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1974 Argentine Grand Prix
Race details
Date	January 13, 1974
Official name	XI Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Location	Autodromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.968 km (3.708 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 316.315 km (196.549 miles)
Weather	Hot and sunny
Pole position
Driver	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:50.78
Fastest lap
Driver	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari
Time	1:52.10 on lap 38
Podium
First	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford
Second	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Third	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1974 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held in Buenos Aires on 13 January 1974. It was race 1 of 15 in both the 1974 World Championship of Drivers and the 1974 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 53-lap race was won by McLaren driver Denny Hulme after he started from tenth position. Niki Lauda finished second for the Ferrari team and his teammate Clay Regazzoni came in third.

For the first time, Formula One's visit to the Buenos Aires circuit saw them use the long and fast No.15 configuration, rather than the previously-used No.9 layout. This race was also the 8th and last victory of Hulme's Formula One career and, as of 2024, the last for a New Zealand driver.

Report

It had been one of the most frantic close seasons ever with only Ronnie Peterson, Denny Hulme, Carlos Reutemann and James Hunt remaining with their teams. Emerson Fittipaldi moved from Lotus to McLaren to be replaced by Jacky Ickx. McLaren now had sponsorship from Marlboro and Texaco. The team also entered a third car in their old colours of Yardley for Mike Hailwood. Hailwood's place at Surtees was taken by Jochen Mass where he partnered Carlos Pace, whilst Peter Revson had moved from McLaren to Shadow, where he was joined by Jean-Pierre Jarier.

Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni remained teammates but would be driving for Ferrari instead of BRM, who now with Motul sponsorship had three cars driven by Frenchmen Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo and François Migault. With the death of François Cevert and the retirement of Jackie Stewart, Tyrrell had an entirely new line-up in Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler.

Wilson Fittipaldi left Formula One temporarily to start his own team (returning with it in 1975), so his place along Reutemann at Brabham was taken by Richard Robarts. A privateer Brabham was run by John Goode Racing for John Watson under the Hexagon of Highgate banner. Howden Ganley and Hans Stuck were picked up by March Engineering.

Marlboro continued to back Frank Williams and his Iso-Marlboro-Ford FW for former Ferrari driver, Arturo Merzario. While Hesketh Racing were building their own car back in England, they entered James Hunt in a year-old March, while Graham Hill had Lola Cars build two cars for himself and Guy Edwards. Rikky von Opel completed the field, once again driving for Team Ensign.

Qualifying

Peterson secured pole position, for John Player Team Lotus, averaging a speed of 120.542 mph. However, Scuderia Ferrari showed how much progress they had made during the winter, under the new management, led by Luca di Montezemolo, with Regazzoni qualifying alongside the Swede on the front row. The second row featured the McLaren of Fittipaldi and the Shadow of Revson, while James Hunt impressed in his Harvey Postlethwaite modified Hesketh March by taking fifth place on the grid.

Race

Peterson took an early lead from the fast starting Hunt, while Regazzoni, Revson and Hailwood all arrived at the first corner together and collided. Regazzoni and Revson spun, then Revson’s team-mate, Jarier ran into him. The cars of Merzario and Watson were also damaged in the melee, as Scheckter took to the grass in avoidance.

After Hunt spun later on the opening lap, Reutemann moved into second, with Fittipaldi, Hailwood, Ickx and Hulme completing the top six. By lap three, Reutemann took the lead, while Fittipaldi visited the pits to have a plug lead reattached. This promoted Hailwood to third. By this stage, Ickx had dropped behind Hulme, but soon both were past the Yardley McLaren. Peterson began to fade due to brake trouble and was overtaken by Hulme and Ickx. By now Ickx was beginning to come under pressure from the Ferrari of Niki Lauda.

On lap 27, the second Lotus was now in trouble, as Ickx pitted with a puncture. This left Lauda in a solid third place. The local hero, Reutemann seem to have the race under control when his Cosworth powered Brabham BT44 began to misfire and Hulme rapidly closed him down. On the penultimate lap, Hulme was past, taking the lead. As for Reutemann, his eventually ground to a halt on the last lap, running out of fuel, and was classified seventh overall. As a result, the Ferraris of Lauda and Regazzoni inherited a two-three at the finish.

Hulme won in a time of 1hr 41:02.010mins., averaging a speed of 117.405 mph, and was 9.27 seconds ahead of Lauda. Regazzoni was a further 11.14 seconds behind. Only other drivers to complete the full race distance were Hailwood, Beltoise and Depailler.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	Driver	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus–Ford	1:50.78
2	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	+0.18
3	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren–Ford	+0.28
4	Peter Revson	Shadow–Ford	+0.52
5	James Hunt	March–Ford	+0.74
6	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham–Ford	+0.77
7	Jacky Ickx	Lotus–Ford	+0.92
8	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	+1.03
9	Mike Hailwood	McLaren–Ford	+1.08
10	Denny Hulme	McLaren–Ford	+1.28
11	Carlos Pace	Surtees–Ford	+1.42
12	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell–Ford	+1.69
13	Arturo Merzario	FWRC–Ford	+2.36
14	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	+2.40
15	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell–Ford	+2.49
16	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow–Ford	+2.88
17	Graham Hill	Lola–Ford	+3.12
18	Jochen Mass	Surtees–Ford	+3.12
19	Howden Ganley	March–Ford	+3.43
20	John Watson	Brabham–Ford	+3.61
21	Henri Pescarolo	BRM	+3.89
22	Richard Robarts	Brabham–Ford	+3.95
23	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March–Ford	+4.41
24	François Migault	BRM	+4.65
25	Guy Edwards	Lola–Ford	+5.65
26	Rikky von Opel	Ensign–Ford	+7.08
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	53	1:41:02.01	10	9
2	12	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	53	+ 9.27	8	6
3	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	53	+ 20.41	2	4
4	33	Mike Hailwood	McLaren-Ford	53	+ 31.79	9	3
5	14	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	53	+ 51.84	14	2
6	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	53	+ 1:52.48	15	1
7	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	52	Out of fuel	6
8	10	Howden Ganley	March-Ford	52	Out of fuel	19
9	15	Henri Pescarolo	BRM	52	+ 1 Lap	21
10	5	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	52	+ 1 Lap	3
11	27	Guy Edwards	Lola-Ford	51	+ 2 Laps	25
12	28	John Watson	Brabham-Ford	49	+ 4 Laps	20
13	1	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	48	+ 5 Laps	1
Ret	26	Graham Hill	Lola-Ford	45	Engine	17
Ret	2	Jacky Ickx	Lotus-Ford	36	Clutch	7
Ret	8	Richard Robarts	Brabham-Ford	36	Gearbox	22
Ret	9	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	31	Clutch	23
Ret	37	François Migault	BRM	31	Water leak	24
Ret	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	25	Engine	12
Ret	18	Carlos Pace	Surtees-Ford	21	Suspension	11
Ret	20	Arturo Merzario	Iso-Marlboro-Ford	19	Overheating	13
Ret	24	James Hunt	March-Ford	11	Overheating	5
Ret	19	Jochen Mass	Surtees-Ford	10	Engine	18
Ret	16	Peter Revson	Shadow-Ford	1	Accident	4
Ret	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	0	Accident	16
DNS	22	Rikky von Opel	Ensign-Ford		Handling	26
Sources:

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British drivers Richard Robarts and Guy Edwards, and German driver Hans-Joachim Stuck.
• This was the 61st pole position for a Ford-powered car, breaking the previous record set by Ferrari at the 1972 Italian Grand Prix.
• This was the 3rd win of an Argentine Grand Prix by a Ford-powered car, breaking the previous record set by Maserati at the 1957 Argentine Grand Prix.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Denny Hulme 9 2 Niki Lauda 6 3 Clay Regazzoni 4 4 Mike Hailwood 3 5 Jean-Pierre Beltoise 2 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Ford 9 2 Ferrari 6 3 BRM 2 4 Tyrrell-Ford 1 Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. ^ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 19. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
2. ^ "Argentine GP, 1974 Race Report - GP Encyclopedia - F1 History on Grandprix.com". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
3. ^ "GP Argentina 1974 - Entry List". Racing Sports Cars. 1974-01-13. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
4. ^ "GP Argentina". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
5. ^ "1974 Grand Prix of Argentina". Racing-Reference.info. 1974-01-13. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
6. "Formula One 1974 Argentine Grand Prix Classification | Motorsport Stats".
7. "1974 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
8. "Results 1974 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Argentina". F1 Fansite. 13 January 1974. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
9. ^ "Argentina 1974 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.

• 1974 Formula One races
• Argentine Grand Prix
• 1974 in Argentine motorsport
• January 1974 sports events in South America