Argentine GP 1974

Argentine GP, 1974

The F1 circus was back together again in Buenos Aires after a short winter break. The oil crisis was in full swing and the Monte Carlo Rally was canceled. Formula 1 refused to give way and, in fact, as the season progressed there were more and more becoming involved in the World Championship.

Tyrrell had lost not only Francois Cevert but also Jackie Stewart and so lined up in 1974 with a completely new driver team: Patrick Depailler being joined by former McLaren hotshoe Jody Scheckter. Peter Revson had left McLaren to take a job with Shadow where he was joined by March refugee Jean-Pierre Jarier. McLaren retained Denny Hulme but had signed up Lotus star Emerson Fittipaldi. The team now carried sponsorship from Marlboro and Texaco. The team also ran a third car in Yardley colors for Mike Hailwood.

To replace Fittipaldi Team Lotus had hired Jacky Ickx, previously of Ferrari. The Italian team had been completed restructured after a dreadful season with Luca di Montezemolo brought in to manage the team. There were two new drivers, both Clay Regazzoni and Niki Lauda transferring from BRM. Brabham had lost Wilson Fittipaldi, who had gone off to start his own F1 team, and so Carlos Reutemann started the year with Richard Robarts as his team mate. There was also a customer Brabham team with John Goldie Racing running John Watson in a Hexagon of Highgate BT42.

Team Surtees had replaced Hailwood with Jochen Mass as Carlos Pace's team mate. March had picked up Howden Ganley and Hans Stuck while BRM had a new design team led by Mike Pilbeam and the new P201. This was sponsored by Motul and the three cars were driven by Frenchmen Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo and Francois Migault.

Frank Williams continued to be backed by Marlboro and ran his cars as Iso-Rivoltas, in the hope that money would arrive from the Italian car company. Williams had picked up former Ferrari driver Arturo Merzario. Money was very short and so the second seat was leased to pay-drivers on a race-by-race basis. Hesketh Racing was working on its own car for James Hunt but started the year with an old March while Graham Hill had done a deal for Lola to build cars for him and entered two cars for himself and Guy Edwards. The field was completed by the Ensign, driven once again by Rikki Von Opel.

In Argentina it was decided to use the faster number 15 circuit of the Autodromo rather than the previously-used number nine. In qualifying Ronnie Peterson was on Pole but Ferrari showed how much progress had been made with Regazzoni qualifying alongside the Lotus on the front row. The second row featured Fittipaldi and Revson, while James Hunt impressed with fifth place in the Harvey Postlethwaite-modified Hesketh March. Local hero Carlos Reutemann was sixth with Ickx seventh and Lauda eighth. Hailwood and Hulme shared the fifth row.

At the start Peterson took the lead with Hunt second while Regazzoni, Revson and Hailwood all arrived together and collided. Regazzoni and Revson spun and Jarier ran into Revson (his team mate). Both Merzario and Watson also damaged their cars in the melee while Scheckter took to the grass to avoid hitting anyone.

Further round on the lap Hunt blew his chances by spinning and so Reutemann moved into second with Fittipaldi, Hailwood, Ickx and Hulme chasing him. On the third lap Reutemann took the lead, while Fittipaldi went into the pits to have a plug lead reattached. This left Hailwood in third place but he was soon overtaken by Hulme (who had got ahead of Ickx) and by Ickx himself. Peterson then began to fade because of brake trouble and was overtaken by Hulme and Ickx, the latter beginning to come under pressure from Lauda, who made his way ahead of Hailwood and and Peterson.

On the 27th lap Ickx went into the pits with a puncture and so Lauda was a solid third. Reutemann seems to have the race in his pocket but his engine began to misfire and Hulme began to close rapidly. He took the lead on the penultimate lap. Reutemann eventually ground to a halt on the last lap and he was overtaken by Lauda, Regazzoni, Hailwood, Beltoise and Depailler.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 6 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M23 53 1h41m02.010s  10 
2 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312B3 53 1h41m11.280s  8 
3 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B3 53 1h41m22.420s  2 
4 33 Mike Hailwood McLaren-Cosworth M23 53 1h41m33.800s  9 
5 14 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM P160E 53 1h41m53.850s  14 
6 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 005 53 1h42m54.490s  15 
7r 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44 52 Out Of Fuel 6 
8r 10 Howden Ganley March-Cosworth 741 52 Out Of Fuel 19 
9 15 Henri Pescarolo BRM P160E 52  21 
10 5 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 51  3 
11 27 Guy Edwards Lola-Cosworth T370 50  25 
12 28 John Watson Brabham-Cosworth BT42 49  20 
13 1 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 48  1 
r 26 Graham Hill Lola-Cosworth T370 45 Overheating 17 
r 8 Richard Robarts Brabham-Cosworth BT44 35 Gearbox 22 
r 2 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 72E 35 Transmission 7 
r 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Cosworth 741 31 Clutch 23 
r 37 Francois Migault BRM P160E 31 Water Leak 24 
r 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 006 25 Engine 12 
r 18 Carlos Pace Surtees-Cosworth TS16 21 Engine 11 
r 20 Arturo Merzario Iso Marlboro-Cosworth FW 19 Engine 13 
r 24 James Hunt March-Cosworth 731 11 Overheating 5 
r 19 Jochen Mass Surtees-Cosworth TS16 10 Engine 18 
r 16 Peter Revson Shadow-Cosworth DN3 1 Accident 4 
r 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN1 0 Accident 16 
ns 22 Rikky von Opel Ensign-Cosworth N174  Handling 26