Belgian GP 1975

Belgian GP, 1975

A fortnight after Niki Lauda victory at Monaco the F1 teams were in action again at Zolder. Mario Andretti was away at Indianapolis and so there was no Parnelli while Roelof Wunderink had hurt himself in a Formula 5000 accident at Zandvoort was out of action and so Ensign did not appear. Graham Hill had decided to retire and with Rolf Stommelen still recovering from his injuries in Barcelona he had signed Francois Migault and Tony Brise to drive his cars.

Qualifying resulted in pole position for Niki Lauda with Carlos Pace (Brabham) alongside. Vittorio Brambilla did well in the Beta March and lined up third ahead of Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari), Tom Pryce (Shadow), Carlos Reutemann (Brabham), the impressive Brise and Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren). The top 10 was completed by Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell) and Jean-Pierre Jarier (Shadow).

At the start Pace jumped into the lead ahead of Lauda. Brambilla was third with Regazzoni, Reutemann and Scheckter scrapping over fourth. Brise disappeared early on with engine troubles and Scheckter worked his way ahead of Reutemann and Regazzoni. At the front Brambilla surprised everyone by passing both Lauda and then Pace to lead the race. Lauda overtook Pace as well and then went after Brambilla and on the sixth lap the Ferrari went ahead. Scheckter soon overtook Pace as well and was soon with Brambilla and he took second place on lap nine. The order remained unchanged for the whole of the middle part of the race but on lap 49 Brambilla pitted for new tires and left third place to Reutemann. Fittipaldi was fourth but he was unable to hold back Depailler, Regazzoni and Pryce in the closing laps.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T 70 1h43m53.980s  1 
2 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 70 1h44m13.200s  9 
3 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 70 1h44m35.800s  6 
4 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 70 1h44m54.060s  12 
5 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312T 70 1h44m57.840s  4 
6 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN5 70 1h45m22.430s  5 
7 1 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 69  8 
8 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 69  2 
9 14 Bob Evans BRM P201 68  20 
10 18 John Watson Surtees-Cosworth TS16 68  18 
11 28 Mark Donohue Penske-Cosworth PC1 67  21 
12 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth FD02 67  24 
r 22 Francois Migault Hill-Cosworth GH1 57 Suspension 22 
r 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 751 54 Brakes 3 
r 6 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 72E 52 Brakes 16 
r 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 36 Brakes/ Accident 14 
r 10 Lella Lombardi March-Cosworth 751 18 Engine 23 
r 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth FW04 18 Gearbox 17 
r 23 Tony Brise Hill-Cosworth GH1 17 Engine 7 
r 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308 15 Gear Linkage 11 
r 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN5 13 Spin 10 
r 20 Arturo Merzario Williams-Cosworth FW 2 Clutch 19 
r 26 Alan Jones Hesketh-Cosworth 308 1 Accident 13 
r 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth M23 0 Accident 15