1975 South African Grand Prix

The 1975 South African Grand Prix (formally the XXI Lucky Strike Grand Prix of South Africa) was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 1 March 1975. It was race 3 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 21st South African Grand Prix since the first Grand Prix was held in 1934 and the ninth to be held at Kyalami just outside Johannesburg. It was held over 78 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 320 kilometres.[4]

1975 South African Grand Prix
Race details
Date 1 March 1975
Official name XXI Lucky Strike Grand Prix of South Africa
Location Kyalami
Transvaal Province, South Africa
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.104 km (2.550 miles)
Distance 78 laps, 320.112 km (198.908 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Brabham-Ford
Time 1:16.41[1]
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford
Time 1:17.20[2] on lap 11
Podium
First Tyrrell-Ford
Second Brabham-Ford
Third Tyrrell-Ford
Lap leaders

Jody Scheckter became the first South African driver to win the race. Driving a Tyrrell 007, he took over the lead of the race from Carlos Pace on lap three and took a three-second win over the Brabham BT44B of Carlos Reutemann. Scheckter's Tyrrell teammate Patrick Depailler finished third.

Race summary

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Ferrari had used the free month of February profitably, producing the new 312T model with a new transverse gearbox. There was also a new face in the persona of female Italian racer Lella Lombardi (the first woman to take part in a World Championship race since Maria Teresa de Filippis in the 1958 Italian Grand Prix).

In practice, Graham Hill's car spun on oil dropped from Ronnie Peterson's car and crashed, destroying his car. He opted to sit out the race. Once the debris had been cleared and holes in the catch fencing mended, there was a second accident as Niki Lauda spun on engine oil, hitting the wall at 120 mph. With further violent accidents to Jody Scheckter and Guy Tunmer, the drivers deemed the circuit not safe and refused to continue until fencing defects were remedied and the track improved, further helped by the support of mechanics who insisted no more practice be carried out.

When the racing got under way, Carlos Pace led from pole in a Brabham 1–2 but was soon passed by Jody Scheckter and Carlos Reutemann after experiencing braking problems, and Patrick Depailler soon climbed to third. James Hunt retired with a broken throttle linkage, Vittorio Brambilla with oil cooler problems and Ian Scheckter crashed. Emerson Fittipaldi was challenging Depailler for 4th place when he suffered a cracked plug lead. Jody Scheckter held on from Reutemann for his only home win.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap
1   Carlos Pace BrabhamFord 1:16.41
2   Carlos Reutemann BrabhamFord +0.07
3   Jody Scheckter TyrrellFord +0.23
4   Niki Lauda Ferrari +0.42
5   Patrick Depailler TyrrellFord +0.42
6   Mario Andretti ParnelliFord +0.48
7   Vittorio Brambilla MarchFord +0.64
8   Ronnie Peterson LotusFord +0.73
9   Clay Regazzoni Ferrari +0.75
10   John Watson SurteesFord +0.76
11   Emerson Fittipaldi McLarenFord +0.81
12   James Hunt HeskethFord +0.89
13   Jean-Pierre Jarier ShadowFord +0.91
14   Rolf Stommelen LolaFord +1.06
15   Arturo Merzario WilliamsFord +1.12
16   Jochen Mass McLarenFord +1.38
17   Ian Scheckter TyrrellFord +1.59
18   Mark Donohue PenskeFord +1.87
19   Tom Pryce ShadowFord +1.95
20   David Charlton McLarenFord +2.10
21   Jacky Ickx LotusFord +2.27
22   Eddie Keizan LotusFord +2.60
23   Jacques Laffite WilliamsFord +2.74
24   Bob Evans BRM +2.76
25   Guy Tunmer LotusFord +3.11
26   Lella Lombardi MarchFord +3.27
27   Wilson Fittipaldi FittipaldiFord +3.32
28   Graham Hill LolaFord +5.04
Source:[5]

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3   Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 78 1:43:16.90 3 9
2 7   Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 78 + 3.74 2 6
3 4   Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 78 + 16.92 5 4
4 8   Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 78 + 17.31 1 3
5 12   Niki Lauda Ferrari 78 + 28.64 4 2
6 2   Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 78 + 1:03.64 16 1
7 23   Rolf Stommelen Lola-Ford 78 + 1:12.91 14  
8 28   Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 18  
9 16   Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 19  
10 5   Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 8  
11 34   Guy Tunmer Lotus-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 25  
12 6   Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 21  
13 33   Eddie Keizan Lotus-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 22  
14 31   Dave Charlton McLaren-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 20  
15 14   Bob Evans BRM 76 + 2 Laps 24  
16 11   Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 71 Throttle 9  
17 27   Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 70 Transmission 6  
NC 21   Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 69 + 9 Laps 23  
NC 1   Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 65 + 13 Laps 11  
Ret 32   Ian Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 55 Accident 17  
Ret 24   James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 53 Fuel system 12  
Ret 17   Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 37 Overheating 13  
Ret 10   Lella Lombardi March-Ford 23 Fuel system 26  
Ret 20   Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford 22 Engine 15  
Ret 18   John Watson Surtees-Ford 19 Clutch 10  
Ret 9   Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 16 Radiator 7  
DNQ 30   Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford        
DNQ 22   Graham Hill Lola-Ford        
Source:[6]

Notes

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  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver Bob Evans and South African driver Guy Tunmer.
  • This race saw the 10th fastest lap set by a Brazilian driver.
  • This was the 10th podium finish for a South African driver.

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 71. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  2. ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 72. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  3. ^ "South African Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  4. ^ "1975 South African Grand Prix Entry list".
  5. ^ "Formula One 1975 South African Grand Prix Classification | Motorsport Stats".
  6. ^ "1975 South African Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  7. ^ a b "South Africa 1975 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


Previous race:
1975 Brazilian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1975 season
Next race:
1975 Spanish Grand Prix
Previous race:
1974 South African Grand Prix
South African Grand Prix Next race:
1976 South African Grand Prix