1975 Austrian Grand Prix

1975 Austrian Grand Prix
1975 Austrian Grand Prix
Race details
Date	17 August 1975
Official name	XIII Memphis Großer Preis von Österreich
Location	Spielberg, Austria
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.911 km (3.673 miles)
Distance	29 laps, 171.419 km (106.517 miles)
Scheduled distance	54 laps, 319.914 km (198.342 miles)
Weather	Heavy rain
Pole position
Driver	Niki Lauda;
Time	1:34.85
Fastest lap
Driver	Vittorio Brambilla
Time	1:53.90
Podium
First	Vittorio Brambilla;
Second	James Hunt;
Third	Tom Pryce;
	Lap leaders ;

The 1975 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 17 August 1975. It was race 12 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.^[4] It was the eighth Austrian Grand Prix and the sixth to be held at the Österreichring. It was held over 29 of the scheduled 54 laps of the six kilometre circuit for a race distance of 171 kilometres. The race was shortened by heavy rain, meaning that only half points were awarded. The weekend itself was marred by the deaths of Mark Donohue and a track marshal in a practice crash.

Mastering the wet weather, the race was won by Italian driver Vittorio Brambilla driving a March 751. It was Brambilla's only Formula One win in his seven-year Grand Prix career. He took a 27-second win over British driver James Hunt in his Hesketh 308. Eight seconds further back was the Shadow DN5 of British driver Tom Pryce in the first of just two podiums in his abbreviated career.

Qualifying summary

Niki Lauda delighted his home crowd by claiming his seventh pole position of the year. Rolf Stommelen returned after his crash in Spain but could only muster 26th position for qualifying. Chris Amon had returned for Ensign but only being able to qualify in 24th. Brett Lunger qualified well in his début for Hesketh to start 17th.

Practice crashes

Practice was marred by a series of accidents, Brian Henton crashing his Lotus when he hit an oil patch and Wilson Fittipaldi breaking two bones in his hand. During the warm-up on Sunday morning, Mark Donohue had a tyre failure and crashed at Vöest-Hügel, the flat-out right hander after the pits. The car went through catch fencing and advertising billboards lining the track.^[5] One track marshal was killed and another marshal was injured. Donohue was injured but suffered a brain hemorrhage after the accident and died two days later.^[5]^[6]

Race summary

As the grid formed up, there were reports of rain at the far side of the track. Thunderclouds were forming ominously and the cars were returned to the pits to change to wet tyres.

After 45 minutes, the grid reformed. Lauda led off the start from James Hunt and Patrick Depailler who had shot up from the fourth row. Mario Andretti spun off, whilst Bob Evans retired the BRM.

Vittorio Brambilla had shot through the spray to gain a third place, with Ronnie Peterson leaping from tenth to fourth.

By lap 12, it was obvious that Lauda's car was not set up fully to cope with wet conditions and by lap 15 Hunt stormed by to lead for the fifth time this season. However, this was to be short-lived. The Hesketh's engine was running on only seven cylinders and Brambilla was clambering all over the back of the car. Ahead of them Lunger was driving carefully in his first wet race and could not see the leaders approaching him. Brambilla seized the lead and it took a further two laps for Hunt to finally pass his teammate. Peterson had to pit to replace a faulty visor, whilst the Brabham drivers found they had been racing with one of their own rear tyres and one of their teammates'. Jochen Mass spun out of third place, and soon there was frantic activity between the Grand Prix Drivers' Association and the race officials as to whether the race should continue – it was brought to a halt on lap 29.

As Brambilla took the flag, he crashed into the barriers and the March team celebrated a historic victory. However, behind the scenes, there was confusion. Some teams were preparing for a restart, but as the race had already been stopped with the chequered flag, it could not happen anymore. The race results would stand, but with only half points awarded. Brambilla, the oldest man in the field at 37, had won his first and only Grand Prix.

This was the first of only two races where Shadow used a Matra engine instead of the Cosworth DFV in Jean-Pierre Jarier's Shadow DN7.^[7]

With neither Carlos Reutemann nor Emerson Fittipaldi featuring in the points, Niki Lauda's sixth position actually allowed him to expand his points lead to 17.5 points. If Lauda scored any points at all at the Italian Grand Prix the Austrian driver could claim the championship.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	12	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1:34.85	—
2	24	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	1:34.97	+0.12
3	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	1:35.21	+0.36
4	10	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1:35.38	+0.53
5	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1:35.41	+0.56
6	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	1:35.71	+0.86
7	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1:35.78	+0.93
8	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1:35.80	+0.95
9	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1:36.12	+1.27
10	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1:36.14	+1.29
11	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	1:36.43	+1.58
12	21	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	1:37.60	+2.75
13	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	1:37.61	+2.76
14	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Matra	1:37.62	+2.77
15	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	1:37.64	+2.79
16	23	Tony Brise	Hill-Ford	1:37.69	+2.84
17	25	Brett Lunger	Hesketh-Ford	1:37.87	+3.02
18	18	John Watson	Surtees-Ford	1:37.96	+3.11
19	27	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	1:37.97	+3.12
20	30	Wilson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:38.14	+3.29
21	28	Mark Donohue	March-Ford	1:38.19	+3.34
22	29	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	1:38.43	+3.58
23	6	Brian Henton	Lotus-Ford	1:38.72	+3.87
24	31	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	1:38.75	+3.90
25	14	Bob Evans	BRM	1:39.53	+4.68
26	22	Rolf Stommelen	Hill-Ford	1:39.56	+4.71
27	32	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1:40.72	+5.87
28	33	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign-Ford	1:42.58	+7.73
29	20	Jo Vonlanthen	Williams-Ford	1:42.80	+7.95
30	35	Tony Trimmer	Maki-Ford	1:44.88	+10.03

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	29	0:57:56.69	8	4.5
2	24	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	29	+ 27.03	2	3
3	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	29	+ 34.85	15	2
4	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	29	+ 1:12.66	9	1.5
5	5	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	29	+ 1:23.33	13	1
6	12	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	29	+ 1:30.28	1	0.5
7	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	29	+ 1:39.07	5
8	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	28	+ 1 Lap	10
9	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	28	+ 1 Lap	3
10	18	John Watson	Surtees-Ford	28	+ 1 Lap	18
11	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	28	+ 1 Lap	7
12	31	Chris Amon	Ensign-Ford	28	+ 1 Lap	24
13	25	Brett Lunger	Hesketh-Ford	28	+ 1 Lap	17
14	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	28	+ 1 Lap	11
15	23	Tony Brise	Hill-Ford	28	+ 1 Lap	16
16	22	Rolf Stommelen	Hill-Ford	27	+ 2 Laps	26
17	29	Lella Lombardi	March-Ford	26	+ 3 Laps	22
NC	33	Roelof Wunderink	Ensign-Ford	25	+ 4 Laps	28
Ret	32	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	23	Electrical	27
Ret	21	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	21	Handling	12
Ret	8	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	17	Engine	6
Ret	20	Jo Vonlanthen	Williams-Ford	14	Engine	29
Ret	10	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	10	Accident	4
Ret	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Matra	10	Injection	14
Ret	14	Bob Evans	BRM	2	Engine	25
Ret	27	Mario Andretti	Parnelli-Ford	1	Accident	19
DNS	30	Wilson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	0	Handling	20
DNS	28	Mark Donohue	March-Ford	0	Fatal accident	21
DNS	6	Brian Henton	Lotus-Ford	0	Accident	23
DNQ	35	Tony Trimmer	Maki-Ford
Source:^[8]

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Swiss driver Jo Vonlanthen and American driver Brett Lunger.
This race marked the 25th Grand Prix victory for an Italian driver.
This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Hesketh.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Niki Lauda	51.5
2	Carlos Reutemann	34
3	Emerson Fittipaldi	33
4	James Hunt	28
5	Carlos Pace	24
Source: ^[9]

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	54.5
2	Brabham-Ford	51 (53)
3	McLaren-Ford	41
4	Hesketh-Ford	28
5	Tyrrell-Ford	24
Source: ^[9]

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

^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 93. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 95. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
^ "Austrian Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com. Archived from the original on 12 January 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
^ "1975 Austrian Grand Prix Entry list".
^ ^a ^b "Donohue dies after surgery". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. 20 August 1975.
^ "Austrian Grand Prix 1975". motorsportmagazine.com. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
^ Jones, Bruce (1998). "Statistics". The Complete Encyclopedia of Formula One. Carlton Books. pp. 400–401. ISBN 1-85868-515-X.
^ "1975 Austrian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Austria 1975 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 March 2019.

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