1975 Argentine Grand Prix

Race summary

The close season had been fairly quiet – Jochen Mass had replaced Denny Hulme at McLaren, John Watson had joined Surtees and Mike Wilds, Rolf Stommelen and Jacques Laffite were confirmed at BRM, Hill and Williams respectively.

March had announced their retirement, but then in a dramatic U-turn confirmed their entry for 1975 with Vittorio Brambilla and Lella Lombardi.

There were contractual wrangles with Ronnie Peterson, reportedly discontent at Lotus and it was uncertain up until the start of practice whether he would be driving for them or Shadow.

Jean-Pierre Jarier proved the Shadow's effectiveness, putting in the fastest ever lap of the circuit, averaging 122 mph to gain his first pole from Carlos Pace and Carlos Reutemann.

However it was all in vain. On the warm-up lap, his crown-wheel-and-pinion stripped, leaving him a non-starter. Local hero Reutemann gratefully accepted the lead from Pace. James Hunt driving the newest Hesketh with new rubber suspension climbed from the 6th row up to third place, duelling with Niki Lauda. Jochen Mass and Jody Scheckter tangled. Meanwhile, John Watson was stranded with a loose fuel-pipe and was disqualified after attempting trackside repairs.

Wilson Fittipaldi crashed on lap 13, his car of his own construction catching fire and requiring the fire engine to be deployed. By now, Hunt had passed Lauda and was catching the two Brabhams. Pace took the lead on lap 15, but spun on the very next lap. Reutemann having retaken the lead, was understeering badly and on lap 25 was passed by Hunt. There was a ferocious battle with Emerson Fittipaldi for the lead.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

• Jean-Pierre Jarier did not start of race. His place on the grid was left vacant.
• Nestor García-Veiga withdrew due to a crash in pre-race testing. His place on the grid was left vacant.

Notes

Milestone

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Argentinian driver Nestor García-Veiga.
• This was the 100th Grand Prix start for McLaren. In those 100 races, McLaren had won 13 Grands Prix, achieved 47 podium finishes, 4 pole positions, 6 fastest laps and won 1 Driver's and 1 Constructor's World Championship.
• This race marked the Formula One World Championship debut for British constructor Frank Williams Racing Cars (as a constructor), Brazilian constructor Fittipaldi and Argentinian constructor Berta. Both Fittipaldi and Berta were the first constructors of their respective nations to participate in Formula One.
• This was the first pole position for American-British constructor Shadow. Shadow became the first American constructor to get a pole position.
• This was the first fastest lap set by a Hesketh.
• This was the last race for Firestone tyres, equipping the Parnelli team (piloted by Mario Andretti), who preferred to concentrate his efforts in the American open-wheel car racing (more exactly in the USAC) since then.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

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

References

| Previous_year's_race = 1974 Argentine Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 1977 Argentine Grand Prix

References

1. Lang, Mike. (1983). "Grand Prix! Vol 3". Haynes Publishing Group.
2. Lang, Mike. (1983). "Grand Prix! Vol 3". Haynes Publishing Group.
3. "Argentinian Grand Prix 1975". motorsport-stats.com.
4. "Formula One 1975 Argentine Grand Prix Classification | Motorsport Stats".
5. "The Grand Prix car Argentina almost had". forix.autosport.com.
6. "1975 Argentine Grand Prix". formula1.com.
7. (12 January 1975). "1975 Argentine Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive".
8. "Argentina 1975 - Championship • STATS F1".