The 1973 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 5 August 1973. It was race 11 of 15 in both the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The 14-lap race was won from pole position by Jackie Stewart, driving a Tyrrell-Ford. It was Stewart's 27th and final Grand Prix victory, a record that would stand until . Teammate François Cevert finished second, with Jacky Ickx third in a McLaren-Ford. It was also the last win for a Scottish driver until David Coulthard at the 1995 Portuguese Grand Prix.
Ferrari did not participate in this race due to internal political issues and the uncompetitiveness of their car, enabling regular Ferrari driver and Nürburgring specialist Ickx to accept a one-off drive for McLaren.
The works March team also did not participate in this race following the accident at the Dutch Grand Prix the previous weekend that had claimed the life of Roger Williamson. The Ensign, Tecno and Hesketh teams also did not participate. To boost the field, the McLaren, Brabham and Surtees teams all entered three cars: Ferrari released Ickx to drive the third McLaren; Rolf Stommelen drove the third Brabham in place of the injured Andrea de Adamich; and Jochen Mass drove the third Surtees.
Niki Lauda, who out-qualified his teammates by more than 8 seconds crashed at Kesselchen on Lap 2 and injured his wrist; he had to miss the subsequent race, the Austrian Grand Prix, which was his home race.
Qualifying
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo1Jackie StewartTyrrell-Ford7:07.812Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford7:08.323François CevertTyrrell-Ford7:09.334Jacky IckxMcLaren-Ford7:09.745Niki LaudaBRM7:09.956Carlos ReutemannBrabham-Ford7:15.167Peter RevsonMcLaren-Ford7:15.978Denis HulmeMcLaren-Ford7:16.589Jean-Pierre BeltoiseBRM7:18.1910Clay RegazzoniBRM7:18.21011Carlos PaceSurtees-Ford7:18.81112Henri PescaroloIso-Ford7:18.81213Wilson FittipaldiBrabham-Ford7:19.11314Emerson FittipaldiLotus-Ford7:19.71415Jochen MassSurtees-Ford7:20.41516Rolf StommelenBrabham-Ford7:22.21617Jackie OliverShadow-Ford7:22.31718Mike HailwoodSurtees-Ford7:22.31819Howden GanleyIso-Ford7:25.120Mike BeuttlerMarch-Ford7:26.61921Graham HillShadow-Ford7:27.12022George FollmerShadow-Ford7:28.32123David PurleyMarch-Ford7:54.222
Race
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 14 1:42:03.0 1 9 2 6 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 14 + 1.6 3 6 3 30 Jacky Ickx McLaren-Ford 14 + 41.2 4 4 4 24 Carlos Pace Surtees-Ford 14 + 53.8 11 3 5 11 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 14 + 1:19.9 13 2 6 1 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 14 + 1:24.3 14 1 7 31 Jochen Mass Surtees-Ford 14 + 1:25.2 15 8 17 Jackie Oliver Shadow-Ford 14 + 1:25.7 17 9 8 Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 14 + 2:11.8 7 10 26 Henri Pescarolo Iso-Marlboro-Ford 14 + 2:22.5 12 11 9 Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Ford 14 + 3:27.3 16 12 7 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 14 + 3:38.7 8 13 12 Graham Hill Shadow-Ford 14 + 3:49.0 20 14 23 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 13 + 1 Lap 18 15 18 David Purley March-Ford 13 + 1 Lap 22 16 15 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 13 + 1 Lap 19 10 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 7 Engine 6 19 Clay Regazzoni BRM 7 Engine 10 16 George Follmer Shadow-Ford 5 Accident 21 20 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 4 Gearbox 9 21 Niki Lauda BRM 1 Accident 5 2 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 0 Ignition 2 25 Howden Ganley Iso-Marlboro-Ford Accident in qualifying
Notes
This was the 5th fastest lap set by a Brazilian driver.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jackie Stewart* 60 1 2 François Cevert* 45 1 3 Emerson Fittipaldi* 42 4 Ronnie Peterson* 25 5 Peter Revson 23Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford* 71 (75) 2 Lotus-Ford* 59 (63) 3 McLaren-Ford* 42 4 Brabham-Ford 14 5 Ferrari 12Source:
Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References