The 1972 South African Grand Prix, formally the Sixth AA Grand Prix of South Africa (Afrikaans: Sesde AA Suid-Afrikaanse Grand Prix), was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 4 March 1972. It was race 2 of 12 in both the 1972 World Championship of Drivers and the 1972 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 79-lap race was won by McLaren driver Denny Hulme after he started from fifth position. Emerson Fittipaldi finished second for the Lotus team and McLaren driver Peter Revson came in third.
Report
Entry
A total of 27 cars were entered for this race. Although there was more than a month between the Argentine Grand Prix and South Africa, most cars were transported direct to Kyalami from Buenos Aires. There were few changes in the entry.
Having missed the trip to Argentina due to a clashing Formula 5000 race, Mike Hailwood returned to Team Surtees. Jean-Pierre Beltoise also missed Buenos Aires, due to legal problems following an accident that had claimed the life of Ignazio Giunti in January 1971. Team Williams ran a second March-Cosworth for rising star Carlos Pace alongside their regular driver, Henri Pescarolo. A new team arrived in South Africa, the Team Eifelland Caravans outfit making its first appearance with Rolf Stommelen down to drive. As usual for Kyalami, the field was bolstered by local entries: Dave Charlton in a Lucky Strike-sponsored Lotus 72D, and pair of cars from Team Gunston for John Love (Surtees TS9) and Willie Ferguson (Brabham BT33).
Qualifying
The reigning World Champion, and winner of the opening round, Jackie Stewart secured pole position, for Elf Team Tyrrell, averaging a speed of 119.221 mph. Stewart beat Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) and Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus) by a few tenth of a second. Mike Hailwood was next up on the second row, joined by Denny Hulme in his McLaren M19A. A pair of Ferrari 312B2 were on row three, with Mario Andretti ahead of Jacky Ickx. They were joined by François Cevert in the second Tyrrell.
Race
The race was held over 79 laps of the Kyalami circuit. At the start, Denny Hulme briefly held the lead before Jackie Stewart moved ahead, meanwhile Clay Regazzoni had a bad get away and was back in the midfield. The Tyrrell 003 of Stewart quickly built a lead while the battle for second between Hulme, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mike Hailwood detached itself from the rest of the field. The Yardley Team McLaren of Hulme began to overheat and this saw him dropped behind his rivals. Hailwood, a few laps later, was able to pass Fittipaldi to move up to second and began to challenge Stewart for the lead. On lap 28, the rear suspension of Hailwood's Surtees TS9B failed and he retired from the race. Although this left Fittipaldi to attack Stewart, the Tyrrell driver stayed ahead, only to suffer a gearbox failure on lap 45. Fittipaldi inherited the lead, with Hulme right on his tail. The Brazilian now ran into handling problems and this enable Hulme to regain the lead on lap 57, from which he would go to win. Fittipaldi was still in a strong second place as the gap between him and the third place, Chris Amon was large. The gap became even bigger where Amon's Matra MS120C developed a serious vibration. This saw him drop down the order and finish 3 laps adrift in 15th. Third place thus went to the second McLaren, of Peter Revson.
Hulme won in a time of 1hr 45.49.1mins., averaging a speed of 114.898 mph, and was over 14 seconds ahead of Fititpaldi. Revson was a further 12.7 seconds behind. Only other drivers to complete the full race distance were Mario Andretti (Ferrari) and Ronnie Peterson (March). This victory gave Hulme a six-point the lead in the World Championship.
Classification Qualifying Pos.No.DriverConstructorTimeGap11 Jackie StewartTyrrell–Ford1:17.026 Clay RegazzoniFerrari1:17.3 +0.338 Emerson FittipaldiLotus–Ford1:17.4 +0.4417 Mike HailwoodSurtees–Ford1:17.4 +0.4512 Denny HulmeMcLaren–Ford1:17.4 +0.467 Mario AndrettiFerrari1:17.5 +0.575 Jacky IckxFerrari1:17.7 +0.782 François CevertTyrrell–Ford1:17.8 +0.893 Ronnie PetersonMarch–Ford1:17.8 +0.81016 Tim SchenkenSurtees–Ford1:17.8 +0.81110 Jean-Pierre BeltoiseBRM1:17.9 +0.91214 Peter RevsonMcLaren–Ford1:18.0 +1.01315 Chris AmonMatra1:18.0 +1.01419 Graham HillBrabham–Ford1:18.1 +1.11520 Carlos ReutemannBrabham–Ford1:18.2 +1.21623 Howden GanleyBRM1:18.3 +1.31726 David CharltonLotus–Ford1:18.5 +1.51811 Peter GethinBRM1:18.7 +1.7199 David WalkerLotus–Ford1:18.7 +1.72018 Andrea de AdamichSurtees–Ford1:18.9 +1.9214 Niki LaudaMarch–Ford1:18.9 +1.92221 Henri PescaroloMarch–Ford1:19.0 +2.02324 Helmut MarkoBRM1:19.1 +2.12422 Carlos PaceMarch–Ford1:20.3 +3.32525 Rolf StommelenEifelland–Ford1:20.4 +3.42627 John LoveSurtees–Ford1:21.0 +4.02728 William FergusonBrabham–Ford1:31.9 +14.9 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 12 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 79 1:45:49.1 5 9 2 8 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 79 + 14.1 3 6 3 14 Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 79 + 25.8 12 4 4 7 Mario Andretti Ferrari 79 + 38.5 6 3 5 3 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 79 + 49.0 9 2 6 19 Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 78 + 1 Lap 14 1 7 4 Niki Lauda March-Ford 78 + 1 Lap 21 8 5 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 78 + 1 Lap 7 9 2 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 78 + 1 Lap 8 10 9 Dave Walker Lotus-Ford 78 + 1 Lap 19 11 21 Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 78 + 1 Lap 22 12 6 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 77 + 2 Laps 2 13 25 Rolf Stommelen Eifelland-Ford 77 + 2 Laps 25 14 24 Helmut Marko BRM 76 + 3 Laps 23 15 15 Chris Amon Matra 76 + 3 Laps 13 16 27 John Love Surtees-Ford 73 Puncture / Accident 26 17 22 Carlos Pace March-Ford 73 + 6 Laps 24 23 Howden Ganley BRM 70 + 9 Laps 16 18 Andrea de Adamich Surtees-Ford 69 + 10 Laps 20 11 Peter Gethin BRM 65 + 14 Laps 18 10 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 61 Engine 11 1 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 45 Gearbox 1 17 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 28 Suspension 4 20 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 27 Fuel System 15 16 Tim Schenken Surtees-Ford 9 Engine 10 26 Dave Charlton Lotus-Ford 2 Fuel Pump 17 28 William Ferguson Brabham-Ford Engine
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for South African driver William Ferguson and for Brazilian driver and future Grand Prix winner Carlos Pace. This race marked the 10th Grand Prix win for a New Zealand driver and the 5th podium finish for a Brazilian driver. First podium finish for Peter Revson. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for German constructor Eifelland. This was the 1st fastest lap set by a Surtees. This race marked the 5th Grand Prix win for McLaren.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Denny Hulme 15 1 2 Jackie Stewart 9 9 3 Emerson Fittipaldi 6 1 4 Jacky Ickx 4 7 5 Peter Revson 4Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 McLaren-Ford 15 1 2 Tyrrell-Ford 9 3 Ferrari 7 4 4 Lotus-Ford 6 5 March-Ford 3Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References