Italian GP 1974

Italian GP, 1974

The World Championship remained wide open with Clay Regazzoni (46 points) leading Jody Scheckter (41), Niki Lauda (38) and Emerson Fittipaldi (37). There were few changes int he driver-up from previous races with Chris Amon rejoining the fray with his own chassis and Jose Dolhem returning to Surtees in place of Jean-Pierre Jabouille. The Finotto team entered Carlo Facetti in place of Helmut Koinigg.

There was much excitement amongst the tifosi with a Ferrari victory being a distinct possibility and there was much rejoicing when Niki Lauda took pole position from Carlos Reutemann (the winner of the previous race in Austria). Behind them came the Brabhams of Carlos Pace and John Watson (using a works car after he had crashed the Hexagon BT44), making it three Brabhams in the top four places. Then came Regazzoni (Ferrari), Fittipaldi (McLaren), Ronnie Peterson (Lotus), James Hunt (Hesketh), Jean-Pierre Jarier (Shadow) and Patrick Depailler (Tyrrell). Scheckter had a bad time in qualifying and ended up 12th while Dolhem, Facetti, Derek Bell (Surtees), Mike Wilds (Ensign), Amon and Leo Kinnunen (AAW Racing) all failed to qualify.

In the race the order at the front was unchanged on the first lap although in the course of the second lap Watson was overtaken for fourth by Regazzoni.. In the laps that followed Regazzoni overtook Pace and Reutemann to move up to make it the perfect Ferrari 1-2. The Brabham challenge then began to fade with Watson going off and dropping back, Reutemann retiring with gearbox failure and Pace suffering from tire troubles. This enabled Peterson to climb through to third place with Fittipaldi fourth and Scheckter fifth. This order remained unchanged until the 30th lap when Lauda's Ferrari began to trail smoke. Regazoni took the lead and the Austrian went on until his engine failed a couple of laps later. For the next 10 laps Regazzoni led and then the same happened to him. Peterson was in the lead but was under pressure from Fittipaldi. The Swede crossed the line less than a second ahead after 12 laps of battling. Scheckter finished third with Arturo Merzario a good fourth for Iso-Marlboro. Pace made it home fifth and Denny Hulme completed the points scorers in his McLaren.

As the teams left Monza the World Championship was even closer than before with Regazzoni on 46pts, Scheckter on 45 and Fittipaldi on 43. Lauda was still in with a chance as well with 38.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 1 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 52 1h22m56.600s  7 
2 5 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 52 1h22m57.400s  6 
3 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 52 1h23m21.300s  12 
4 20 Arturo Merzario Iso Marlboro-Cosworth FW 52 1h24m24.300s  15 
5 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44 51  3 
6 6 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M23 51  19 
7 28 John Watson Brabham-Cosworth BT44 51  4 
8 26 Graham Hill Lola-Cosworth T370 51  21 
9 33 David Hobbs McLaren-Cosworth M23 51  23 
10 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN3 50  22 
11 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 50  10 
r 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B3 40 Oil Seal 5 
r 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312B3 32 Water Leak 1 
r 2 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 76 31 Throttle Linkage 16 
r 27 Rolf Stommelen Lola-Cosworth T370 25 Suspension 14 
r 21 Jacques Laffite Iso Marlboro-Cosworth FW 22 Engine 17 
r 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN3 19 Engine 9 
r 10 Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 741 16 Accident 13 
r 29 Tim Schenken Trojan-Cosworth T103 15 Gearbox 20 
r 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44 11 Gearbox 2 
r 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Cosworth 741 10 Engine Mounting 18 
r 15 Henri Pescarolo BRM P201 3 Engine 25 
r 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308 2 Engine 8 
r 37 Francois Migault BRM P201 1 Gearbox 24 
r 14 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM P201 0 Electrics 11 
nq 19 Jose Dolhem Surtees-Cosworth TS16   26 
nq 31 Carlo Facetti Brabham-Cosworth BT42   27 
nq 18 Derek Bell Surtees-Cosworth TS16   28 
nq 25 Mike Wilds Ensign-Cosworth N174   29 
nq 22 Chris Amon Amon-Cosworth AF101   30 
nq 23 Leo Kinnunen Surtees-Cosworth TS16   31