1972 German Grand Prix

The 1972 German Grand Prix was the eighth race of the 1972 Formula One season, and was held at the Nürburgring on July 30. Jacky Ickx, in a led the entire race from pole position, ahead of teammate Clay Regazzoni, with Ronnie Peterson in a finishing third.
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==Background==
After the major rebuild of the circuit between the 1969 and 1971 races, there had been no changes since then. German television was asking that teams with cigarette sponsorship blot out the sponsor's name on their cars. All complied except for .
*: All three cars had slightly upgraded rear suspensions, and all three were sporting smoother rear wings.
*: All four cars (the team had gone back to using a spare, instead of renting it out every chance they had) were upgraded to the modifications made to the car of Jean-Pierre Beltoise at Brands. But the team went into wholesale driver swapping, with Peter Gethin and Jackie Oliver out, and Howden Ganley and Reine Wisell in. Which was not helping morale. BRM refused to cover or alter their Marlboro sponsorship, saying they could not afford the loss of income.
*: The entry for François Migault had been refused by the organizers, as they regarded him as insufficiently experienced for a grand prix at the track. The team showed up anyway, hoping that they could change the organizers' minds, but they eventually went home without running.
*: Clay Regazzoni had returned, but with a plastic brace on his wrist. This did not seem to affect his driving, as some drivers described it as 'bad as ever'. Mario Andretti was at the USAC Pocono 500, so Arturo Merzario was given another drive, as a reward for his excellent sixth place at Brands Hatch.
*: Emerson Fittipaldi's car had radially drilled rear disk brakes (the first time that had been used in F1), and Dave Walker's car had an older oil cooler arrangement, to see if it would assist the car's handling. The team had painted over the words "John Player Special", and substituted "J.P.S.".
**Dave Charlton's team had painted over the words "Lucky Strike", but had managed to make the logos on the car even larger and more distinctive.
*: The team had their original 721G (the test mule) along as a spare, but never used it.
**Eifelland Caravans had suffered a major fire at their manufacturing plant, and had been bought out by a parent company which saw no purpose in sponsoring an F1 car. So this was to be the last race for the Eifelland team.
*: Chris Amon's MS120D had been repaired for the race.
*: Peter Revson was also at the USAC Pocono 500, so Brian Redman returned. He was in the original M19A, as the team had not finished repairing the M19C Redman had crashed in France.
*: No changes anywhere in the team.
*: The car had a new front suspension, designed by Ron Tauranac (who seemed to be freelancing for pretty much everyone except Brabham), but the team had not had time to test it at all. So the testing would be this weekend.
*: The team left the new 005 car at home, as it was discovered that there was a great deal of vibration in both the front suspension and inboard front brakes. It was hoped that the car would be ready by Austria.
*: Frank Williams had been reduced in 'rank' to privateer again, as the team needed to devote enormous resources to repairing all of the crashed cars of Henri Pescarolo, and the needed major repairs after Pescarolo's latest accident. Pescarolo had his "old" March 721G back this weekend, but with a new monocoque, it was essentially a brand new car. Mechanics of other teams were heard speculating how long this one would last. Meanwhile, Carlos Pace just kept going faster and faster in the year-old car, and was under the watchful eye of the more established teams as a future star in the sport.
==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 	 	003 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
7 	François Cevert 	Elf Team Tyrrell 	 	002 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
2 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	72D 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
25 	Dave Walker 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	72D 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
3 	Denny Hulme 	Yardley Team McLaren 	 	M19C 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
5 	Brian Redman 	Yardley Team McLaren 	 	M19A 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
4 	Jacky Ickx 	S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
9 	Clay Regazzoni 	S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
19 	Arturo Merzario 	S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
6 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160C 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
17 	Howden Ganley 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
18 	Reine Wisell 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
8 	Chris Amon 	Equipe Matra Sports 	 	MS120D 	 	MS72 V12 3.0 	
10 	Ronnie Peterson 	STP March Racing Team 	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
23 	Niki Lauda 	STP March Racing Team 	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
11 	Graham Hill 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT37 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
12 	Carlos Reutemann 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT37 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
26 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	BT34 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
20 	Henri Pescarolo 	Team Williams-Motul 	 	721 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
21 	Carlos Pace 	Team Williams-Motul 	 	711 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
22 	Rolf Stommelen 	Team Eifelland Caravan 	 	721 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
27 	Derek Bell 	Martini Racing 	 	PA123/3T2	 	Series-P F12 3.0	
28 	Mike Beuttler 	Clarke Mordaunt Guthrie Durlacher Racing	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
29 	Dave Charlton 	Lucky Strike Racing 	 	72D 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
==Practice Overview ==
==Qualifying==
===Qualifying Results===
Pos	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Lap 	Gap
1 	4 	Jacky Ickx 	 	7:07.0	—
2 	1 	Jackie Stewart 	 	7:08.7	+1.7
3 	2 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	7:09.9	+2.9
4 	10 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	7:11.6	+4.6
5 	7 	François Cevert 	 	7:12.2	+5.2
6 	12 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	7:12.4	+5.4
7 	9 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	7:13.4	+6.4
8 	8 	Chris Amon 	 	7:13.9	+6.9
9 	20 	Henri Pescarolo 	 	7:14.4	+7.4
10 	3 	Denny Hulme 	 	7:14.5	+7.5
11 	21 	Carlos Pace 	 	7:16.6	+9.6
12 	15 	Tim Schenken 	 	7:17.2	+10.2
13 	6 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	 	7:17.3	+10.3
14 	22 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	7:17.5	+10.5
15 	11 	Graham Hill 	 	7:18.4	+11.4
16 	14 	Mike Hailwood 	 	7:20.8	+13.8
17 	18 	Reine Wisell 	 	7:21.4	+14.4
18 	17 	Howden Ganley 	 	7:22.3	+15.3
19 	5 	Brian Redman 	 	7:23.2	+16.2
20 	16 	Andrea de Adamich 	 	7:23.7	+16.7
21 	26 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	 	7:24.8	+17.8
22 	19 	Arturo Merzario 	 	7:25.9	+18.9
23 	25 	Dave Walker 	 	7:29.5	+22.5
24 	23 	Niki Lauda 	 	7:32.2	+25.2
25 	27 	Derek Bell 	 	7:33.3	+26.3
26 	29 	Dave Charlton 	 	7:34.1	+27.1
27 	28 	Mike Beuttler 	 	7:35.9	+28.9
===Grid===
==Race==
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired 	Grid	Pts
1 	4 	Jacky Ickx 	 	14 	1:42:12.3 	1 	9
2 	9 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	14 	+48.3 	7 	6
3 	10 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	14 	+1:06.7 	4 	4
4 	17 	Howden Ganley 	 	14 	+2:19.9 	18 	3
5 	5 	Brian Redman 	 	14 	+2:35.7 	19 	2
6 	11 	Graham Hill 	 	14 	+2:59.6 	15 	1
7 	26 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	 	14 	+3:00.1 	21 	 
8 	28 	Mike Beuttler 	 	14 	+5:10.7 	27 	 
9 	6 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	 	14 	+5:20.2 	13 	 
10 	7 	François Cevert 	 	14 	+5:53.7 	5 	 
11 	1 	Jackie Stewart 	 	13 	Collision 	2 	 
12 	19 	Arturo Merzario 	 	13 	+1 Lap 	22 	 
13 	16 	Andrea de Adamich 	 	13 	+1 Lap 	20 	 
14 	15 	Tim Schenken 	 	13 	+1 Lap 	12 	 
15 	8 	Chris Amon 	 	13 	+1 Lap 	8 	 
NC 	21 	Carlos Pace 	 	11 	+3 Laps 	11 	 
Ret 	2 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	10 	Gearbox 	3 	 
Ret 	20 	Henri Pescarolo 	 	10 	Accident 	9 	 
Ret 	3 	Denny Hulme 	 	9 	Engine 	10 	 
Ret 	14 	Mike Hailwood 	 	8 	Suspension 	16 	 
Ret 	12 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	7 	Transmission 	6 	 
Ret 	22 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	7 	Electrics 	14 	 
Ret 	25 	Dave Walker 	 	6 	Split oil tank	23 	 
Ret 	23 	Niki Lauda 	 	4 	Oil leak 	24 	 
Ret 	27 	Derek Bell 	 	4 	Engine 	25 	 
Ret 	29 	Dave Charlton 	 	4 	Driver ill 	26 	 
Ret 	18 	Reine Wisell 	 	3 	Engine 	17 	 
==Milestones==
*Final race for Eifelland Caravans
==Standings after race==
==References==
*
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1972 Grands Prix
Category:German Grand Prix
Category:Formula One races in Germany