Dutch GP 1975

Dutch GP, 1975

After three consecutive victories for Niki Lauda's Ferrari it looked as though the Austrian was on course for a dominant run to the World title and it was no surprise when he qualified his Ferrari 312T on pole at Zandvoort, outrunning his Ferrari teammate Clay Regazzoni by a few tenths. Third fastest was James Hunt (Hesketh) a few hundredths faster than Jody Scheckter in the Tyrrell. Next up was Carlos Reutemann (Brabham), Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren) and then came an impressive Tony Brise in the Hill. Brise had a new team mate for the weekend as Graham Hill had found more backing from Esso and had taken on Alan Jones who was out of work after the Stiller team decided not to continue.

Also missing from the action was Mario Andretti (busy racing in the United States again) although Ensign was back in action with Gijs Van Lennep standing in for the injured Roloef Wunderink. The only other new face was Hiroshi Fushida in the Maki but as the team did not have a spare engine its involvement in the weekend ended quickly.

It was raining at the start of the race and so Lauda had an advantage and took the lead while Regazzoni lost out to Scheckter in the run to the first corner and ended up third with Hunt right on his tail. Behind them Jochen Mass (McLaren) was ahead of Pryce although that situation was quickly reversed. In the early laps little changed but then the track dried and it was down to strategy. Hunt pitted early for slicks and ended up in the lead with Jean-Pierre Jarier (Shadow) another early stopper getting into second place. Lauda was down to third. The order remained the same until the 44th lap when Lauda finally caught and passed the Shadow after an exciting battle. A lap later Jarier suffered a tire failure and spun out. Lauda set off after Hunt.

Back in third place was Scheckter with Regazzoni on his tail and they remained in that order until lap 68 when Scheckter retired with engine failure.

For the last 15 laps Hunt and Lauda diced for the lead but Hunt managed to stay ahead and won by a second. It was his first Grand Prix victory and the first (and only) victory for Hesketh Racing.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308 75 1h46m57.400s  
12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T 75 1h46m58.460s  
11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312T 75 1h47m52.460s  
Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 74  
Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 74  
16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN5 74  12 
23 Tony Brise Hill-Cosworth GH1 74  
28 Mark Donohue Penske-Cosworth PC1 74  18 
Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 73  13 
10 31 Gijs van Lennep Ensign-Cosworth N174 71  22 
11 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth FD03 71  24 
12 20 Ian Scheckter Williams-Cosworth FW 70  19 
13 22 Alan Jones Hill-Cosworth GH1 70  17 
14 10 Lella Lombardi March-Cosworth 751 70  23 
15r Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 69 Out Of Fuel 16 
16r Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 67 Engine 
21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth FW04 65 Engine 15 
Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth M23 61 Accident 
17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN5 44 Tire/ Accident 10 
18 John Watson Surtees-Cosworth TS16 43 Vibration 14 
Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 40 Engine 
14 Bob Evans BRM P201 23 Transmission 20 
Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 72E Engine 21 
Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 751 Accident 11 
ns 35 Hiroshi Fushida Maki-Cosworth F101C  Engine 25