1975 Argentine Grand Prix

Results from the 1975 Formula One Argentine Grand Prix held at Argentina on January 12, 1975.

Race summary

The close season had been fairly quiet - Jochen Mass had replaced Denny Hulme at McLaren, John Watson had joined Surtees and Mike Wilds, Rolf Stommelen and Jacques Laffite were confirmed at BRM, Hill and Williams respectively.

March had announced their retirement, but then in a dramatic U-turn confirmed their entry for 1975 with Vittorio Brambilla and lady driver Lella Lombardi.

There were contractual wrangles with Ronnie Peterson, reportedly discontent at Lotus and it was uncertain up until the start of practice whether he would be driving for them or Shadow.

Jean-Pierre Jarier proved the Shadow's effectiveness, putting in the fastest ever lap of the circuit, averaging 122mph to gain his first pole from Carlos Pace and Carlos Reutemann.

However it was all in vain. On the warm-up lap, his crown-wheel-and-pinion stripped, leaving him a non-starter. Local hero Reutemann gratefully accepted the lead from Pace. James Hunt driving the newest Hesketh with new rubber suspension climbed from the 6th row up to third place, duelling with Niki Lauda. Jochen Mass and Jody Scheckter tangled. Meanwhile, John Watson was stranded with a loose fuel-pipe and was disqualified after attempting trackside repairs.

Wilson Fittipaldi crashed on lap 13, his car catching fire and requiring the fire engine to be deployed. By now, Hunt had passed Lauda and was catching the two Brabhams. Pace took the lead on lap 15, but spun on the very next lap. Reutemann having retaken the lead, was understeering badly and on lap 25 was passed by Hunt. There was a ferocious battle with Emerson Fittipaldi for the lead.

Classification

Notes

*Pole position: Jean-Pierre Jarier - 1:49.21cite book | last = Lang | first = Mike | title = Grand Prix! Vol 3 | publisher = Haynes Publishing Group | year = 1983 | pages = p66 | isbn = 0-85429-380-9]
*Fastest lap: James Hunt - 1:50.91 on lap 34cite book | last = Lang | first = Mike | title = Grand Prix! Vol 3 | publisher = Haynes Publishing Group | year = 1983 | pages = p68 | isbn = 0-85429-380-9]
*Jarier, Shadow-Ford, in pole position, did not start due to car failure on warm-up lap. The pole position was left vacant.

References

"Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from cite web | title = The Official Formula 1 website | url = http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1975/458/ | accessdate = 2007-06-15

F1 race report
Name_of_race = Argentine Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 1975
Previous_race_in_season = 1974 United States Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 1974 Argentine Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = 1977 Argentine Grand Prix