1973 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1973 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 20 May 1973.[1] It was race 5 of 15 in both the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was won by British driver Jackie Stewart driving a Tyrrell 006.

1973 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Date 20 May 1973
Official name XXXI GROTE PRIJS VAN BELGIE
Location Circuit Zolder
Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium
Course Grand Prix Circuit
Course length 4.220 km (2.622 miles)
Distance 70 laps, 295.379 km (183.540 miles)
Weather Warm, dry
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Ford
Time 1:22.46
Fastest lap
Driver France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:25.42 on lap 28
Podium
First Tyrrell-Ford
Second Tyrrell-Ford
Third Lotus-Ford
Lap leaders

The entire Zolder track had to be resurfaced a week before the actual Grand Prix after a few drivers such as Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi and François Cevert walked around the track to inspect it. They found that the track started to break up as a result of a previous race, and the track owners immediately decided to resurface the track, only a week before the Grand Prix. Cevert, Fittipaldi and Stewart refused to drive on the track because of the danger, and Cevert responded to the FIA that they would attempt to cancel the race if the owners did not do a good enough job of fixing the track.

Future world champion Niki Lauda took his first ever career points here, by finishing in fifth place in his BRM.

This race saw the end of teams' numbers changing from race to race - the numbers teams raced with at Zolder lasted until the end of the season. For the 1974 season, the finishing positions in the Constructors' Championship were used to allocate the numbers, after which teams did not change numbers unless they won the Drivers' Championship (or signed the current World Champion).

Qualifying

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Qualifying classification

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Pos. Driver Constructor Time No
1 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 1:22,46 1
2 Denis Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:23,00 2
3 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:23,10 3
4 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 1:23,22 4
5 Jean-Pierre Beltoise B.R.M. 1:23,25 5
6 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:23,28 6
7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 1:23,34 7
8 Carlos Pace Surtees-Ford 1:23,34 8
9 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 1:23,44 9
10 Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 1:23,52 10
11 George Follmer Shadow-Ford 1:23,86 11
12 Clay Regazzoni B.R.M. 1:23,91 12
13 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 1:23,96 13
14 Niki Lauda B.R.M. 1:24,51 14
15 Chris Amon Tecno 1:24,79 15
16 Jean-Pierre Jarier March-Ford 1:24,83 16
17 Nanni Galli Iso-Ford 1:24,89 17
18 Andrea de Adamich Brabham-Ford 1:25,28 18
19 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 1:25,57 19
20 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 1:25,77 20
21 Howden Ganley Iso-Ford 1:26,68 21
22 Jackie Oliver Shadow-Ford 1:28,12 22
23 Graham Hill Shadow-Ford 1:30,45 23

Race

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Classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 70 1:42:13.43 6 9
2 6   François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 70 + 31.84 4 6
3 1   Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 70 + 2:02.79 9 4
4 9   Andrea de Adamich Brabham-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 18 3
5 21   Niki Lauda BRM 69 + 1 Lap 14 2
6 22   Chris Amon Tecno 67 + 3 Laps 15 1
7 7   Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 67 +3 Laps 2  
8 24   Carlos Pace Surtees-Ford 66 +4 Laps 8  
9 12   Graham Hill Shadow-Ford 65 +5 Laps 23  
10 19   Clay Regazzoni BRM 63 Accident 12  
11 15   Mike Beuttler March-Ford 63 Accident 20  
Ret 14   Jean-Pierre Jarier March-Ford 60 Accident 16  
Ret 20   Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 56 Not classified 5  
Ret 11   Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 46 Engine 19  
Ret 2   Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 42 Accident 1  
Ret 8   Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 33 Accident 10  
Ret 25   Howden Ganley Iso-Marlboro-Ford 16 Accident 21  
Ret 10   Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 14 Engine 7  
Ret 16   George Follmer Shadow-Ford 13 Throttle 11  
Ret 17   Jackie Oliver Shadow-Ford 11 Accident 22  
Ret 3   Jacky Ickx Ferrari 6 Oil pump 3  
Ret 26   Nanni Galli Iso-Marlboro-Ford 6 Engine 17  
Ret 23   Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 4 Accident 13  
Source:[2]

Notes

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  • This was the 50th race in which a Brazilian driver participated.
  • This race marked the 24th and 25th podium finish for British constructor Tyrrell.
  • This was the 50th pole position for a Ford-powered car.

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ "1973 Belgian Grand Prix Entry list".
  2. ^ "1973 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Belgium 1973 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.


Previous race:
1973 Spanish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1973 season
Next race:
1973 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous race:
1972 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1974 Belgian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1972 British Grand Prix
European Grand Prix
(Designated European Grand Prix)
Next race:
1974 German Grand Prix
  NODES
INTERN 1
Note 4