June 27, 2005
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1894 – 1907 – 1928 – 1950 – 1954 – 1958 – 1961 – 1966 – 1970 – 1974 – 1980 – 1984 – 1992 – 1998
Ground Effect – 1974 to 1979
The Closest Battle
1974 saw one of the closest ever battles for the driver championship and it came after a winter of frantic activity that saw most drivers changing their seats. Fittipaldi went to McLaren, Ickx to Lotus while Tyrrell’s new boys were South African Jody Scheckter and French newcomer Patrick Depailler. Regazzoni returned to Ferrari while Revson and Jean-Pierre Jarier were chosen to drive the Shadows in their second season.
The first race was in Argentina and Hulme won it from Ferrari’s new boy Lauda. In Brazil it was Fittipaldi while Reutemann won in South Africa. Sadly Peter Revson was killed in pre-race practise at Kyalami. The circus moved on to Europe and Lauda won a maiden victory at Jarama. Fittipaldi and Peterson were next at Nivelles and Monaco respectively. New boy Scheckter scored his first win in Sweden, while Lauda and Regazzoni made it a Ferrari 1-2 at the brand new Dijon track. Scheckter did it again at Brands Hatch, and Regazzoni replied for Ferrari at the Nürburgring. In Austria it was Reutemann who came out on top while Peterson clinched it at Monza.
Fittipaldi then began his big push with a win in Canada, the season’s penultimate race. The Brazilian and Regazzoni were on equal points going into the last race of the season and Emerson clinched it with a fourth place at the US Grand Prix after his rival failed to finish. McLaren also clinched the constructors title in a race that was marred by the death of Austrian Helmut Koinigg in his first ever race.
Lauda Takes Risks & Wins
1975 began with a big surprise. Jean-Pierre Jarier, a man few expected to set the racing world alight, started the season with a pole position for the Shadow team. He settled back to normal by breaking down on the warm-up lap and watched Fittipaldi win the race after a valiant effort from Hunt.
For Brazil Jarier took pole again. This time he led for 28 laps before retiring and allowing local boy Carlos Pace to record his first win. In South Africa another local man won when Scheckter brought his Tyrrell home first. The next race was in Spain but it almost didn’t get started as many teams threatened to boycott the fixture over concerns about the safety standards of the Montjuich Park track. They relented but the race proved their fears to be well-founded when half the field crashed. Stommelen led but crashed following a wing failure. His car ploughed into the crowd and several people died. The race ended early and Jochen Mass was declared the winner.
Monaco was wet and Lauda came in first ahead of Fittipaldi. Lauda followed that with wins at Zolder and Anderstorp. Hunt scored next with a popular win at Zandvoort but had to settle for second behind Lauda at Paul Ricard. At Silverstone rain again plagued the race and some fifteen cars crashed before the red flags came out. Fittipaldi, in the pits at the time, was declared the winner. It was to be his last win. In Germany Reutemann clinched the win when several front runners succumbed to punctures. In a confusing season Austria was perhaps the defining race. Shortened by rain the flag was taken by Vittorio Brambilla who promptly crashed on his victory lap! Sadly the American driver Mark Donohue was killed during the warm-up lap.
All through the season Lauda had been steadily racking up points and he clinched the title with a third place in Monza, where team-mate Regazzoni thrilled the crowd with another win for Ferrari. Only the Glen remained on the calender and Lauda clinched that one with ease. November was another time of tragedy as it was announced that two-times world champion Graham Hill had been killed in a light-aircraft crash. Several members of his team also died including the promising new driver Tony Brise.
FORTUNE FAVOURS HUNT
At the end of the 1975 season Lord Hesketh, for whom James Hunt had driven for several years elected to withdraw from racing. Fortunately for Hunt Fittipaldi announced that he was quitting McLaren to drive for his brother’s Copersucar team. Hunt got the job and in the McLaren he had, for the first time, a real chance of taking the championship. This was also the year that Tyrrell raised a few eyebrows with the development of the stunning six-wheeled P34.
Hunt started his campaign with pole at Interlagos but it was Lauda who won the race. In Kyalami the pattern was repeated; Hunt on pole, Lauda on the podium. The third race of the season was a new one staged on the street circuit of Long Beach, California, Regazzoni won that one.
The European season started in Jarama, which was the race in which the six-wheeler first appeared. Hunt beat Lauda but was later disqualified. Lauda won in Belgium and Monaco while Hunt failed to score in both. At the mid point of the season Hunt was way off the pace and it looked like Lauda would win back to back titles. Sweden saw a fabulous one-two for the six-wheelers of Scheckter and Depailler and Hunt’s luck finally turned at Paul Ricard. He won easily when the Ferraris retired. He won at Brands Hatch but was again disqualified in a confusing race. Lauda got the points again.
Next was the Nürburgring and the accident which nearly cost Lauda his life. Incredibly he was back in the saddle for Monza which was won by Peterson. Hunt again failed to score, although he took wins at Mosport and the Glen. For the first time Japan was to host a race and the Mount Fuji circuit was chosen as the venue. Hunt was three points adrift of Lauda but when the Austrian withdrew due to the atrocious weather Hunt finished third and won the title by a single point.
Lauda & Ferrari – Champions Again
Colin Chapman did it again at the start of the 1977 season when he unleashed the Type 78 on an unsuspecting opposition. The 78 which Andretti, and new team-mate Gunnar Nilsson, would drive was the first ‘ground effect’ car. Equipped with prominent side-pods and sliding skirts it effectively sucked the car onto the track. Brabham’s continuing partnership with Alfa Romeo also looked to have produced a very quick car in which Watson led the opening race before it broke and gave Scheckter and the new Wolf the victory.
Reutemann won in Brazil, while at Kyalami Lauda scored the first win since his accident. The South African race also witnessed the death of British driver Tom Pryce who was killed when he hit a marshal as he ran across the track. Death struck again before the next race when Carlos Pace was killed in a plane crash. The circus went back to Long Beach once more and Scheckter led for most of the race before a puncture gave Andretti and Lotus their first win of the season.
Andretti added another in Spain, to which Scheckter responded with a win in Monaco that marked the 100th victory for the Cosworth DFV. In Belgium it rained and Lotus driver Nilsson scored a fine win, while Hunt beat off Jabouille’s turbo-charged Renault to win at Silverstone. Hockenheim marked another century of wins, when Lauda scored the 100th victory for Goodyear. In yet another wet race in Austria Alan Jones gave the Shadow team a rare win.
Lauda continued to score points while Andretti, Hunt and Scheckter suffered a series of engine failures. Lauda won in Holland, Andretti in Italy while Hunt managed to scrape a win at the Glen after Hans Stuck crashed out. Lauda finished fourth and with it earned enough points to take the title. Scheckter took the Canadian race while Hunt finished first on the Mount Fuji circuit in Japan. The race was marred by tragedy when Ferrari’s newcomer Gilles Villeneuve tangled with Peterson. Villeneuve was flipped over the barrier and two spectators were killed.
Tragedy at Monza
Amazingly not a single team appeared to have seen the benefits of the Lotus 78. They began to regret it even more when Chapman unveiled the next generation ‘ground-effect’ car; the Type 79. Lotus kicked off their challenge in bold style with a stunning win by Andretti in Argentina. Brazil saw Reutemann home first, although Emerson Fittipaldi finished a creditable second in the ‘family car’. At Kyalami, Peterson, now back with Lotus, fought of a determined Depailler to take the flag. Reutemann scored again at Long Beach in a race that certainly pointed out Villeneuve as a star of the future.
Patrick Depailler finally got his first win at Monaco, while in Belgium Andretti took the Type 79 for its first outing. The field were left for dead and only team-mate Peterson could stay even close to him. They repeated the double act at Jarama. By now the other teams had seen the error of their ways and began to field their own ‘ground-effect’ efforts. Wolf got it right fairly quickly and Brabham responded with the amazing ‘fan-car’. Lauda took it to a win on its first outing in Sweden before it was banned.
Mario and Ronnie did it again in France, but both retired at Brands Hatch to allow Reutemann to take his third win of the season. Peterson drove well and won in Austria in yet another wet race and they all moved to Monza where only Peterson had a chance of catching Andretti. It was not to be. Ronnie was involved in a big pile-up on the first start and flown to hospital. He died the following day from a blood clot and the world of racing was stunned. Andretti was the world champion in the saddest of circumstances.
Ferrari Reliability Wins the Day
By now every single team had developed a ‘ground-effect’ car of one form or another. Some worked better than others. On paper Lotus looked set to take charge of the season yet again as former Ferrari ace Reutemann joined Andretti and Martini replaced JPS as the primary sponsors.
Of the rest of the teams Williams seemed to have got it right with the FW07, although it was to miss the first few races of the season. For this season Scheckter had quit Wolf to join Villeneuve at Ferrari and after an 18 month apprenticeship in Formula One, Renault elected to become a two-car team. Early indicators suggested that Ligier would do well and Laffite won in both Brazil and Argentina. The new Ferrari 312T4 arrived in time for Kyalami and Villeneuve and Scheckter scored a one-two for the Scuderia. They repeated the effort at Long Beach despite a strong challenge from Jones in the Williams.
Ligier came back in Spain where Depailler led throughout the race. Zolder heralded the arrival of the FW07 and Jones looked set to take the win until he retired. Scheckter won, as he did in Monaco soon after. Renault then won on home turf with a good run from Jabouille, although the race was best remembered for the battle waged over second place between Villeneuve and Arnoux. The Canadian won. Next it was Williams’ turn to take their first win. Regazzoni delivered it at Silverstone. Jones then added to the tally with wins at Hockenheim, Austria and at Zandvoort. Despite the success of the other drivers, Scheckter continued to score points in every race, so that by the time of his win at Monza he had amassed enough to claim the title with two races still to go.
At Montreal Jones beat Villeneuve in a fiery battle while Gilles turned the tables at the Glen where Ferrari reliability helped the Canadian into second place in the championship.
