German GP 1972

German GP, 1972

Emerson Fittipaldi's victories in Belgian and Britain had given the Brazilian a lead in the in the World Championship. When the F1 teams gathered in Germany the Brazilian had 43 points to Jackie Stewart's 27. With Mario Andretti and Peter Revson racing in the United States, Ferrari fielded Arturo Merzario, who had done a good job to finish sixth on his F1 debut in Britain but the team was back up to three cars as Clay Regazzoni was back in action after his arm injury (from playing football) had healed. Revson's place at McLaren was taken as usual by Brian Redman. The Williams team was back with the old Marches as Henri Pescarolo had destroyed the new car at Brands Hatch. BRM had had another switch around with Reine Wisell and Howden Ganley back in the team and Jack Oliver and Peter Gethin standing down.

Qualifying saw Jacky Ickx fastest for Ferrari with Jackie Stewart second in his Tyrrell. Fittipaldi was third fastest and shared the second of the grid with Ronnie Peterson's March. Francois Cevert was on the third row with Carlos Reutemann (Brabham) while the top 10 was completed by Regazzoni, Chris Amon (Matra), Pescarolo and Denny Hulme (McLaren).

In the race Ickx took the lead while Stewart and Peterson banged wheels as they fought over second. Peterson won and Stewart dropped to fifth behind Regazzoni and Fittipaldi. Reutemann was sixth.

Fittipaldi was the only man to make much progress in the race, passing Regazzoni during the second lap on Peterson on the fifth lap. On the ninth lap Peterson spun and fell behind Regazzoni and Stewart. Two laps later Fittipaldi's Lotus began to smoke and he retired with a gearbox failure, leaving Regazzoni to take second place. At the start of the last lap Stewart was right with him and at Hatzenbach he challenged for second place. The two cars touched and Stewart went into the barriers. Ragazzoni completed the lap to give Ferrari a 1-2 finish and Peterson collected third. Ganley was fourth from Redman and Graham Hill scored a point for Brabham, which was only his second point of the year.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 4 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 312B2 14 1h42m12.300s  1 
2 9 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B2 14 1h43m00.600s  7 
3 10 Ronnie Peterson March-Cosworth 721G 14 1h43m19.000s  4 
4 17 Howden Ganley BRM P160C 14 1h44m32.500s  18 
5 5 Brian Redman McLaren-Cosworth M19A 14 1h44m48.000s  19 
6 11 Graham Hill Brabham-Cosworth BT37 14 1h45m11.900s  15 
7 26 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Cosworth BT34 14 1h45m12.400s  21 
8 28 Mike Beuttler March-Cosworth 721G 14 1h47m23.000s  27 
9 6 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM P160C 14 1h47m32.500s  13 
10 7 Francois Cevert Tyrrell-Cosworth 002 14 1h47m56.000s  5 
11r 1 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Cosworth 003 13 Accident 2 
12 19 Arturo Merzario Ferrari 312B2 13  22 
13 6 Andrea de Adamich Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 13  20 
14 15 Tim Schenken Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 13  12 
15 8 Chris Amon Matra Simca-Matra MS120D 13  8 
nc 21 Carlos Pace March-Cosworth 711 11  11 
r 20 Henri Pescarolo March-Cosworth 721 10 Accident 9 
r 2 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 72D 10 Fire 3 
r 3 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M19C 8 Engine 10 
r 14 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 8 Suspension  16 
r 12 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT37 6 Transmission 6 
r 22 Rolf Stommelen Eifelland March-Cosworth 721 6 Electrics 14 
r 25 David Walker Lotus-Cosworth 72D 6 Oil Tank 23 
r 27 Derek Bell Tecno PA123 4 Engine 25 
r 29 Dave Charlton Lotus-Cosworth 72D 4 Driver Ill 26 
r 23 Niki Lauda March-Cosworth 721G 4 Oil Tank 24 
r 18 Reine Wisell BRM P160C 3 Engine 17