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 who secured enough points to win his first out of three world championships.
Entries Arturo Merzario was driving the Fittipaldi, replacing Wilson Fittipaldi was still recovering from his crash at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos. No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:32.24 2 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:32.75 +0.51 3 1 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 1:33.08 +0.84 4 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 1:33.27 +1.03 5 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 1:33.29 +1.05 6 23 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 1:33.34 +1.10 7 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 1:33.44 +1.20 8 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 1:33.73 +1.49 9 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:33.90 +1.66 10 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 1:34.17 +1.93 11 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:34.22 +1.98 12 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:34.36 +2.12 13 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Matra 1:34.61 +2.37 14 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1:34.71 +2.47 15 27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 1:34.72 +2.48 16 10 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 1:35.29 +3.05 17 34 Harald Ertl Hesketh-Ford 1:35.43 +3.19 18 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 1:35.48 +3.24 19 32 Chris Amon Ensign-Ford 1:35.56 +3.32 20 14 Bob Evans BRM 1:35.61 +3.37 21 25 Brett Lunger Hesketh-Ford 1:36.11 +3.87 22 20 Renzo Zorzi Williams-Ford 1:36.19 +3.95 23 22 Rolf Stommelen Hill-Ford 1:36.44 +4.20 24 29 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 1:37.06 +4.82 25 6 Jim Crawford Lotus-Ford 1:37.14 +4.90 26 30 Arturo Merzario Fittipaldi-Ford 1:37.33 +5.09 27 31 Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford 1:37.64 +5.40 28 35 Tony Trimmer Maki-Ford 1:39.44 +7.20 *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race summary
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 better than 6th to be champion; The only other driver who was mathematically eligible for the championship, Argentine Carlos Reutemann needed to win this race as well as the United States Grand Prix with Lauda out of the points in both races.
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.
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, Fittapaldi was second, Lauda was third and it 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. Ferrari won the championship for the first time since 1961 in front of their home crowd.
Race classification 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 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Matra 32 Fuel pump 13 29 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 21 Accident 24 10 Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 15 Accident 16 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 7 Gearbox 18 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 6 Throttle 10 22 Rolf Stommelen Hill-Ford 3 Accident 23 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 2 Accident 5 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1 Engine 11 23 Tony Brise Hill-Ford 1 Accident 6 27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 1 Accident 15 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1 Clutch 9 14 Bob Evans BRM 0 Electrical 20 31 Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford 35 Tony Trimmer Maki-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Italian driver Renzo Zorzi. This race marked the 5th Grand Prix win for a Swiss driver and the 25th podium finish for an Austrian driver.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 55.5 1 2 Emerson Fittipaldi 39 1 3 Carlos Reutemann 37 4 James Hunt 30 3 5 Clay Regazzoni 25Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari* 63.5 2 Brabham-Ford* 54 (56) 3 McLaren-Ford 47 4 Hesketh-Ford 30 5 Tyrrell-Ford 24Source:
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. Bold text indicates the 1975 World Drivers' Champion. Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References