1975 Italian Grand Prix

1975 Italian Grand Prix
Race details
Date	September 7, 1975
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.780 km (3.59 mi)
Distance	52 laps, 300.56 km (186.68 mi)
Weather	Dry and sunny
Pole position
Driver	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time	1:32.24[1]
Fastest lap
Driver	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari
Time	1:33.1[2] on lap 47
Podium
First	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari
Second	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford
Third	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1975 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 7 September 1975. It was race 13 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 45th Italian Grand Prix and the 41st to be held at Monza. The race held over 52 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a race distance of 300 kilometres.

The race was won by Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni in his Ferrari 312T in a glorious day for Scuderia Ferrari. It was Regazzoni's third win, Ferrari's fifth win for the season. Regazzoni took a sixteen-second win over the McLaren M23 of outgoing world champion, Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi. Behind Fittipaldi was the second Ferrari of Austrian driver Niki Lauda. Third place was enough for Lauda to secure his first world championship. Lauda's 16.5 point lead would be too much for Fittipaldi to bridge at the final round of the championship at the United States Grand Prix. With Regazzoni and Lauda scoring 13 points between them, Ferrari also secured the International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers, their first such win since 1964.

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Race

Race summary

The race start, with the poleman Lauda (n. 12) and Regazzoni (n. 11) in their Ferrari 312Ts

The Italian supporters were gathered in expectation of Ferrari gaining their first championship in 11 years-on home ground, with many Austrians travelling over the border to support Niki Lauda and were delighted when Ferrari filled both spaces on the front row. Tony Brise delighted his boss Graham Hill by gaining a third-row spot.

Lauda only needed to finish 5th or higher to be champion; but Argentine Carlos Reutemann and Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi both needed to win with Lauda out of the points. Fittipaldi, who had won in Argentina and Great Britain, was Lauda's strongest challenger.

On Sunday morning there was a cloudburst and for some time the future of the race was in jeopardy, but the rain dried up with about an hour to go before the start. Clay Regazzoni led from Lauda and Jody Scheckter.

Vittorio Brambilla's clutch burnt out on the first lap, whilst Bob Evans halted with a failed engine plug. There was a chaotic accident at the chicane-Scheckter had to take to the escape road as around him Jochen Mass hit the kerb, damaging his car's suspension. Ronnie Peterson collided with another car, jamming his throttle open. Mario Andretti and Rolf Stommelen retired with accident damage and Brise spun across the chicane. Harald Ertl soared over the top of Hans-Joachim Stuck's car, damaging the uprights.

Fittipaldi overtakes Lauda six laps before the end of the race

After six laps, Carlos Pace retired with a broken throttle link, soon joined by Hans-Joachim Stuck and Lella Lombardi. The Ferraris were circulating 1–2 with Clay Regazzoni leading majestically from Niki Lauda. On lap 14, Emerson Fittipaldi passed Carlos Reutemann for third place, and Reutemann's involvement in the championship was effectively over; he finished 4th in the race. Despite the Ferraris being way ahead, Fittipaldi would not give up the chase, carving down a gap of over ten seconds. With just six laps left, he managed to pass Lauda.

Meanwhile, Patrick Depailler had taken James Hunt for fifth only to spin off down the escape road. Hunt, Tom Pryce and Reutemann were duelling, Pryce taking the place when Hunt spun off on lap 27—but ceding it to him after a further ten laps. Harald Ertl was a lap down, but drove so well that Pryce could not overtake him.

Regazzoni took the flag, Lauda was third and champion and Ferrari won the championship for the first time since 1961 in front of their home crowd.

Classification

Regazzoni and Lauda at the Mirabello chicane leading the race during the first laps

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	52	1:22:42.6	2	9
2	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	52	+ 16.6	3	6
3	12	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	52	+ 23.2	1	4
4	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	52	+ 55.1	7	3
5	24	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	52	+ 57.1	8	2
6	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	52	+ 1:15.9	14	1
7	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	51	+ 1 Lap	12
8	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	51	+ 1 Lap	4
9	34	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	51	+ 1 Lap	17
10	25	Brett Lunger	Hesketh-Ford	50	+ 2 Laps	21
11	30	Arturo Merzario	Fittipaldi-Ford	48	+ 4 Laps	26
12	32	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	48	+ 4 Laps	19
13	6	Jim Crawford	Lotus-Ford	46	+ 6 Laps	25
14	20	Renzo Zorzi	Williams-Ford	46	+ 6 Laps	22
Ret	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Matra	32	Fuel pump	13
Ret	29	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	21	Accident	24
Ret	10	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	15	Accident	16
Ret	21	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	7	Gearbox	18
Ret	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	6	Throttle	10
Ret	22	Rolf Stommelen	Hill-Ford	3	Accident	23
Ret	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	2	Accident	5
Ret	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	1	Engine	11
Ret	23	Tony Brise	Hill-Ford	1	Accident	6
Ret	27	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	1	Accident	15
Ret	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1	Clutch	9
Ret	14	Bob Evans	BRM	0	Electrical	20
DNQ	31	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign-Ford
DNQ	35	Tony Trimmer	Maki-Ford
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 6 results from the first 7 races and the best 6 results from the last 7 races counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References