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25px United States  1972 United States Grand Prix
Race details
Race 12 of 12 in the 1972 Formula One season
Watkins Glen International Track Map-1970-1980.svg
Date October 8, 1972
Official name XV United States Grand Prix
Location Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Watkins Glen, New York
Course Permanent road course
5.435 km (3.377 mi)
Distance 59 laps, 320.67 km (199.24 mi)
Weather Sunny at start, brief showers late
Pole position
Driver 25px UK Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:40.481
Fastest lap
Driver 25px UK Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:41.644 on lap 33
Podium
First 25px UK Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford
Second 25px France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford
Third 25px New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford

The 1972 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 8, 1972 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York.


Summary[]

Jackie Stewart, having just lost his World Champion's crown to Emerson Fittipaldi, asserted his intentions to get it back, as he dominated the entire weekend with pole, win and fastest lap and completed a sweep of the North American races. It was the twenty-second victory of the Scot's career, and his fourth in 1972. Teammate François Cevert completed the one-two finish for Tyrrell, five seconds ahead of Denny Hulme's McLaren.

The then-staggering amount of $275,000 in prize money attracted 31 entries for the last race of the year. Rain and cold winds harried the drivers in qualifying, and Friday's times determined the grid. Stewart took the pole with a time of 1:40.481, ahead of the McLarens of American Peter Revson and Hulme. A third McLaren, driven by South African Jody Scheckter in his F1 debut, was eighth.

The Goodyear teams seemed to be enjoying quite an advantage, some saying as much as one and a half to two seconds per lap in qualifying. Firestone had intended to close its European Racing Division, and their teams were using up old stock that had been produced some time before. Rob Walker said that his team's tires had been manufactured for the Austrian Grand Prix, one of the hottest races of the year, and he was not surprised that they would not work in the 40-degree temperatures at The Glen! After practice, however, a telegram was received from Firestone HQ in Akron saying that, because of all the letters they had received begging them to continue, they would be racing in the following season.

Sunday began bright and sunny, but by the time the cars assembled on the grid, the skies were threatening rain. Stewart jumped quickly off the grid and immediately began to pull away from the rest of the field. Mario Andretti charged from his tenth place grid position up the inside of the first corner in his Ferrari, and banged wheels with Carlos Reutemann's Brabham and Revson's McLaren. Andretti continued, to the delight of the crowd, now in seventh behind the Ferraris of Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni. Reutemann followed in eighth with a broken nose, while Revson pitted at the end of the lap to have his front wing straightened.

Stewart was three seconds clear of Hulme after one lap, and five seconds up after two. Fittipaldi, up to third after the first lap, immediately knew that his car was not right. His right rear tire began deflating on lap five, and when two replacements quickly did the same thing, the team realized that a misaligned suspension was the problem, and he retired. On lap 20, Stewart's lead was 20 seconds, and it was clear that any battle on this day would be for second place.

With Fittipaldi out and Reutemann forced to stop for a new nose cone, the second Tyrrell of François Cevert was now in third and closing on Hulme. Scheckter was comfortably ahead of Ickx, but the Belgian was quickly being caught by Ronnie Peterson. On Saturday, in the rain, Peterson had crashed his March heavily, and the mechanics initially said that it was unrepairable. They decided to attempt to rebuild it in time for the race, and after starting in 26th position, Peterson was now the most impressive driver on the track, apart from race-leader Stewart.

At about half-distance, Cevert got by Hulme for second place, and Peterson passed Ickx for fifth. On lap 40, a brief shower suddenly soaked Turn one. Scheckter, running marvelously in fourth place, was caught out by the slippery surface in the downhill, 90-degree right-hander and spun his McLaren up onto the bank. Ickx, in the meantime, repassed Peterson to take the position vacated by Scheckter. Andretti had been struggling with the performance of his tires, but now found them better on the wet track and increased his pace.

On the last lap, with Stewart coasting home 40 seconds ahead of Cevert, Ickx's Ferrari began trailing smoke. Peterson pulled alongside him and signalled frantically at the back of the car. The Swede's gamesmanship worked, as Peterson beat the Ferrari to the line by just over half a second to take fourth place!

Revson had passed both Andretti and Mike Hailwood on consecutive laps for sixth place, but with five laps remaining, an ignition wire parted and his brilliant drive ended. When Hailwood was unable to avoid the spinning Marches of Mike Beuttler and Niki Lauda just three laps from the flag, Andretti inherited sixth place and the final point.

After the finish, the two leading Tyrrells, plus Patrick Depailler's seventh place sister car, entered the pit lane together in a show of strength, having earned team owner Ken Tyrrell a then-record reward of $97,500.

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 1 25px UK Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:40.481
2 20 25px USA Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 1:40.527 +0.046
3 19 25px New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:41.084 +0.603
4 2 25px France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 1:41.445 +0.964
5 29 25px Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 1:41.692 +1.214
6 8 25px Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:41.951 +1.470
7 18 25px New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 1:41.979 +1.498
8 21 25px South African flag after 1928 Jody Scheckter McLaren-Ford 1:42.058 +1.577
9 10 25px Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 1:42.400 +1.919
10 9 25px USA Mario Andretti Ferrari 1:42.482 +2.001
11 3 25px France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 1:42.521 +2.040
12 7 25px Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:42.597 +2.116
13 30 25px Brazil Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 1:42.766 +2.285
14 23 25px UK Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 1:43.204 +2.723
15 27 25px Brazil Carlos Pace March-Ford 1:43.319 +2.838
16 12 25px Sweden Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 1:43.543 +3.062
17 16 25px New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 1:44.075 +3.594
18 17 25px France Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 1:44.240 +3.759
19 25 25px Italy Andrea de Adamich Surtees-Ford 1:44.279 +3.798
20 33 25px USA Skip Barber March-Ford 1:44.280 +3.799
21 6 25px UK Mike Beuttler March-Ford 1:44.369 +3.888
22 26 25px France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 1:44.433 +3.952
23 34 25px USA Sam Posey Surtees-Ford 1:44.525 +4.044
24 15 25px UK Brian Redman BRM 1:44.925 +4.444
25 5 25px Austria Niki Lauda March-Ford 1:45.290 +4.809
26 4 25px Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:46.142 +5.661
27 28 25px UK Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 1:46.313 +5.832
28 14 25px UK Peter Gethin BRM 1:46.599 +6.118
29 31 25px UK Derek Bell Tecno 1:47.023 +6.542
30 11 25px Australia Dave Walker Lotus-Ford 1:50.600 +10.119
31 24 25px Australia Tim Schenken Surtees-Ford 1:57.674 +17.693

Race[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 25px UK Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 59 1:41:45.354 1 9
2 2 25px France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 59 + 32.268 s 4 6
3 19 25px New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 59 + 37.528 s 3 4
4 4 25px Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 59 + 1:22.516 26 3
5 7 25px Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 59 + 1:23.119 12 2
6 9 25px USA Mario Andretti Ferrari 58 + 1 Lap 10 1
7 3 25px France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 11  
8 8 25px Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 58 + 1 Lap 6  
9 21 25px South African flag after 1928 Jody Scheckter McLaren-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 8  
10 12 25px Sweden Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 16  
11 28 25px UK Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 27  
12 34 25px USA Sam Posey Surtees-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 22  
13 6 25px UK Mike Beuttler March-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 20  
14 26 25px France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 21  
15 18 25px New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 57 + 2 Laps 7  
16 33 25px USA Skip Barber March-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 20  
17 23 25px UK Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 56 Collision 14  
18 20 25px USA Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 54 Electrical 2  
19 5 25px Austria Niki Lauda March-Ford 49 Not Classified 25  
Ret 27 25px Brazil Carlos Pace March-Ford 48 Fuel System 15  
Ret 14 25px UK Peter Gethin BRM 47 Engine 28  
Ret 16 25px New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 44 Engine 17  
Ret 11 25px Australia Dave Walker Lotus-Ford 44 Engine 30  
Ret 30 25px Brazil Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 43 Engine 13  
Ret 17 25px France Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 40 Ignition 18  
Ret 15 25px UK Brian Redman BRM 34 Engine 24  
Ret 29 25px Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 31 Engine 5  
Ret 25 25px Italy Andrea de Adamich Surtees-Ford 25 Collision 19  
Ret 24 25px Australia Tim Schenken Surtees-Ford 22 Suspension 31  
Ret 10 25px Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 17 Suspension 9  
Ret 31 25px UK Derek Bell Tecno 8 Engine 29  

See Also[]

Previous race:
1972 Canadian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1972 season
Next race:
1973 Argentine Grand Prix
Previous race:
1971 United States Grand Prix
United States Grand Prix Next race:
1973 United States Grand Prix

Notes[]

  • Following the season, for the third time, The Glen won the Grand Prix Drivers Association's "Best Organized Race of the Season" award.

References[]

  • Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-1263-1
  • Rob Walker (February, 1973). "14th U.S. Grand Prix: Stewart Again". Road & Track, 94-98.
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