The 1975 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held in Monaco on 11 May 1975. It was race 5 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 33rd Monaco Grand Prix since the race was first held in 1929. It was held over 75 of the scheduled 78 laps of the three kilometre street circuit, for a race distance of 245 kilometres.
The race was won by Austrian driver Niki Lauda giving the new Ferrari 312T its first win. The win broke a 20-year drought at Monaco for Ferrari. Lauda dominated the race, only losing the lead during a pitstop. He won by two seconds over the McLaren M23 of Emerson Fittipaldi. Carlos Pace finished third in his Brabham BT44B. This was also the 179th and final Grand Prix for and World Champion Graham Hill, although he failed to qualify after 176 race starts.
Circuit changes and qualifying summary The future of Grand Prix racing was under scrutiny following the disastrous Spanish Grand Prix held two weeks prior. Actions had to be taken quickly: extra guard rails and catch fences were erected, kerbing resited and the chicane was modified. New measures were introduced: the grid was staggered and in addition would be restricted to just 18 cars. This last change affected Graham Hill's chance to qualify: the five-time Monaco winner had all sorts of practice problems and failed to qualify by 0.377 seconds. John Watson and Clay Regazzoni collided in practice, whilst the Surtees team was ordered to remove pro-Europe political stickers from its cars.
After failing his qualifying attempt for the start, Hill announced his retirement as a driver after 17 seasons and 176 races to concentrate on his Embassy Hill team.
Niki Lauda, in a Ferrari, claimed pole position, but sensationally sharing the front row was Tom Pryce, driving a Shadow, who just 12 months earlier had been deemed 'too inexperienced' to compete. Jean-Pierre Jarier and Ronnie Peterson filled the second row.
Race summary The race began under rain conditions, so everyone went for wet tyres. Lauda was fastest at the start, while Pryce had a slow start and was passed by Jarier and Peterson; the Frenchman soon attempted to pass Lauda in an ill-advised overtaking manoeuvre, and hit the barriers at the Mirabeau; his car was damaged in the collision and handled badly, which caused him to hit the wall again at the Tabac corner and then retire. Peterson went into the second place with Vittorio Brambilla third, until Pryce hit the Italian's wheel. Regazzoni stopped to change a tyre and the nosecone of his car, and James Hunt stopped to change onto slick tyres, anticipating a drying of the track surface. However, his team's slow pit work cost him a substantial amount of time.
Ronnie Peterson's victory chances were damaged at his pit stop when a wheel nut was lost under the car. Tom Pryce came in to replace a broken nosecone, and by that time Niki Lauda led by 15 seconds from Emerson Fittipaldi and Carlos Pace. Many accidents happened during the race: Jochen Mass and James Hunt tangled at Mirabeau, and Patrick Depailler got embroiled in their accident; Clay Regazzoni hit the chicane and suffered damage; John Watson spun and stalled the engine of his car; Pryce hit the barrier and had to retire; Mario Andretti entered the pits with his car on fire; Mark Donohue hit the barrier, whilst Alan Jones broke a wheel.
In the last laps Lauda's oil pressure was fading and Fittipaldi was closing. With three laps left the gap was 2.75 seconds; however, the two-hour time limit was reached and the race was stopped, with Lauda winning. Ferrari had won their first Monaco Grand Prix in 20 years; the tragedy of the Spanish Grand Prix receded and the championship race was back on. Fittipaldi's second position strengthened his narrow points lead over early season points leader Pace.
Classification
Qualifying classification Pos.DriverConstructorTimeNo1Niki LaudaFerrari1:26,4012Tom PryceShadow-Ford1:27,0923Jean-Pierre JarierShadow-Ford1:27,2534Ronnie PetersonLotus-Ford1:27,4045Vittorio BrambillaMarch-Ford1:27,5056Clay RegazzoniFerrari1:27,5567Jody ScheckterTyrrell-Ford1:27,5878Carlos PaceBrabham-Ford1:27,6789Emerson FittipaldiMcLaren-Ford1:27,77910Carlos ReutemannBrabham-Ford1:27,931011James HuntHesketh-Ford1:27,941112Patrick DepaillerTyrrell-Ford1:27,951213Mario AndrettiParnelli-Ford1:28,111314Jacky IckxLotus-Ford1:28,281415Jochen MassMcLaren-Ford1:28,491516Mark DonohuePenske-Ford1:28,811617John WatsonSurtees-Ford1:28,901718Alan JonesHesketh-Ford1:29,1218 19Jacques LaffiteWilliams-Ford1:29,28— 20Arturo MerzarioWilliams-Ford1:29,32— 21Graham HillHill-Ford1:29,49— 22Bob EvansBRM1:30,33— 23Roelof WunderinkEnsign-Ford1:31,60— 24Torsten PalmHesketh-Ford1:31,95— 25Lella LombardiMarch-Ford1:32,20— 26Wilson FittipaldiFittipaldi-Ford1:33,02— *Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 75 2:01:21.31 1 9 2 1 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 75 + 2.78 9 6 3 8 Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 75 + 17.81 8 4 4 5 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 75 + 38.45 4 3 5 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 75 + 40.86 12 2 6 2 Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 75 + 42.07 15 1 7 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 7 8 6 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 14 9 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 73 + 2 Laps 10 28 Mark Donohue Penske-Ford 66 Accident 16 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 63 Accident 11 26 Alan Jones Hesketh-Ford 61 Wheel 18 9 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 48 Accident 5 16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 39 Accident 2 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 36 Accident 17 18 John Watson Surtees-Ford 36 Spun off 6 27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Ford 9 Oil leak 13 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 0 Accident 3 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 20 Arturo Merzario Williams-Ford 23 Graham Hill Hill-FordLola-Ford 14 Bob Evans BRM 31 Roelof Wunderink Ensign-Ford 25 Torsten Palm Hesketh-Ford 10 Lella Lombardi March-Ford 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Swedish driver Torsten Palm.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Emerson Fittipaldi 21 2 Carlos Pace 16 6 3 Niki Lauda 14 1 4 Carlos Reutemann 12 1 5 Jochen Mass 10.5Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 McLaren-Ford 26.5 1 2 Brabham-Ford 25 1 3 Ferrari 17 1 4 Tyrrell-Ford 13 5 Hesketh-Ford 7Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
Further reading