1972 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1972 Belgian Grand Prix was the fifth race of the season, and was held at the new Nivelles-Baulers circuit. Emerson Fittipaldi led most of the way for his second victory of the season, with François Cevert in second and Denny Hulme in third. The race was notable for the absence of Jackie Stewart, who had suffered an attack of gastritis.
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==Background ==
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps had been deemed unsafe for Formula 1, so the race was held at the brand new Nivelles-Baulers circuit, about 40km south of Brussels. The track was short, flat, technical, very safe and quite uninteresting for the spectators. There was 10m of runoff in all directions around the entire track, except for the pit wall, and even that was moved back from the track a bit. A long front straight led to a long series of gentle bends, eventually looping behind the front straight, then a pair of S-bends took the track around the paddock, and finally a 180 degree hairpin put the cars back on the front straight. The race attracted a healthy entry of 25 cars, including one car from the new-to-Formula-1 team.
*: Carlos Reutemann had taken part in the Formula 2 race at Oulton Park the previous weekend, and pronounced himself ready to return to Formula 1. Then he promptly shut a car door on his hand, and drove a brand new BT37 with some bandaged fingers in Belgium. Graham Hill had run the same Formula 2 race the previous weekend, and was involved in a start line accident. The result was some severe bruising to his legs, which had never quite healed from his bad accident almost three years earlier. So he was in pain all weekend.
*: The team left the P180s at home pending development, and there were no changes to the remaining cars. Reine Wisell was on the injured list, having broken bones in his hand in an accident with Ronnie Peterson at the Oulton Park non-championship race. Vern Schuppan was do to make his F1 debut in Wisell's place, but Peter Gethin crashed his car early in Friday practice, and in the ensuing shuffle of cars, poor Schuppan was out of a drive without having turned a wheel.
*: Once again Mario Andretti was at a USAC race. The cars were unchanged from Monaco, except for having the normal noses back.
*: Ronnie Peterson's car was converted to a Hewland gearbox and drive, along with the rear suspension from an original 721.
*: Matra was devoting enormous resources to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but they may have gone overboard. The team showed up in Belgium with Chris Amon, three mechanics, one car and the minimum of spares and tools required in a rented transporter. That was all. Amon was not amused.
*: The only change was the return of Peter Revson.
*: Announced during the off season, the Tecno PA123/3 finally made its initial appearance. An attractive looking flat-12 engine was in the back of a thrown-together looking chassis. The team was nowhere close to being ready to race, and they only qualified due to no more than the maximum 25 entries arriving.
*: Jackie Stewart was not at the race. His grueling schedule of racing in Formula 1, Can-Am and European touring cars, plus promotional events for Elf and Ford, and a sideline of sports commentating on television in the US, led to what was originally diagnosed as an ulcer, but was later confirmed as gastritis. Under doctor's orders, he took about three weeks off from everything, canceled his involvement with the Can-Am series and US TV for the remainder of 1972, and was restricting his schedule of everything else. François Cevert had his usual 002 chassis with 004 as a spare, but several notable Tyrrell team members were not present.
==Entry list==
The full entry list for the is shown below:
No.	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model 	Tyre
5 	Chris Amon 	Equipe Matra Sports 	 	MS120C 	 	MS72 V12 3.0 	
6 	Rolf Stommelen 	Team Eifelland Caravans 	 	21 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
7 	Jackie Stewart 	Elf Team Tyrrell 	 	003 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
8 	François Cevert 	Elf Team Tyrrell 	 	002 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
9 	Denny Hulme 	Yardley Team McLaren 	 	M19C 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
10 	Peter Revson 	Yardley Team McLaren 	 	M19A 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
11 	Ronnie Peterson 	STP March Racing Team 	 	721X 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
12 	Niki Lauda 	STP March Racing Team 	 	721X 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
14 	Mike Beuttler 	Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing 	 	721G 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
15 	Henri Pescarolo 	Team Williams Motul 	 	721 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
16 	Carlos Pace 	Team Williams Motul 	 	711 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
17 	Graham Hill 	Motor Racing Developments Ltd. 	 	BT37 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
18 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	Motor Racing Developments Ltd. 	 	BT34 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
19 	Carlos Reutemann 	Motor Racing Developments Ltd. 	 	BT37 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
21 	Derek Bell 	Martini Racing 	 	PA123/3	 	Series-P F12 3.0	
22 	Nanni Galli 	Martini Racing 	 	PA123/3	 	Series-P F12 3.0	
23 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
24 	Peter Gethin 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
25 	Howden Ganley 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P160B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
26 	Vern Schuppan 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P153B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
27 	Helmut Marko 	Austria Marlboro BRM 	 	P153B 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
28 	Reine Wisell 	Marlboro BRM 	 	P153 	 	P142 V12 3.0 	
29 	Jacky Ickx 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
30 	Clay Regazzoni 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
31 	Mario Andretti 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC 	 	312B2 	 	001/1 F12 3.0 	
32 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	72D 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
33 	Dave Walker 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	72D 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
34 	Mike Hailwood 	Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees 	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
35 	Tim Schenken 	Team Surtees 	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
36 	Andrea de Adamich 	Ceramica Pagnossin Team Surtees	 	TS9B 	 	DFV V8 3.0 	
==Practice Overview==
==Qualifying==
===Qualifying Results===
Pos	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Lap 	Gap
1 	32 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	1:11.43	—
2 	30 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	1:11.58	+0.15
3 	9 	Denny Hulme 	 	1:11.80	+1.37
4 	29 	Jacky Ickx 	 	1:11.84	+0.41
5 	8 	François Cevert 	 	1:11.93	+0.50
6 	23 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	 	1:12.12	+0.69
7 	10 	Peter Revson 	 	1:12.19	+0.76
8 	34 	Mike Hailwood 	 	1:12.35	+0.92
9 	19 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	1:12.50	+1.07
10 	36 	Andrea de Adamich 	 	1:12.54	+1.11
11 	16 	Carlos Pace 	 	1:12.64	+1.21
12 	33 	Dave Walker 	 	1:12.76	+1.33
13 	5 	Chris Amon 	 	1:12.80	+1.37
14 	11 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	1:13.00	+1.57
15 	25 	Howden Ganley 	 	1:13.01	+1.58
16 	17 	Graham Hill 	 	1:13.10	+1.67
17 	24 	Peter Gethin 	 	1:13.15	+1.72
18 	18 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	 	1:13.20	+1.77
19 	15 	Henri Pescarolo 	 	1:13.40	+1.97
20 	6 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	1:13.43	+2.00
21 	35 	Tim Schenken 	 	1:13.60	+2.17
22 	14 	Mike Beuttler 	 	1:13.70	+2.27
23 	27 	Helmut Marko 	 	1:14.10	+2.67
24 	22 	Nanni Galli 	 	1:14.60	+3.17
25 	12 	Niki Lauda 	 	1:16.50	+5.07
DNQ	26 	Vern Schuppan 	 	No time	 
===Grid===
==Race==
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1 	32 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	85 	1:44:06.7 	1 	9
2 	3 	François Cevert 	 	85 	+26.6 	5 	6
3 	9 	Denny Hulme 	 	85 	+58.1 	3 	4
4 	34 	Mike Hailwood 	 	85 	+1:12.0 	8 	3
5 	16 	Carlos Pace 	 	84 	+1 Lap 	11 	2
6 	5 	Chris Amon 	 	84 	+1 Lap 	13 	1
7 	10 	Peter Revson 	 	83 	+2 Laps 	7 	 
8 	25 	Howden Ganley 	 	83 	+2 Laps 	15 	 
9 	11 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	83 	+2 Laps 	14 	 
10 	27 	Helmut Marko 	 	83 	+2 Laps 	23 	 
11 	6 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	83 	+2 Laps 	20 	 
12 	12 	Niki Lauda 	 	82 	+3 Laps 	25 	 
13 	19 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	81 	+4 Laps 	9 	 
14 	33 	Dave Walker 	 	79 	+6 Laps 	12 	 
Ret 	17 	Graham Hill 	 	74 	Suspension 	16 	 
NC 	15 	Henri Pescarolo 	 	59 	+26 Laps 	19 	 
Ret 	30 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	58 	Accident 	2 	 
Ret 	36 	Andrea de Adamich 	 	56 	Engine 	10 	 
Ret 	22 	Nanni Galli 	 	54 	Accident 	24 	 
Ret 	29 	Jacky Ickx 	 	48 	Engine 	4 	 
Ret 	14 	Mike Beuttler 	 	32 	Driveshaft 	22 	 
Ret 	18 	Wilson Fittipaldi 	 	29 	Gearbox 	18 	 
Ret 	24 	Peter Gethin 	 	28 	Fuel pump 	17 	 
Ret 	23 	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	 	16 	Overheating 	6 	 
Ret 	35 	Tim Schenken 	 	12 	Engine 	21 	 
==Milestones==
*First entry for Vern Schuppan, who did not start.
*First race for .
==Standings after race==
==References==
*
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:Belgian Grand Prix
Category:1972 Grands Prix
Category:Formula One races in Belgium