1973 British Grand Prix

United Kingdom  1973 British Grand Prix
Race details
Race 9 of 15 in the 1973 Formula One season
Date 14 July 1973
Official name XXVI John Player British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, Great Britain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.711 km (2.944 mi)
Distance 67 laps, 315.597 km (197.248 mi)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Ford
Time 1:16.3
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom James Hunt March-Ford
Time 1:18.6 on lap 50
Podium
First McLaren-Ford
Second Lotus-Ford
Third McLaren-Ford

The 1973 British Grand Prix (formally the XXVI John Player British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 14 July 1973. It was the ninth race of the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers.

The race is known for the first lap pile-up which ultimately caused eleven cars to retire. The accident happened when Jody Scheckter spun out of fourth place and into the center of the track coming out of Woodcote (the final corner) at the end of the first lap, causing many other cars to collide and crash. The race was stopped at the end of the second lap, because of the pile-up, and restarted over the original distance. Andrea de Adamich retired from the sport after this race due to injuries received in the first lap accident. Nine cars were eliminated in the pile-up (including all three works Surtees cars); and 18 cars started on the second restart out of 29 cars that started (David Purley and Graham McRae were also out of the race on the first lap in separate incidents).

On the first start, a swift start by Jackie Stewart brought him from fourth to first in less than half a lap. At Becketts corner (which was the third out of eight corners on the original Silverstone circuit) Stewart out-braked race leader Ronnie Peterson and took the lead. Unfortunately for Stewart, the massive pile-up at the end of the first lap caused the race to be restarted and he had to start from fourth again. This time it was Niki Lauda who had an excellent start and moved up behind Peterson into second, with Stewart third. Stewart passed Lauda on lap two, and charged after Peterson. On lap six, Stewart tried again to pass Peterson for the lead, but the Swedish driver shut the door; Stewart lost control of his Tyrrell and spun off into the thick grass. Although he was able to continue, Stewart recorded his worst finish of the season: 10th place out of 13 finishers.

Another notable drive came from James Hunt in his Hesketh Racing March, who ran in most of the race in 4th and was part a 4-way battle for the lead between himself, Peterson, Denny Hulme and Peter Revson. American driver Revson won his first Grand Prix by 2.8 seconds from Peterson, and he would go on to win again at Mosport in Canada. But just 8 months after his maiden F1 victory at Silverstone, he would die in a pre-testing accident at Kyalami in South Africa driving a Shadow.

Classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 8 United States Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 67 1:29:18.5 3 9
2 2 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 67 + 2.8 1 6
3 7 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 67 + 3.0 2 4
4 27 United Kingdom James Hunt March-Ford 67 + 3.4 11 3
5 6 France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 67 + 36.6 7 2
6 10 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 67 + 44.7 8 1
7 19 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni BRM 67 + 1:11.7 10  
8 3 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 67 + 1:17.4 19  
9 25 New Zealand Howden Ganley Iso-Marlboro-Ford 66 + 1 Lap 18  
10 5 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 66 + 1 Lap 4  
11 15 United Kingdom Mike Beuttler March-Ford 65 + 2 Laps 24  
12 21 Austria Niki Lauda BRM 63 + 4 Laps 9  
13 28 Liechtenstein Rikky von Opel Ensign-Ford 61 + 6 Laps 21  
Ret 11 Brazil Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 44 Oil leak 13  
Ret 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 36 Transmission 5  
Ret 29 United Kingdom John Watson Brabham-Ford 36 Fuel system 23  
Ret 12 United Kingdom Graham Hill Shadow-Ford 24 Chassis 27  
Ret 22 New Zealand Chris Amon Tecno 6 Fuel system 29  
Ret 30 South Africa Jody Scheckter McLaren-Ford 0 Collision 6  
Ret 23 United Kingdom Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 0 Collision 12  
Ret 31 West Germany Jochen Mass Surtees-Ford 0 Collision 14  
Ret 24 Brazil Carlos Pace Surtees-Ford 0 Collision 15  
Ret 20 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 0 Collision 17  
Ret 9 Italy Andrea de Adamich Brabham-Ford 0 Collision 20  
Ret 14 United Kingdom Roger Williamson March-Ford 0 Collision 22  
Ret 16 United States George Follmer Shadow-Ford 0 Collision 25  
Ret 17 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver Shadow-Ford 0 Collision 26  
Ret 26 New Zealand Graham McRae Iso-Marlboro-Ford 0 Throttle 28  
Ret 18 United Kingdom David Purley March-Ford 0 Spun off 16  
Source:[1]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart 42
2 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 41
3 France François Cevert 33
4 Sweden Ronnie Peterson 25
5 New Zealand Denny Hulme 23

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom Lotus-Ford 58 (62)
2 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 53 (57)
3 United Kingdom McLaren-Ford 35
1 4 United Kingdom Brabham-Ford 12
1 5 Italy Ferrari 12

References

  1. "1973 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
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1973 French Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1973 season
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1973 Dutch Grand Prix
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