Jody Scheckter
When the racing got under way, Carlos Pace led from pole in a Brabham 1–2 but was soon passed by Jody Scheckter and Carlos Reutemann after experiencing braking problems, and Patrick Depailler soon climbed to third. James Hunt retired with a broken throttle linkage, Vittorio Brambilla with oil cooler problems and Ian Scheckter crashed. Emerson Fittipaldi was challenging Depailler for 4th place when he suffered a cracked plug lead. Jody Scheckter held on from Reutemann for his only home win.