The 1975 South African Grand Prix (formally the XXI Lucky Strike Grand Prix of South Africa) was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 1 March 1975. It was race 3 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 21st South African Grand Prix since the first Grand Prix was held in 1934 and the ninth to be held at Kyalami just outside Johannesburg. It was held over 78 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 320 kilometres.
Jody Scheckter became the first South African driver to win the race. Driving a Tyrrell 007, he took over the lead of the race from Carlos Pace on lap three and took a three-second win over the Brabham BT44B of Carlos Reutemann. Scheckter's Tyrrell teammate Patrick Depailler finished third.
Race summary
Ferrari had used the free month of February profitably, producing the new 312T model with a new transverse gearbox. There was also a new face in the persona of female Italian racer Lella Lombardi (the first woman to take part in a World Championship race since Maria Teresa de Filippis in the 1958 Italian Grand Prix).
In practice, Graham Hill's car spun on oil dropped from Ronnie Peterson's car and crashed, destroying his car. He opted to sit out the race. Once the debris had been cleared and holes in the catch fencing mended, there was a second accident as Niki Lauda spun on engine oil, hitting the wall at 120 mph. With further violent accidents to Jody Scheckter and Guy Tunmer, the drivers deemed the circuit not safe and refused to continue until fencing defects were remedied and the track improved, further helped by the support of mechanics who insisted no more practice be carried out.
When the racing got under way, Carlos Pace led from pole in a Brabham 1–2 but was soon passed by Jody Scheckter and Carlos Reutemann after experiencing braking problems, and Patrick Depailler soon climbed to third. James Hunt retired with a broken throttle linkage, Vittorio Brambilla with oil cooler problems and Ian Scheckter crashed. Emerson Fittipaldi was challenging Depailler for 4th place when he suffered a cracked plug lead. Jody Scheckter held on from Reutemann for his only home win.
Classification Qualifying Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap 1 Carlos Pace Brabham–Ford 1:16.41 2 Carlos Reutemann Brabham–Ford +0.07 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell–Ford +0.23 4 Niki Lauda Ferrari +0.42 5 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell–Ford +0.42 6 Mario Andretti Parnelli–Ford +0.48 7 Vittorio Brambilla March–Ford +0.64 8 Ronnie Peterson Lotus–Ford +0.73 9 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari +0.75 10 John Watson Surtees–Ford +0.76 11 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren–Ford +0.81 12 James Hunt Hesketh–Ford +0.89 13 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow–Ford +0.91 14 Rolf Stommelen Lola–Ford +1.06 15 Arturo Merzario Williams–Ford +1.12 16 Jochen Mass McLaren–Ford +1.38 17 Ian Scheckter Tyrrell–Ford +1.59 18 Mark Donohue Penske–Ford +1.87 19 Tom Pryce Shadow–Ford +1.95 20 David Charlton McLaren–Ford +2.10 21 Jacky Ickx Lotus–Ford +2.27 22 Eddie Keizan Lotus–Ford +2.60 23 Jacques Laffite Williams–Ford +2.74 24 Bob Evans BRM +2.76 25 Guy Tunmer Lotus–Ford +3.11 26 Lella Lombardi March–Ford +3.27 27 Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi–Ford +3.32 28 Graham Hill Lola–Ford +5.04 Source: *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 78 1:43:16.90 3 9 2 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 78 + 3.74 2 6 3 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 78 + 16.92 5 4 4 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 78 + 17.31 1 3 5 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 78 + 28.64 4 2 6 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 78 + 1:03.64 16 1 7 23 Rolf Stommelen Lola-Ford 78 + 1:12.91 14 8 28 Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 18 9 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 19 10 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 8 11 34 Guy Tunmer Lotus-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 25 12 6 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 21 13 33 Eddie Keizan Lotus-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 22 14 31 Dave Charlton McLaren-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 20 15 14 Bob Evans BRM 76 + 2 Laps 24 16 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 71 Throttle 9 17 27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 70 Transmission 6 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 69 + 9 Laps 23 1 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 65 + 13 Laps 11 32 Ian Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 55 Accident 17 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 53 Fuel system 12 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 37 Overheating 13 10 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 23 Fuel system 26 20 Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford 22 Engine 15 18 John Watson Surtees-Ford 19 Clutch 10 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 16 Radiator 7 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 22 Graham Hill Lola-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver Bob Evans and South African driver Guy Tunmer. This race saw the 10th fastest lap set by a Brazilian driver. This was the 10th podium finish for a South African driver.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Emerson Fittipaldi 15 2 Carlos Pace 12 2 3 Carlos Reutemann 10 9 4 Jody Scheckter 9 2 5 James Hunt 7Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 Brabham-Ford 19 1 2 McLaren-Ford 16 2 3 Tyrrell-Ford 11 4 Ferrari 8 2 5 Hesketh-Ford 7Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References