1972 Austrian Grand Prix

The 1972 Austrian Grand Prix was the ninth race of the 1972 Formula One season, held on August 13 at the Österreichring. Championship leader Emerson Fittipaldi in a won a close race ahead of Denny Hulme in a , with teammate Peter Revson third in the other McLaren.
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==Background==
The weather in the Tyrolian Alps is almost as unpredictable as those in the Ardennes, where both Spa and Nürburgring are located. This year, instead of the humidity and frequent showers often seen in the past, the conditions were very hot and dry, putting a premium on tire wear and, strangely, fuel vaporization. Several teams were fighting fuel vaporization issues all weekend, and it accounted for several retirements on Sunday.
*: Graham Hill's car was fitted with the new Hewland FL gearbox, the first one in usage, and the reason the team had redesigned the rear suspension of the cars. It was designed specifically for use with inboard brakes.
*: All three cars were now fitted with an engine airbox very similar to the anvil-shaped boxes used by . Reine Wisell had set up one of the cars to his liking in testing, then the team dropped him in favor of Peter Gethin for this race.
*: The newest team in F1 was back for another try, having engaged in a small amount of testing in England before coming to Austria.
*: Once again, Mario Andretti was at a USAC race. The team was concerned about fuel vaporization, and had mounted fuel-cooling radiators about the gearbox, but this was ineffective, as both cars later retired from that problem.
*: Dave Walker's car had been upgraded to the same rear wing and oil tank configuration as on Emerson Fittipaldi's car. Fittipaldi experimented with an aluminum engine cover. He also drove the spare car a fair amount in practice, and it was this car (bearing the number '31') that he used in the race. Due to the paint scheme of the cars, the team would not be able to alter a car's number at the event, so Lotus always had a separate car number for the spare car.
*: As an experiment, the spare 721G had been fitted with twin front radiators ahead of the front wheels, like the Brabham BT34, but enclosed in a full-width nose that looked similar to the current Surtees TS9B. Ronnie Peterson drove it in practice, but never considered using it in the race.
** Rolf Stommelen entered the Eifelland March at this race under the name "Team Stommelen", hoping to attract a sponsor. This did not come to pass, so on the Monday after the race, the entire team was sold to owner Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone's main interest was the contract that Eifelland had with , guaranteeing 12-series engines. Anything else of use was kept, and the remaining items (including the car, sans engines) were then sold off or discarded. The car itself reappeared at the John Player race at Brands Hatch in October. It had been bought by car dealers Hexagon of Highgate, who entered the 721 with 'normal' bodywork under the name of Hexagon Racing, for John Watson.
*: During unofficial practice on Thursday, the team had borrowed Niki Lauda to drive the spare car for some feedback, as Lauda's engineering background was already giving him a good reputation for analysis of car performance. But the engine blew up after only two laps.
*: Peter Revson had a car that had been rebuilt from the ground up as one of the M19C's, but retained an M19A badge on the monocoque. The M19A that Brian Redman drove in Germany was kept as the spare.
*: The team had already announced their new TS14 model, designed for the 1973 regulations, but plans to run the car were postponed to Monza.
*: The team's pattern of alternating their drivers continued, with Nanni Galli taking over for Derek Bell.
*: Car 005 was back in the hands of Jackie Stewart, with the front disks moved outboard, in the hope of curing the sudden handling issues. Stewart's old car, 003, was along as the spare.
*: Henri Pescarolo's car was rebuilt with yet another new monocoque. Pescarolo's accident streak (seven accidents in the last six races) was putting a severe strain on the team's finances, and if not for Carlos Pace it might have folded already.
==Entry list==
The full entry list for the is outlined below:
No.	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor	Chassis 	Engine	Model 	Tyre
1 	Jackie Stewart 	Elf Team Tyrrell 	 	005 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
2 	François Cevert 	Elf Team Tyrrell 	 	002 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
3 	Mike Beuttler 	Clarke Mordaunt Guthrie Durlacher Racing	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
4 	Niki Lauda 	STP March Racing Team 	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
5 	Ronnie Peterson 	STP March Racing Team 	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
6 	Peter Gethin 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
7 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160C 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
9 	Howden Ganley 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
10 	Chris Amon 	Equipe Matra Sports 	 	MS120D 	 	MS72 V12 3.0 	
11 	Andrea de Adamich 	Ceramica Pagnossin Team Surtees 	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
24 	Tim Schenken 	Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees 	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
25 	Mike Hailwood 	Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees 	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
12 	Denny Hulme 	Yardley Team McLaren 	 	M19C 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
14 	Peter Revson 	Yardley Team McLaren 	 	M19C 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
15 	Nanni Galli 	Martini Racing 	 	PA123/3T2	 	Series-P F12 3.0	
16 	Graham Hill 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT37 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
17 	Carlos Reutemann 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT37 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
28 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT34 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
18 	Jacky Ickx 	S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
19 	Clay Regazzoni 	S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
20 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	72D 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
21 	Dave Walker 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	72D 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
22 	Henri Pescarolo 	Team Williams-Motul 	 	721 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
23 	Carlos Pace 	Team Williams-Motul 	 	711 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
27 	Rolf Stommelen 	Team Stommelen 	 	721 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
29 	François Migault 	Connew Racing Team 	 	PC1 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
==Practice Overview ==
==Qualifying==
===Qualifying Results===
Pos	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Lap 	Gap
1 	31 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	1:35.97	—
2 	19 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	1:36.04	+0.07
3 	1 	Jackie Stewart 	 	1:36.35	+0.38
4 	14 	Peter Revson 	 	1:36.63	+0.66
5 	17 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	1:37.15	+1.18
6 	10 	Chris Amon 	 	1:37.16	+1.19
7 	12 	Denny Hulme 	 	1:37.20	+1.23
8 	24 	Tim Schenken 	 	1:37.25	+1.28
9 	18 	Jacky Ickx 	 	1:37.33	1.36
10 	9 	Howden Ganley 	 	1:37.55	+1.58
11 	5 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	1:37.58	+1.61
12 	24 	Mike Hailwood 	 	1:37.77	+1.80
13 	11 	Andrea de Adamich 	 	1:38.08	+2.11
14 	16 	Graham Hill 	 	1:38.14	+2.17
15 	28 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	 	1:38.35	+2.38
16 	6 	Peter Gethin 	 	1:38.48	+2.51
17 	27 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	1:38.62	+2.65
18 	23 	Carlos Pace 	 	1:38.62	+2.65
19 	21 	Dave Walker 	 	1:38.81	+2.84
20 	2 	François Cevert 	 	1:38.85	+2.88
21 	7 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	 	1:38.89	+2.92
22 	4 	Niki Lauda 	 	1:39.04	+3.07
23 	15 	Nanni Galli 	 	1:39.13	+3.16
24 	3 	Mike Beuttler 	 	1:39.92	+3.95
25 	22 	Henri Pescarolo 	 	1:40.28	+4.31
26 	29 	François Migault 	 	1:43.88	+7.91
===Grid===
==Race==
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps 	Time/Retired 	Grid 	Pts
1 	31 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	54 	1:29:16.66 	1 	9
2 	12 	Denny Hulme 	 	54 	+1.18 	7 	6
3 	14 	Peter Revson 	 	54 	+36.53 	4 	4
4 	25 	Mike Hailwood 	 	54 	+44.76 	12 	3
5 	10 	Chris Amon 	 	54 	+45.64 	6 	2
6 	9 	Howden Ganley 	 	54 	+1:01.19 	10 	1
7 	1 	Jackie Stewart 	 	54 	+1:09.09 	3 	 
8 	7 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	 	54 	+1:21.45 	21 	 
9 	2 	François Cevert 	 	53 	+1 Lap 	20 	 
10 	4 	Niki Lauda 	 	53 	+1 Lap 	22 	 
11 	24 	Tim Schenken 	 	52 	+2 Laps 	8 	 
12 	5 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	52 	+2 Laps 	11 	 
13 	6 	Peter Gethin 	 	51 	+3 Laps 	16 	 
14 	11 	Andrea de Adamich 	 	51 	+3 Laps 	13 	 
NC 	27 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	48 	+6 Laps 	17 	 
NC 	23 	Carlos Pace 	 	46 	+8 Laps 	18 	 
NC 	15 	Nanni Galli 	 	45 	+9 Laps 	23 	 
Ret 	16 	Graham Hill 	 	37 	Fuel pressure 	14 	 
Ret 	28 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	 	32 	Brake pipe 	15 	 
Ret 	3 	Mike Beuttler 	 	25 	Fuel pressure 	24 	 
Ret 	29 	François Migault 	 	25 	Suspension 	25 	 
Ret 	18 	Jacky Ickx 	 	21 	Fuel pressure 	9 	 
Ret 	17 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	15 	Fuel injection	5 	 
Ret 	19 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	14 	Fuel pressure 	2 	 
Ret 	21 	Dave Walker 	 	6 	Engine 	19 	 
DNS 	22 	Henri Pescarolo 	 	 	Accident 	 	 
==Milestones==
*Debut of François Migault.
*Race debut of Tyrrell 005 and Connew PC1 cars.
==Standings after race==
==References==
*
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1972 Grands Prix
Category:Austrian Grand Prix
Category:Formula One races in Austria