Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina 13 Januari 1974, Buenos Aires

Ronnie Peterson är inför sin femte säsong i Formel 1 fortfarande kvar i Lotusstallet. Ronnie kör denna säsong med nummer 1 på bilen - egentligen ett nummer avsett för regerande världsmästaren, men som Ronnie enligt reglarna får överta som försteförare i vinnarstallet. Ny teamkamrat är Jacky Ickx efter det att Emerson Fittipaldi gått över till McLaren. Lotus är ute efter ytterligare en titel och har inför årets tävlingar en nykonstruerad bilmodell - Lotus 76. Den gamla 72:an finns dock fortfarande kvar i en modifierad version och kommer direkt till användning som annat än reservbil då den nya Lotusen inte tycks vara helt färdigutvecklad..

Under träningen inför sitt 48:e Formel 1 lopp har Ronnie presterat den snabbaste tiden och står i "pole position" före Clay Regazzoni i en Ferrari. Ronnie tar starten och leder de två första varven. Han faller dock tillbaka och slutar inte bättre än trettonde man, hela fem varv efter segraren.

Carlos Reutemann leder större delen av loppet, men får med endast två varv kvar slut på bensin. Istället kan Denny Hulme gå upp i täten och är först över mållinjen före de båda Ferraribilarna med Niki Lauda och Clay Regazzoni (den senare sätter också snabbaste varv med 1.52,10). Loppet kommer således att ha följande förare i ledarposition: Ronnie 1-2; Reutemann 3-51; Hulme 52-53.

Summary in english

The F1 circus was back together again in Buenos Aires after a short winter break. The oil crisis was in full swing and the Monte Carlo Rally was canceled. Formula 1 refused to give way and, in fact, as the season progressed there were more and more becoming involved in the World Championship.

Tyrrell had lost not only Francois Cevert but also Jackie Stewart and so lined up in 1974 with a completely new driver team: Patrick Depailler being joined by former McLaren hotshoe Jody Scheckter. Peter Revson had left McLaren to take a job with Shadow where he was joined by March refugee Jean-Pierre Jarier. McLaren retained Denny Hulme but had signed up Lotus star Emerson Fittipaldi. The team now carried sponsorship from Marlboro and Texaco. The team also ran a third car in Yardley colors for Mike Hailwood.

To replace Fittipaldi Team Lotus had hired Jacky Ickx, previously of Ferrari. The Italian team had been completed restructured after a dreadful season with Luca di Montezemolo brought in to manage the team. There were two new drivers, both Clay Regazzoni and Niki Lauda transferring from BRM. Brabham had lost Wilson Fittipaldi, who had gone off to start his own F1 team, and so Carlos Reutemann started the year with Richard Robarts as his team mate. There was also a customer Brabham team with John Goldie Racing running John Watson in a Hexagon of Highgate BT42.

Team Surtees had replaced Hailwood with Jochen Mass as Carlos Pace's team mate. March had picked up Howden Ganley and Hans Stuck while BRM had a new design team led by Mike Pilbeam and the new P201. This was sponsored by Motul and the three cars were driven by Frenchmen Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo and Francois Migault.

Frank Williams continued to be backed by Marlboro and ran his cars as Iso-Rivoltas, in the hope that money would arrive from the Italian car company. Williams had picked up former Ferrari driver Arturo Merzario. Money was very short and so the second seat was leased to pay-drivers on a race-by-race basis. Hesketh Racing was working on its own car for James Hunt but started the year with an old March while Graham Hill had done a deal for Lola to build cars for him and entered two cars for himself and Guy Edwards. The field was completed by the Ensign, driven once again by Rikki Von Opel.

In Argentina it was decided to use the faster number 15 circuit of the Autodromo rather than the previously-used number nine. In qualifying Ronnie Peterson was on Pole but Ferrari showed how much progress had been made with Regazzoni qualifying alongside the Lotus on the front row. The second row featured Fittipaldi and Revson, while James Hunt impressed with fifth place in the Harvey Postlethwaite-modified Hesketh March. Local hero Carlos Reutemann was sixth with Ickx seventh and Lauda eighth. Hailwood and Hulme shared the fifth row.

At the start Peterson took the lead with Hunt second while Regazzoni, Revson and Hailwood all arrived together and collided. Regazzoni and Revson spun and Jarier ran into Revson (his team mate). Both Merzario and Watson also damaged their cars in the melee while Scheckter took to the grass to avoid hitting anyone.

Further round on the lap Hunt blew his chances by spinning and so Reutemann moved into second with Fittipaldi, Hailwood, Ickx and Hulme chasing him. On the third lap Reutemann took the lead, while Fittipaldi went into the pits to have a plug lead reattached. This left Hailwood in third place but he was soon overtaken by Hulme (who had got ahead of Ickx) and by Ickx himself. Peterson then began to fade because of brake trouble and was overtaken by Hulme and Ickx, the latter beginning to come under pressure from Lauda, who made his way ahead of Hailwood and and Peterson.

On the 27th lap Ickx went into the pits with a puncture and so Lauda was a solid third. Reutemann seems to have the race in his pocket but his engine began to misfire and Hulme began to close rapidly. He took the lead on the penultimate lap. Reutemann eventually ground to a halt on the last lap and he was overtaken by Lauda, Regazzoni, Hailwood, Beltoise and Depailler.

 

Sammanställning Grand Prix Argentina Datum 13 Januari 1974 Bana Buenos Aires No.15 Säsong 1974 Deltävling 1 Längd (km) 5.968 Varv 53 Tid 1:41:02.010

Placering Nr Förare Team Tid Grid 1 6 Denny Hulme McLaren 1:41:02.010 10 2 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 9.270 8 3 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 20.410 2 4 33 Mike Hailwood McLaren 31.790 9 5 14 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 51.840 14 6 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 112.480 15 r 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham +1 varv 6 r 10 Howden Ganley March +1 varv 19 9 15 Henri Pescarolo BRM +1 varv 21 10 5 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren +2 varv 3 11 27 Guy Edwards Lola +3 varv 25 12 28 John Watson Brabham +4 varv 20 13 1 Ronnie Peterson Lotus +5 varv 1 r 26 Graham Hill Lola +8 varv 17 r 8 Richard Robarts Brabham +18 varv 22 r 2 Jacky Ickx Lotus +18 varv 7 r 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck March +22 varv 23 r 37 Francois Migault BRM +22 varv 24 r 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell +28 varv 12 r 18 Carlos Pace Surtees +32 varv 11 r 20 Arturo Merzario Williams +34 varv 13 r 24 James Hunt March +42 varv 5 r 19 Jochen Mass Surtees +43 varv 18 r 16 Peter Revson Shadow +52 varv 4 r 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow +53 varv 16 ns 22 Rikky von Opel Ensign   26

NC=Not Classified NT=No time set in qualifying R=Retired EX=Excluded from meeting W=Withdrawn DQ=Disqualified NS=Did not start NQ=Did not qualify NPQ=Did not pre-qualify

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