At the Spanish Grand Prix, the young British driver Tony Brise replaced Laffite who was driving in Formula Two that day. Brise drove the FW03, outqualified Merzario who drove the new FW04 (18th and 25th), and went on to finish seventh in the race. Merzario withdrew from the race protesting that the barriers were not bolted together properly. Later Rolf Stommelen's rear wing failed and he crashed into the crowd, killing five people. In Monaco, the grid was cut to just 18 cars after the accident in Spain, and Merzario failed to qualify the FW03 in 20th place. At the Belgian Grand Prix Merzario retired the FW03 with clutch failure on lap 2, and he subsequently left the team. In Sweden, Laffite was also absent, driving in Formula Two again, so Damien Magee was brought in to drive the FW03. He qualified 22nd and finished 14th while Ian Scheckter crashed out in the FW04.