Austrian GP 1972

Austrian GP, 1972

The field was unchanged from the German GP, except for the reappearance of the Connew. Pole position was taken by World Championship leader Emerson Fittipaldi with Ferrari's Clay Regazzoni alongside him on the front row. Jackie Stewart shared the second row in his Tyrrell with Peter Revson (McLaren) while Brabham's Carlos Reutemann was on the third row with Chris Amon (Matra). The top 10 was completed by Tim Schenken (Surtees), Denny Hulme (McLaren), Howden Ganley (BRM) and Jacky Ickx (Ferrari). It was a bad weekend for Williams with Henri Pescarolo having a huge crash and destroying one of the team's March chassis (having demolished the new Williams F1 car at Brands Hatch a fortnight earlier).

At the start Stewart went into the lead, ahead of Regazzoni, Fittipaldi and a fast-starting Hulme. Reutemann, Revson and Amon gave chase. Regazzoni immediately started having fuel-feed problems but managed to keep Fittipaldi behind him for four laps before losing second place by which time Stewart was three seconds clear at the front. Regazzoni pitted soon afterwards. Fittipaldi chased after Stewart and gradually closed the gap and so the two were running together. On lap 24 Fittipaldi took the lead. By that point Hulme had closed up to them and he was able to pass Stewart for second place on lap 27. Stewart continued to drop back down through the order, losing third to Peterson and fourth to Revson, soon afterwards Peterson ran into trouble with fuel feed problems and dropped away, leaving Revson in third place. The battle for the lead continued all the way to the flag but Fittipaldi was able to hold on to win by just over a second. The victory gave Fittipaldi a lead in the championship of 25 points with only three races remaining. Denny Hulme would need to win all three without Emerson scoring a point to beat the young Brazilian to the title.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 31 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 72D 54 1h29m16.660s  1 
2 12 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M19C 54 1h29m17.840s  7 
3 14 Peter Revson McLaren-Cosworth M19C 54 1h29m53.190s  4 
4 25 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 54 1h30m01.420s  12 
5 10 Chris Amon Matra Simca-Matra MS120D 54 1h30m02.300s  6 
6 9 Howden Ganley BRM P160C 54 1h30m17.850s  10 
7 1 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Cosworth 005 54 1h30m25.750s  3 
8 7 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM P160C 54 1h30m38.110s  21 
9 2 Francois Cevert Tyrrell-Cosworth 002 53  20 
10 4 Niki Lauda March-Cosworth 721G 53  22 
11 24 Tim Schenken Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 52  8 
12 5 Ronnie Peterson March-Cosworth 721G 52  11 
13 6 Peter Gethin BRM P160C 51  16 
14 11 Andrea de Adamich Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 51  13 
15 27 Rolf Stommelen Eifelland March-Cosworth 721 48  17 
nc 23 Carlos Pace March-Cosworth 711 46  18 
nc 15 Giovanni Galli Tecno PA123 45  23 
r 16 Graham Hill Brabham-Cosworth BT37 36 Mechanical 14 
r 28 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Cosworth BT34 31 Brakes 15 
r 3 Mike Beuttler March-Cosworth 721G 24 Mechanical 24 
r 29 Francois Migault Connew-Cosworth PC1 22 Suspension 25 
r 18 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 312B2 20 Fuel Vaporisation 9 
r 17 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT37 14 Mechanical 5 
r 19 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B2 13 Fuel Vaporisation 2 
r 21 David Walker Lotus-Cosworth 72D 6 Engine 19 
ns 22 Henri Pescarolo March-Cosworth 721  Accident 26