Italian GP 1975

Italian GP, 1975

A week after the Austrian GP most of the F1 teams took part in a non-championship Swiss Grand Prix. This had to be held at Dijon as there were no racing circuits in Switzerland. The race was won by Switzerland's Clay Regazzoni although Jean-Pierre Jarier led half the race in his Shadow.

The teams then headed on to Monza where Niki Lauda needed only half a point more to win the World Championship, as a result of the decision to cancel the Canadian Grand Prix because of financial difficulties. The field was much as usual. Penske was absent following the death in Austria of Mark Donohue. Ensign ran two cars for Roelof Wunderink and Chris Amon while Frank Williams rented his second car to Renzo Zorzi.

Qualifying resulted in another pole for Niki Lauda with Regazzoni alongside on the front row. On the second row were Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren) and Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell) while Jochen Mass (McLaren) and Tony Brise (Hill) shared the third row. Completing the top 10 were Carlos Reutemann (Brabham), James Hunt (Hesketh), Austrian winner Vittorio Brambilla (March) and Brabham's Carlos Pace.

Regazzoni took the lead from Lauda with Mass, Scheckter and the rest in hot pursuit. Scheckter got up to third before the end of the first lap but he lost control as the field arrived at the first chicane at the start of lap two. There followed a series of bumps as those behind hit one another and this meant that Mario Andretti (Parnelli), Brise, Brambilla and Ronnie Peterson (Lotus) were all out and a series of others had damage.

This did not bother the two Ferraris which were driving away from the field with ease. Reutemann was third but had Fittipaldi and Hunt right with him and Depailler not far behind. On lap 10 the Frenchman moved ahead of Hunt while four laps later Fittipaldi scrambled ahead of Reutemann. Depailler then went up an escape road and dropped behind Hunt and Tom Pryce (Shadow). Pryce and Hunt then battled for much of the middle part of the race while the order at the front remained stable until the closing laps when Fittipaldi caught and overtook Lauda for second place.

Lauda's third place was enough to make him the World Champion.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312T 52 1h22m42.600s  
Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 52 1h22m59.200s  
12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T 52 1h23m05.800s  
Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 52 1h23m37.700s  
24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308C 52 1h23m39.700s  
16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN5 52 1h23m58.500s  14 
Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 51  12 
Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 51  
34 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Cosworth 308 51  17 
10 25 Brett Lunger Hesketh-Cosworth 308 50  21 
11 30 Arturo Merzario Copersucar-Cosworth FD03 48  26 
12 32 Chris Amon Ensign-Cosworth N175 48  19 
13 Jim Crawford Lotus-Cosworth 72F 46  25 
14 20 Renzo Zorzi Williams-Cosworth FW 46  22 
17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Matra DN7 32 Fuel Pump 13 
29 Lella Lombardi March-Cosworth 751 21 Accident 24 
10 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Cosworth 751 15 Accident 16 
21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth FW04 Gearbox 18 
Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44B Throttle Linkage 10 
22 Rolf Stommelen Hill-Cosworth GH1 Accident 23 
Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth M23 Accident 
Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 751 Clutch 
27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Cosworth VPJ4 Accident 15 
23 Tony Brise Hill-Cosworth GH1 Accident 
Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E Engine 11 
14 Bob Evans BRM P201 Electrics 20 
nq 31 Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Cosworth N174   27 
nq 35 Tony Trimmer Maki-Cosworth F101C   28