German GP 1973

German GP, 1973

There was only a week between the Dutch and German Grand Prix and when the F1 field gathered in Germany memories of the frightful accident which had claimed the life of Roger Williamson were still vivid. The March team did not appear and also missing were Ferrari, Ensign, Tecno and Hesketh. To boost the field, however, McLaren, Brabham and Surtees were all running three cars. Ferrari had released Jacky Ickx to drive for McLaren for the weekend, Brabham was running Rolf Stommelen in a third car (replacing Andrea de Adamich) while Surtees again ran Jochen Mass. Williams fielded Henri Pescarolo once again.

In qualifying Jackie Stewart took pole position for Tyrrell, just beating Ronnie Peterson's Lotus. Francois Cevert shared the second row with Ickx's McLaren while Niki Lauda (BRM) and Carlos Reutemann (Brabham were on the third row. The McLarens of Peter Revson and Denny Hulme shared the fourth row while BRM monopolized the fifth row with Jean-Pierre Beltoise just ahead of Clay Regazzoni.

Emerson Fittipaldi was still not fully fit with painful ankles which resulted from his practice crash in Holland and he was down in 14th on the grid. Of the rest Howden Ganley had a big crash in his Williams when the brakes failed and the car was seriously damaged and could not be repaired in time for the race.

As usual there was a huge crowd at the Nurburgring and the weather was fine when the race started with Stewart and Cevert going into the lead ahead of Peterson. The Lotus driver's race was soon over, however, as he suffered an engine failure in the course of the first lap, which left Ickx in third place with Lauda, Reutemann, Revson, Carlos Pace (Surtees) and Hulme battling for fourth. This fight quickly broke up as Revson glanced a barrier and dropped to the tail of the field and Lauda crashed heavily at Kesselchen and broke his wrist.

This left Reutemann fourth. The Argentine lasted only until the eighth lap, however, when he went out with engine failure which left Pace to finish fourth ahead of the two Fittipaldis, Wilson for once beating Emerson.

The Tyrrell 1-2 (Stewart's 27th victory) moved Cevert to second place in the World Championship, ahead of Fittipaldi.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 5 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Cosworth 006 14 1h42m03.000s  1 
2 6 Francois Cevert Tyrrell-Cosworth 006 14 1h42m04.600s  3 
3 30 Jacky Ickx McLaren-Cosworth M23 14 1h42m44.200s  4 
4 24 Carlos Pace Surtees-Cosworth TS14A 14 1h42m56.800s  11 
5 11 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Cosworth BT42 14 1h43m22.900s  13 
6 1 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 72E 14 1h43m27.300s  14 
7 31 Jochen Mass Surtees-Cosworth TS14A 14 1h43m28.200s  15 
8 17 Jackie Oliver Shadow-Cosworth DN1 14 1h43m28.700s  17 
9 8 Peter Revson McLaren-Cosworth M23 14 1h44m14.800s  7 
10 26 Henri Pescarolo Iso Marlboro-Cosworth IR 14 1h44m25.500s  12 
11 9 Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Cosworth BT42 14 1h45m30.300s  16 
12 7 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M23 14 1h45m41.700s  8 
13 12 Graham Hill Shadow-Cosworth DN1 14 1h45m52.000s  20 
14 23 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Cosworth TS14A 13  18 
15 18 David Purley March-Cosworth 731 13  22 
16 15 Mike Beuttler March-Cosworth 731 13  19 
r 10 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT42 7 Engine 6 
r 19 Clay Regazzoni BRM P160E 7 Engine 10 
r 16 George Follmer Shadow-Cosworth DN1 5 Accident 21 
r 20 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM P160E 4 Gearbox 9 
r 21 Niki Lauda BRM P160E 1 Accident 5 
r 2 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 0 Mechanical 2 
ns 25 Howden Ganley Iso Marlboro-Cosworth IR  Accident 23