1972 Italian Grand Prix

The 1972 Italian Grand Prix was the tenth race of the 1972 Formula One season, held on September 10 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Championship leader Emerson Fittipaldi in a won the race to clinch his first world championship. Second place was Mike Hailwood in a , with Denny Hulme in a coming in third.
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==Background==
Teams have long been critical of the 150 mph slipstreaming battles that Monza was known for, and this year the track attempted to remedy that. Two chicanes were added, completely transforming the nature of the circuit. The first change is coming out of the Parabolica, the cars were kept to the right side of the front straight, until just before the old banked turn, when the cars needed to make a slow left-right turn. A short escape road with a gate was for those who overshot their braking. The second change was at the old Ascari corner, where a gentle, sweeping lefthander was replaced by a tighter complex, going left-right-left around a new island. The changes added roughly fourteen seconds per lap, and caused a huge increase in brake usage.
*: All three cars had new rear wings, designed to provide downforce while minimizing drag.
*: After a gap of several races, with a lot of refinements, BRM entered one of the {{BRM P180|P180s]] in the hands of Jean-Pierre Beltoise. Handling and aerodynamics were much improved. The team also entered P160Cs for Howden Ganley, Peter Gethin and Reine Wisell, but the drain on the resources by running four and five cars for so many races had taken its toll, as the BRM engines were now noticeably down on power to the competition.
*: No changes to the cars, but Mario Andretti returned to drive a brand new chassis.
*: Colin Chapman had been assured by the organizers that there would be no further repercussions of the Jochen Rindt accident of two years earlier, but he was taking no chances. The team only entered one car (plus a spare) for Emerson Fittipaldi, under their alternate guise of World Wide Racing. Each car was shipped in a separate transporter, and the spare car transporter remained on the French side of the Mont Blanc Tunnel unless needed, to minimize the chances of cars and equipment being seized by Italian authorities. This actually worked to their advantage, as the primary transporter blew a tire, and crashed heavily on the Autostrada. Fittipaldi's primary race car suffered a fair amount of damage in the crash, so he ran the entire weekend using the spare car. It was later revealed that Dave Walker had been dropped from Lotus, after it was discovered that he had tested a Formula 2 car for another team (rumored to be Tecno).
*: Niki Lauda's car had the full-width nose and twin front radiators seen in practice on the spare car at Austria.
*: Chris Amon's primary car had an engine specially tuned for maximum power.
*: The team had unveiled a new car, the TS14, designed to meet the new 1973 regulations. John Surtees had all but officially retired from driving, but he entered himself to test the TS14 under race conditions. The other cars had no changes.
*: A great deal of hard work had enabled the team to complete a second car, for Nanni Galli. The new car was almost identical to the original one, but of a much neater appearance.
*: Testing discovered that the front suspension mounts were flexing in the 005 car, which was suspected of causing the handling gremlins of the last several races. Correcting that has also allowed the team to complete work on the new 006 model, now scheduled to be used by François Cevert in Canada. Cevert was still using 002 at Monza, and both 005 and 002 were sporting huge engine air boxes, with a triangular intake opening reaching several inches above the roll bar. Jackie Stewart also tried a first gear with a higher than normal ratio, thinking that it would help with acceleration out of the first chicane. He used that gear in the race, a decision that would cost him dearly.
*: The Politoys had been repaired from Henri Pescarolo's Brands Hatch crash, but developed transmission problems in unofficial practice, and was withdrawn. His March 721 had been repaired from the crash in Austria, but he crashed again (nine crashes in the last eight races!) in unofficial practice, and the repairs were not good enough to allow him to qualify, so Pescarolo missed his second straight race.
==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 	Mario Andretti 	S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
4 	Jacky Ickx 	S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
5 	Clay Regazzoni 	S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
6 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	World Wide Racing 	 	72D 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
7 	John Surtees 	Team Surtees 	 	TS14 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
8 	Tim Schenken 	Flame Out Team Surtees 	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
9 	Andrea de Adamich 	Ceramica Pagnossin Team Surtees 	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
10 	Mike Hailwood 	Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees 	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
11 	Nanni Galli 	Martini Racing 	 	PA123/3T2	 	Series-P F12 3.0	
12 	Derek Bell 	Martini Racing 	 	PA123/3T2	 	Series-P F12 3.0	
14 	Denny Hulme 	Yardley Team McLaren 	 	M19C 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
15 	Peter Revson 	Yardley Team McLaren 	 	M19C 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
16 	Mike Beuttler 	Clarke Mordaunt Guthrie Durlacher Racing	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
18 	Niki Lauda 	STP March Racing Team 	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
19 	Ronnie Peterson 	STP March Racing Team 	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
20 	Chris Amon 	Equipe Matra Sports 	 	MS120D 	 	MS72 V12 3.0 	
21 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Marlboro BRM 	 	P180 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
22 	Howden Ganley 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160C 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
23 	Peter Gethin 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160C 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
24 	Reine Wisell 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160C 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
25 	Henri Pescarolo 	Team Williams-Motul 	 	721 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
26 	Carlos Pace 	Team Williams-Motul 	 	711 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
28 	Graham Hill 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT37 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
29 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT34 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
30 	Carlos Reutemann 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT37 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
==Practice Overview ==
==Qualifying==
===Qualifying Results===
Pos	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Lap 	Gap
1 	4 	Jacky Ickx 	 	1:35.65	—
2 	20 	Chris Amon 	 	1:35.69	+0.04
3 	1 	Jackie Stewart 	 	1:35.79	+0.14
4 	5 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	1:35.83	+0.18
5 	14 	Denny Hulme 	 	1:35.97	+0.32
6 	31 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	1:36.29	+0.64
7 	3 	Mario Andretti 	 	1:36.32	+0.67
8 	15 	Peter Revson 	 	1:36.42	+0.77
9 	10 	Mike Hailwood 	 	1:36.50	+0.85
10 	9 	Reine Wisell 	 	1:36.68	+1.03
11 	30 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	1:37.12	+1.47
12 	23 	Peter Gethin 	 	1:37.21	+1.56
13 	28 	Graham Hill 	 	1:37.61	+1.96
14 	2 	François Cevert 	 	1:37.79	+2.14
15 	29 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	 	1:37.82	+2.17
16 	21 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	 	1:37.82	+2.17
17 	22 	Howden Ganley 	 	1:37.91	+2.26
18 	26 	Carlos Pace 	 	1:37.98	+2.33
19 	7 	John Surtees 	 	1:38.31	+2.66
20 	18 	Niki Lauda 	 	1:38.52	+2.87
21 	9 	Andrea de Adamich 	 	1:38.60	+2.95
22 	8 	Tim Schenken 	 	1:38.61	+2.96
23 	11 	Nanni Galli 	 	1:38.64	+2.99
24 	19 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	1:38.70	+3.05
25 	16 	Mike Beuttler 	 	1:39.73	+4.08
DNQ	25 	Henri Pescarolo 	 	1:40.21	+4.56
DNQ	12 	Derek Bell 	 	1:42.07	+6.42
===Grid===
==Race==
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired 	Grid	Pts
1 	6 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	55 	1:29:58.4 	6 	9
2 	10 	Mike Hailwood 	 	55 	+14.5 	9 	6
3 	14 	Denny Hulme 	 	55 	+23.8 	5 	4
4 	15 	Peter Revson 	 	55 	+35.7 	8 	3
5 	28 	Graham Hill 	 	55 	+1:05.6 	13 	2
6 	23 	Peter Gethin 	 	55 	+1:21.9 	12 	1
7 	3 	Mario Andretti 	 	54 	+1 Lap 	7 	 
8 	21 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	 	54 	+1 Lap 	16 	 
9 	19 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	54 	+1 Lap 	24 	 
10 	16 	Mike Beuttler 	 	54 	+1 Lap 	25 	 
11 	22 	Howden Ganley 	 	52 	+3 Laps 	17 	 
12 	24 	Reine Wisell 	 	51 	+4 Laps 	10 	 
13 	18 	Niki Lauda 	 	50 	+5 Laps 	20 	 
Ret 	4 	Jacky Ickx 	 	46 	Electrics 	1 	 
Ret 	20 	Chris Amon 	 	38 	Brakes 	2 	 
Ret 	9 	Andrea de Adamich 	 	34 	Drive shaft 	21 	 
Ret 	8 	Tim Schenken 	 	21 	Accident 	22 	 
Ret 	29 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	 	20 	Suspension 	15 	 
Ret 	7 	John Surtees 	 	20 	Fuel pressure 	19 	 
Ret 	5 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	17 	Accident damage	4 	 
Ret 	26 	Carlos Pace 	 	16 	Accident 	18 	 
Ret 	30 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	15 	Suspension 	11 	 
Ret 	2 	François Cevert 	 	14 	Engine 	14 	 
Ret 	11 	Nanni Galli 	 	7 	Engine 	23 	 
Ret 	1 	Jackie Stewart 	 	0 	Clutch 	3 	 
==Milestones==
*Final race for John Surtees.
==Standings after race==
==References==
*
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1972 Grands Prix
Category:Italian Grand Prix
Category:Formula One races in Italy