1975 Monaco Grand Prix

Coordinates: 43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333

Monaco  1975 Monaco Grand Prix
Race details
Race 5 of 14 in the 1975 Formula One season
Date May 11, 1975
Official name XXXIII Gran Prix de Monaco
Location Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course Street circuit
Course length 3.278 km (2.037 mi)
Distance 75 laps, 245.850 km (152.764 mi)
Scheduled Distance 78 laps, 255.684 km (158.874 mi)
Weather Rain, later drying
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:26.40
Fastest lap
Driver France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:28.67 on lap 68
Podium
First Ferrari
Second McLaren-Ford
Third Brabham-Ford

The 1975 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held in Monaco on 11 May 1975. It was the fifth race of the 1975 Formula One season. It was the 33rd Monaco Grand Prix since the race was first held in 1929. It was held over 75 of the scheduled 78 laps of the three kilometre street circuit, for a race distance of 245 kilometres.

The race was won by Austrian driver Niki Lauda giving the new Ferrari 312T its first win. The win broke a 20-year drought at Monaco for Ferrari. Lauda dominated the race, only losing the lead during a pitstop. He won by two seconds over the McLaren M23 of Emerson Fittipaldi. Carlos Pace finished third in his Brabham BT44B.

Race summary

The future of Grand Prix racing was under scrutiny following the disastrous Spanish Grand Prix held three weeks prior. Actions had to be taken quickly: extra guard rails and catch fences were erected, kerbing resited and the chicane was modified. New measures were introduced: the grid was staggered and in addition would be restricted to just 18 cars. This last change affected Graham Hill's chance to qualify: the five-time Monaco winner had all sorts of practice problems and failed to qualify by 0.377 seconds. John Watson and Clay Regazzoni collided in practice, whilst the Surtees team was ordered to remove pro-Europe political stickers from its cars.

Niki Lauda, on Ferrari, claimed pole position, but sensationally sharing the front row was Tom Pryce, driving a Shadow, who just 12 months earlier had been deemed 'too inexperienced' to compete. Jean-Pierre Jarier and Ronnie Peterson filled the second row.

The race began under rain conditions, so everyone went for wet tyres. Lauda was fastest at the start, while Pryce had a slow start and was passed by Jarier; the Frenchman soon attempted to pass Lauda in an ill-advised overtaking manoeuvre, and hit the barriers at the Mirabeau; his car was damaged in the collision and handled badly, which caused him to hit the wall again at the chicane and then retire. Peterson went into the second place with Vittorio Brambilla third, until Pryce hit the Italian's wheel. Regazzoni stopped to change a tyre and the nosecone of his car, and James Hunt stopped to change onto slick tyres, anticipating a drying of the track surface. However, his team's slow pit work cost him a substantial amount of time.

Ronnie Peterson's victory chances were damaged at his pit stop when a wheel nut was lost under the car. Tom Pryce came in to replace a broken nosecone, and by that time Niki Lauda led by 15 seconds from Emerson Fittipaldi and Carlos Pace. Many accidents happened during the race: Jochen Mass and James Hunt tangled at Mirabeau, and Patrick Depailler got embroiled in their accident; Clay Regazzoni hit the chicane and suffered damage; John Watson spun and stalled the engine of his car; Pryce hit the barrier and had to retire; Mario Andretti entered the pits with his car on fire; Mark Donohue hit the barrier, whilst Alan Jones broke a wheel.

In the last laps Lauda's oil pressure was fading and Fittipaldi was closing. With three laps left the gap was 2.75 seconds; however, the two-hour time limit was reached and the race was stopped, with Lauda winning. Ferrari had won their first Monaco Grand Prix in 20 years; the tragedy of the Spanish Grand Prix receded and the championship race was back on. Fittipaldi's second position strengthened his narrow points lead over early season points leader Pace.

Classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 75 2:01:21.31 1 9
2 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 75 + 2.78 9 6
3 8 Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 75 + 17.81 8 4
4 5 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 75 + 38.45 4 3
5 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 75 + 40.86 12 2
6 2 West Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 75 + 42.07 15 1
7 3 South Africa Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 7  
8 6 Belgium Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 14  
9 7 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 73 + 2 Laps 10  
Ret 28 United States Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 66 Accident 16  
Ret 24 United Kingdom James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 63 Accident 11  
Ret 26 Australia Alan Jones Hesketh-Ford 61 Wheel 18  
Ret 9 Italy Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 48 Accident 5  
Ret 16 United Kingdom Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 39 Accident 2  
Ret 11 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 36 Accident 17  
Ret 18 United Kingdom John Watson Surtees-Ford 36 Spun Off 6  
Ret 27 United States Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 9 Oil Leak 13  
Ret 17 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 0 Accident 3  
DNQ 21 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford    
DNQ 20 Italy Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford    
DNQ 23 United Kingdom Graham Hill Hill-Ford
Lola-Ford
   
DNQ 14 United Kingdom Bob Evans BRM    
DNQ 31 Netherlands Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford    
DNQ 25 Sweden Torsten Palm Hesketh-Ford    
DNQ 10 Italy Lella Lombardi March-Ford    
DNQ 30 Brazil Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford        
Source:[1]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 21
2 Brazil Carlos Pace 16
3 Austria Niki Lauda 14
4 Argentina Carlos Reutemann 12
5 Germany Jochen Mass 10.5

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom McLaren-Ford 26.5
2 United Kingdom Brabham-Ford 25
3 Italy Ferrari 17
4 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 13
5 United Kingdom Hesketh-Ford 7

References

  1. "1975 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.

Further reading

Previous race:
1975 Spanish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1975 season
Next race:
1975 Belgian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1974 Monaco Grand Prix
Monaco Grand Prix Next race:
1976 Monaco Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by
None
Formula One Promotional Trophy
for Race Promoter

1975
Succeeded by
1976 United States Grand Prix West
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