The 1972 British Grand Prix (formally the John Player Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 15 July 1972. It was race 7 of 12 in both the 1972 World Championship of Drivers and the 1972 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was won by Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi driving a Lotus 72D.
Ronnie Peterson suffered an engine failure with less than two laps to go, and crashed into the parked cars of Graham Hill and François Cevert. Arturo Merzario finished sixth on his debut; he was the last driver whose first race was with Ferrari until Oliver Bearman at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, 52 years later.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.NoDriverConstructorTimeGapGrid15 Jacky IckxFerrari1:22,2128 Emerson FittipaldiLotus-Ford1:22,6 +0.42319 Peter RevsonMcLaren-Ford1:22,7 +0.5341 Jackie StewartTyrrell-Ford1:22,9 +0.74522 Tim SchenkenSurtees-Ford1:23,2 +1.05611 Jean-Pierre BeltoiseBRM1:23,4 +1.26721 Mike HailwoodSurtees-Ford1:23,5 +1.3783 Ronnie PetersonMarch-Ford1:23,7 +1.5896 Arturo MerzarioFerrari1:23,7 +1.591027 Carlos ReutemannBrabham–Ford1:23,8 +1.6101118 Denny HulmeMcLaren-Ford1:23,9 +1.711122 François CevertTyrrell-Ford1:23,9 +1.7121325 Carlos PaceMarch-Ford1:24,0 +1.8131414 Jackie OliverBRM1:24,4 +2.214159 David WalkerLotus-Ford1:24,4 +2.2151612 Peter GethinBRM1:24,5 +2.3161717 Chris AmonMatra1:24,6 +2.4171830 Nanni GalliTecno1:25,1 +2.918194 Niki LaudaMarch-Ford1:25,1 +2.9192023 Andrea de AdamichSurtees-Ford1:25,2 +3.0202126 Graham HillBrabham-Ford1:25,2 +3.0212228 Wilson FittipaldiBrabham-Ford1:25,5 +3.3222331 Mike BeuttlerMarch-Ford1:25,6 +3.4232429 Dave CharltonLotus-Ford1:25,6 +3.4242533 Rolf StommelenEifelland-Ford1:26,3 +4.1252624 Henri PescaroloPolitoys-Ford1:27,4 +5.2262734 François MigaultConnew-Ford1:30,3 +8.1
Race
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 8 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 76 1:47:50.2 2 9 2 1 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 76 + 4.1 4 6 3 19 Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 76 + 1:12.5 3 4 4 17 Chris Amon Matra 75 + 1 Lap 17 3 5 18 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 11 2 6 6 Arturo Merzario Ferrari 75 + 1 Lap 9 1 7 3 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 74 Engine/accident 8 8 27 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 73 + 3 Laps 10 9 4 Niki Lauda March-Ford 73 + 3 Laps 19 10 33 Rolf Stommelen Eifelland-Ford 71 + 5 Laps 25 11 11 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 70 + 6 Laps 6 12 28 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 69 Suspension 22 13 31 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 69 + 7 Laps 23 22 Tim Schenken Surtees-Ford 64 Suspension 5 2 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 60 Spun off 12 9 Dave Walker Lotus-Ford 59 Suspension 15 5 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 49 Oil pressure 1 26 Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 47 Spun off 21 25 Carlos Pace March-Ford 39 Differential 13 14 Jackie Oliver BRM 36 Suspension 14 21 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 31 Gearbox 7 29 Dave Charlton Lotus-Ford 21 Gearbox 24 30 Nanni Galli Tecno 9 Spun off 18 24 Henri Pescarolo Politoys-Ford 7 Accident 26 12 Peter Gethin BRM 5 Engine 16 23 Andrea de Adamich Surtees-Ford 3 Accident 20 34 François Migault Connew-Ford Suspension 7 Mario Andretti Ferrari 10 Tony Trimmer Lotus-Ford Engine 15 Reine Wisell BRM 16 Helmut Marko BRM 20 Brian Redman McLaren-Ford 32 Ray Allen March-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Italian driver Arturo Merzario and French driver François Migault. This race marked the 10th podium finish for a Brazilian driver. This was the 8th win of a British Grand Prix by a Lotus. This broke the old record set by Ferrari at the 1961 British Grand Prix.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Emerson Fittipaldi* 43 2 Jackie Stewart* 27 3 Denny Hulme* 21 4 Jacky Ickx* 16 3 5 Peter Revson* 10Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford* 43 2 Tyrrell-Ford* 33 3 McLaren-Ford* 27 4 Ferrari* 20 5 BRM* 9Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References