s  
Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 75 2h01m59.760s  
Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 75 2h02m02.170s  12 
Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth M23 75 2h02m03.380s  15 
Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 74  
Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 72E 74  14 
Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 73  10 
28 Mark Donohue Penske-Cosworth PC1 66 Accident 16 
24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308 63 Accident 11 
26 Alan Jones Hesketh-Cosworth 308 61 Wheel Lost 18 
Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 751 48 Accident 
16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN5 39 Accident 
18 John Watson Surtees-Cosworth TS16 36 Spin 17 
11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312T 36 Accident 
27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Cosworth VPJ4 Mechanical 13 
17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN5 Accident 
nq 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth FW04   19 
nq 20 Arturo Merzario Williams-Cosworth FW   20 
nq 23 Graham Hill Hill-Cosworth GH1   21 
nq 14 Bob Evans BRM P201   22 
nq 31 Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Cosworth N174   23 
nq 25 Torsten Palm Hesketh-Cosworth 308   24 
nq 10 Lella Lombardi March-Cosworth 751   25 
nq 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth FD02   26