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1974 French Grand Prix

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1974 French Grand Prix
Dijon-Prenois CircuitDijon-Prenois Circuit
Race details
Date 7 July 1974
Location Dijon-Prenois, Dijon, France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.289 km (2.044 miles)
Distance 80 laps, 263.12 km (163.495 miles)
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 0:58.79
Fastest lap
Driver South Africa Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:00.00 on lap 10
Podium
First Lotus-Ford
Second Ferrari
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders
Motor car race

The 1974 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Dijon-Prenois near Dijon, France on 7 July 1974. It was race 9 of 15 in both the 1974 World Championship of Drivers and the 1974 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

The 80-lap race was won by Ronnie Peterson, driving a Lotus-Ford. Niki Lauda finished second in a Ferrari, having started from pole position, with teammate Clay Regazzoni third. Until the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, this was the only World Championship Grand Prix in which lap times of less than one minute were set, by 12 drivers during qualifying, including pole position starter Lauda.

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Pos. Driver Constructor Time Grid
1 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 0:58.79 1
2 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 0:59.08 2
3 United Kingdom Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 0:59.11 3
4 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 0:59.13 4
5 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 0:59.20 5
6 United Kingdom Mike Hailwood McLaren-Ford 0:59.22 6
7 South Africa Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 0:59.32 7
8 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 0:59.36 8
9 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 0:59.43 9
10 United Kingdom James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 0:59.51 10
11 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 0:59.54 11
12 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 0:59.59 12
13 Belgium Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 1:00.00 13
14 United Kingdom John Watson Brabham-Ford 1:00.02 14
15 Italy Arturo Merzario Iso-Marlboro-Ford 1:00.16 15
16 Italy Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 1:00.26 16
17 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 1:00.36 17
18 West Germany Jochen Mass Surtees-Ford 1:00.48 18
19 France Henri Pescarolo BRM 1:00.67 19
20 United Kingdom Guy Edwards Lola-Ford 1:00.68 20
21 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lola-Ford 1:00.73 21
22 France François Migault BRM 1:00.86 22
23 Australia Vern Schuppan Ensign-Ford 1:01.24
24 Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford 1:01.35
25 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Iso-Marlboro-Ford 1:01.52
26 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck March-Ford 1:01.60
27 France José Dolhem Surtees-Ford 1:01.70
28 Liechtenstein Rikky von Opel Brabham-Ford 1:01.79
29 Finland Leo Kinnunen Surtees-Ford 1:03.15
30 France Gérard Larrousse Brabham-Ford 1:03.27

*Positions with a pink background indicate drivers that failed to qualify

Race

Race summary

To honor the 80th birthday of the ACF, a parade of vintage cars was organized with a selection of great drivers from the 20s and 30s up to the present day. The race itself was largely uneventful. Tom Pryce put in a superb performance to be 3rd on the grid behind Ronnie Peterson and Niki Lauda. However, he was slow off the start and was hit by Carlos Reutemann, ending his race. James Hunt and Henri Pescarolo were also taken out in the ensuing accident. Lauda led convincingly from Peterson and Clay Regazzoni with Emerson Fittipaldi up to 4th by lap 15. Lauda dropped back with handling problems on lap 16, and was passed by Peterson, who led to the flag. He was followed by Lauda and Regazzoni, who came home 3rd despite vibration problems. Regazzoni had been challenged strongly by Fittipaldi, but just as the McLaren driver was preparing to pass, Fittipaldi's engine exploded, ending his race. Jody Scheckter was fourth, less than a second behind Regazzoni.

Classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 80 1:21:55.02 2 9
2 12 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 80 + 20.36 1 6
3 11 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 80 + 27.84 4 4
4 3 South Africa Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 80 + 28.11 7 3
5 2 Belgium Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 80 + 37.54 13 2
6 6 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 80 + 38.14 11 1
7 33 United Kingdom Mike Hailwood McLaren-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 6  
8 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 9  
9 20 Italy Arturo Merzario Iso-Marlboro-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 15  
10 14 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 79 + 1 Lap 17  
11 10 Italy Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 16  
12 17 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 12  
13 26 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lola-Ford 78 + 2 Laps 21  
14 37 France François Migault BRM 78 + 2 Laps 22  
15 27 United Kingdom Guy Edwards Lola-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 20  
16 28 United Kingdom John Watson Brabham-Ford 76 + 4 Laps 14  
Ret 5 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 27 Engine 5  
Ret 7 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 24 Handling 8  
Ret 19 West Germany Jochen Mass Surtees-Ford 4 Clutch 18  
Ret 16 United Kingdom Tom Pryce Shadow-Ford 1 Collision 3  
Ret 15 France Henri Pescarolo BRM 1 Clutch 19  
Ret 24 United Kingdom James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 0 Collision 10  
DNQ 22 Australia Vern Schuppan Ensign-Ford        
DNQ 8 Liechtenstein Rikky von Opel Brabham-Ford        
DNQ 34 Brazil Carlos Pace Brabham-Ford        
DNQ 21 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Iso-Marlboro-Ford        
DNQ 9 West Germany Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford        
DNQ 18 France José Dolhem Surtees-Ford        
DNQ 23 Finland Leo Kinnunen Surtees-Ford        
DNQ 43 France Gérard Larrousse Brabham-Ford        
Source:

Notes

  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French drivers José Dolhem and future Grand Prix winner Jean-Pierre Jabouille.
  • This was the 100th Grand Prix start for a German driver. In those 100 races, German drivers had won 2 Grands Prix, achieved 10 podium finishes, 1 pole position and 2 fastest laps.
  • This was the first fastest lap set by a South African driver.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Austria Niki Lauda 36
2 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni 32
3 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 31
4 South Africa Jody Scheckter 26
5 Sweden Ronnie Peterson 19
Source:
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 Italy Ferrari 45
2 United Kingdom McLaren-Ford 43 (45)
3 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 30
4 United Kingdom Lotus-Ford 22
5 United Kingdom Brabham-Ford 10
Source:

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 7 results from the first 8 races and the best 6 results from the last 7 races counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

  1. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 39. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  2. Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 41. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
  3. "Dijon 1974 - classification". F1 Facts. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  4. "1974 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  5. ^ "France 1974 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.


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