1973 United States Grand Prix

The 1973 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 7, 1973 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 15 of 15 in both the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.[2]

1973 United States Grand Prix
Race details
Date October 7, 1973
Official name XVI United States Grand Prix
Location Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Watkins Glen, New York
Course Permanent road course
Course length 5.435 km (3.377 mi)
Distance 59 laps, 320.67 km (199.24 mi)
Weather Cloudy with temperatures approaching 68 °F (20 °C); wind speeds up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)[1]
Pole position
Driver
Lotus-Ford
Time 1:39.657
Fastest lap
Driver James Hunt March-Ford
Time 1:41.652 on lap 58
Podium
First
  • Ronnie Peterson
 Lotus-Ford
Second
  • James Hunt
 March-Ford
Third
Brabham-Ford

The 59-lap race was won from pole position by Ronnie Peterson, driving a Lotus-Ford. Peterson held off James Hunt in the Hesketh-entered March-Ford to take his fourth victory of the season, with Carlos Reutemann third in a Brabham-Ford.

The race was overshadowed by the death of François Cevert during qualifying, in what was to have been the 100th and final Grand Prix for Tyrrell team-mate and triple World Champion Jackie Stewart. The Tyrrell team withdrew from the event as a consequence, handing the Manufacturers' Cup to Lotus.

Summary

Ronnie Peterson ended his first year with Lotus by taking his fourth win of the season, as a thrilling two-man battle ended with Peterson beating James Hunt to the flag by the smallest winning margin in USGP history at that time. The Englishman finished less than a second behind in his Hesketh Racing entered March, but the normal celebrations were tempered by the death of François Cevert during qualifying and the premature end of the career of three-time World Champion Jackie Stewart.

Death of François Cevert

Stewart had already clinched his third World Driver's Championship when the teams came to Watkins Glen, and he intended the final Grand Prix of 1973 to be his swan song. "I had decided in April that I would retire at the end of the season, win or lose," Stewart recalled. "Watkins Glen was going to be my last race in a Formula One car. François Cevert was going to be number one in the team for 1974, although he never knew it. Ken Tyrrell and I had kept it a secret that I was going to retire after that race. In fact, not even my wife, Helen, who was with me that weekend, knew."

With just a few minutes left in the Saturday morning qualifying session, however, the track suddenly fell quiet. Cevert had crashed violently in the uphill Esses heading onto the back of the circuit, between Turns Three and Four. Fighting the car as he went up the hill, Cevert ran too high on the kerbs and slid into the right hand guardrail. The car then lashed sideways across the track and struck the Armco on the left side of the track at 150 mph at an almost 90 degree angle. The nose of the car submarined into the ground, causing the car to flip upwards on over the barrier, coming to rest upside down on top of the Armco.

Jody Scheckter's McLaren was close behind, and he stopped and rushed over to help Cevert out of the car, but Cevert had died instantly. Ken Tyrrell had lost a great driver and Jackie Stewart an outstanding teammate at the circuit where Cevert had taken his only Grand Prix win. "It was a horrendous accident which took the life of a wonderfully charming, personable, handsome young man, who was a tremendous friend to both Helen and me," Stewart said.

When qualifying resumed, Peterson's time from the morning session stood up for his ninth pole of the year. The Tyrrells of Stewart and Chris Amon had earned the fifth and twelfth spots on the grid, but the team decided to withdraw in tribute to Cevert, and Stewart's driving career was over after 99 races and what was then a record 27 Grand Prix wins.

Race

On Sunday, a huge crowd turned out on a cool, overcast day for the race. On the grid, in seventh spot, Peter Revson felt his car creeping forward as the flag was raised. Rather than hold it with the brakes, he took it out of gear just as the flag dropped. He waved his arms in the air and waited for the field to roar past, then set off in last place.

The front runners got away well, and at the end of the first lap, Peterson led Carlos Reutemann, Hunt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mike Hailwood and Scheckter. On lap 4, Hunt passed Reutemann for second, and began his chase of Peterson's Lotus. To the surprise of everyone as the race progressed, Hunt was able to stay around one second behind Peterson. Occasionally the gap would widen slightly, but again and again, the extreme straightline speed of the Hesketh March would close it again.

Reutemann kept pace as well, two to three seconds behind Hunt, until he lost nine seconds attempting to lap Graham Hill. From then on, he ran a lonely race to a third-place finish.

Revson, meanwhile, was rocketing through the field from his last place start, and at the midway point, he had gone from twenty-third to seventh. He took sixth from Emerson on lap 40 when the Brazilian pitted to replace his front tyres that were flat-spotted when he had to avoid a spinning Scheckter.

For the last 15 laps, Hunt continued to follow Peterson, between .7 and 1.4 seconds behind. He pulled alongside at one point, but could not finish the pass. "I looked over at Ronnie, and he looked fiercer than me," he explained after the race.

Hunt had decided to bide his time until the final 10 laps, then make a bid to pass Peterson, but his car developed oversteer with a lightening fuel load. This kept him from taking the final corner before the back straight flat out, and effectively took away his speed advantage. He maintained the challenge to the flag, however, setting the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap. Peterson's winning margin of 0.688 seconds was the smallest in United States Grand Prix history until 2002.

Reutemann had to weave to the line, virtually out of fuel, but held on to third; Denny Hulme ran a steady race to fourth; Revson made it up to fifth with his splendid drive from last place; and Emerson Fittipaldi took sixth after having to stop for tyres. Having already secured the Manufacturers' Cup following Tyrrell's withdrawal, Lotus finished ten points ahead, despite Stewart taking the Drivers' Championship for Tyrrell.

Classification

Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap Grid
1 2 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:39.657 — 1
2 10 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 1:40.013 +0.356 2
3 1 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 1:40.393 +0.736 3
4 6 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 1:40.444 +0.787 DNS
5 27 James Hunt March-Ford 1:40.520 +0.863 4
6 5 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:40.635 +0.978 5
7 23 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 1:40.844 +1.187 6
8 8 Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 1:40.895 +1.238 7
9 7 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:40.907 +1.250 8
10 24 Carlos Pace Surtees-Ford 1:41.125 +1.468 9
11 0 Jody Scheckter McLaren-Ford 1:41.321 +1.664 10
12 4 Arturo Merzario Ferrari 1:41.455 +1.798 11
13 29 Chris Amon Tyrrell-Ford 1:41.679 +2.022 12
14 31 Brian Redman Shadow-Ford 1:42.247 +2.590 13
15 20 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 1:42.417 +2.760 14
16 19 Clay Regazzoni BRM 1:42.468 +2.811 15
17 30 Jochen Mass Surtees-Ford 1:42.517 +2.860 16
18 18 Jean-Pierre Jarier March-Ford 1:42.752 +3.095 17
19 12 Graham Hill Shadow-Ford 1:42.848 +3.191 18
20 25 Howden Ganley Iso-Marlboro-Ford 1:43.166 +3.509 19
21 16 George Follmer Shadow-Ford 1:43.387 +3.730 20
22 21 Niki Lauda BRM 1:43.543 +3.886 21
23 17 Jackie Oliver Shadow-Ford 1:43.650 +3.993 22
24 26 Jacky Ickx Iso-Marlboro-Ford 1:43.885 +4.228 23
25 9 John Watson Brabham-Ford 1:43.887 +4.230 24
26 11 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 1:44.478 +4.821 25
27 15 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 1:45.032 +5.375 26
28 28 Rikky von Opel Ensign-Ford 1:45.441 +5.784 27

Race
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 2 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 59 1:41:15.779 1 9
2 27 James Hunt March-Ford 59 + 0.668 4 6
3 10 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 59 + 22.930 2 4
4 7 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 59 + 50.226 8 3
5 8 Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 59 + 1:20.367 7 2
6 1 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 59 + 1:47.945 3 1
7 26 Jacky Ickx Iso-Marlboro-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 23  
8 19 Clay Regazzoni BRM 58 + 1 Lap 15  
9 20 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 58 + 1 Lap 14  
10 15 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 26  
11 18 Jean-Pierre Jarier March-Ford 57 Accident 17  
12 25 Howden Ganley Iso-Marlboro-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 19  
13 12 Graham Hill Shadow-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 18  
14 16 George Follmer Shadow-Ford 57 + 2 Laps 20  
15 17 Jackie Oliver Shadow-Ford 55 + 4 Laps 22  
16 4 Arturo Merzario Ferrari 55 + 4 Laps 11  
NC 11 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 52 + 7 Laps 25  
Ret 0 Jody Scheckter McLaren-Ford 39 Suspension 10  
Ret 30 Jochen Mass Surtees-Ford 35 Engine 16  
Ret 21 Niki Lauda BRM 35 Fuel Pump 21  
Ret 23 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 34 Suspension 6  
Ret 24 Carlos Pace Surtees-Ford 32 Suspension 9  
Ret 9 John Watson Brabham-Ford 7 Engine 24  
DSQ 31 Brian Redman Shadow-Ford 5 Received Outside Assistance 13  
Ret 28 Rikky von Opel Ensign-Ford 0 Throttle 27  
WD 5 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 0 Withdrew (Fatal Accident in team) 5  
WD 29 Chris Amon Tyrrell-Ford 0 Withdrew (Fatal Accident in team) 12  
DNS 6 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford   Fatal Accident in Qualifying    
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race
  • 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. "Weather information for the "1973 United States Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  2. "1973 United States Grand Prix Entry list". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "1973 United States Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. "United States 1973 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 21 March 2019.

Further reading
  • Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-1263-1
  • "15th U.S. Grand Prix: Easy One For Ronnie". (January, 1974). Road & Track, 64-67.
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