| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 14 in the 1975 Formula One season | ||
 | ||
| Date | 1 March 1975 | |
| Official name | XXI South African Grand Prix | |
| Location | Kyalami Gauteng, South Africa | |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 4.104 km (2.550 mi) | |
| Distance | 78 laps, 320.112 km (198.908 mi) | |
| Weather | Sunny | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver |  Carlos Pace
|
Brabham-Ford |
| Time | 1:16.41[1] | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver | Carlos Pace
|
Brabham-Ford |
| Time | 1:17.20[2] on lap 11 | |
| Podium | ||
| First |  Jody Scheckter
|
Tyrrell-Ford |
| Second |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Brabham-Ford |
| Third |  Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford |
The 1975 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on March 1, 1975. 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 of Johannesburg. It was held over 78 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 320 kilometres.
The race was made memorable by Jody Scheckter becoming 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 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.
Practice was eventful – Graham Hill spun on oil dropped from Ronnie Peterson's car and destroyed his car, opting to sit out the race. Once the débris 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 braking problems and Patrick Depailler soon climbed to 3rd. 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 drove maturely to hold on to his only home win from Reutemann.
Classification[]
| 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
|
Hill-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 | |
| NC | 21 | Jacques Laffite
|
Williams-Ford | 69 | Not classified | 23 | |
| NC | 1 | Emerson Fittipaldi
|
McLaren-Ford | 65 | Not classified | 11 | |
| Ret | 32 | Ian Scheckter
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 55 | Accident | 17 | |
| Ret | 24 | James Hunt
|
Hesketh-Ford | 53 | Fuel system | 12 | |
| Ret | 17 | Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
Shadow-Ford | 37 | Overheating | 13 | |
| Ret | 10 |  Lella Lombardi
|
March-Ford | 23 | Fuel system | 26 | |
| Ret | 20 | Arturo Merzario
|
Williams-Ford | 22 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 18 | John Watson
|
Surtees-Ford | 19 | Clutch | 10 | |
| Ret | 9 | Vittorio Brambilla
|
March-Ford | 16 | Radiator | 7 | |
| DNQ | 30 | Wilson Fittipaldi
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | ||||
| DNQ | 22 | Graham Hill
|
Lola-Ford |
Standings after the race[]
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References[]
Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1975/460/. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
| Previous race: 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1975 season |
Next race: 1975 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1974 South African Grand Prix |
South African Grand Prix | Next race: 1976 South African Grand Prix |
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This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1975 South African Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |