Grand Prix de France 2 Juli 1972, Clermont-Ferrand

Ronnie Petersons 26:e start i Formel 1. Hos March har uppfinningsrikedomen inte tagit semester och Ronnie kommer till tävlingen i en F2 bil försedd med en F1 motor och med den nya beteckningen 721G. Träningen blir som vanligt problematisk och Ronnie lyckas endast prestera en 9:e bästa tid.

Snabbast under kvalet är Amon som står i "pole" före Hulme.

Efter start lyckas Ronnie hålla sin plats i fältet och kan så småningom avancera några placeringar. Som bäst är Ronnie uppe på en tredje plats, men en del i torsionsfjädringen lossnar baktill och med svår understyrning faller han tillbaka. Trots detta kan Ronnie köra i mål som femma, knappt en minut efter vinnaren Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell). Tvåa blir Emerson Fittipaldi i en Lotus före trean Chris Amon - som också presterar snabbaste varvtiden 2.53,9 i sin Matra. Loppet ser följande förare i ledning; Amon 1-19; Stewart 20-38.

Summary in english

As the Dutch Grand Prix was canceled because safety work had not been done, there had been a month-long break between the Belgian and French GPs. In that time there had been a rather curious Grand Prix of the Italian Republic at the Vallelunga circuit, in the hills outside Rome. Ferrari did not bother to compete and there were only seven cars in the race after Niki Lauda had a big crash in his BRM in practice. The race was won by Emerson Fittipaldi from the Surtees of Andrea de Adamich. and Nanni Galli third in the new Tecno.

The Clermont Ferrand track had been improved to meet the new safety standards and there was a big field with Jackie Stewart back in action after missing the Belgian GP because of a stomach ulcer. Tyrrell had a new 005 chassis but this was crashed early on by Francois Cevert. The team ran a third car for Elf protege Formula 3 driver Patrick Depailler. McLaren again ran Brian Redman in its second car as Peter Revson was busy in a USAC race in Pocono. With Mario Andretti also away and Clay Regazzoni having broken his arm playing football, Ferrari took on Tecno driver Nanni Galli for the weekend. The Tecno was therefore driven by Derek Bell.

Qualifying saw the latest version of the Matra on pole position in the hands of Chris Amon with Denny Hulme second for McLaren. The second row featured Stewart and Jacky Ickx (Ferrari), while Tim Schenken (Surtees) and Helmut Marko (BRM) caused some excitement by qualifying on row three head of Francois Cevert (Tyrrell) and Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus). Galli was disappointing in the Ferrari, qualifying only 19th while local hero Jean-Pierre Beltoise having to start at the back of the grid in Howden Ganley's car after his own broke down on Sunday morning.

Amon took the lead from Hulme and Stewart with Ickx and Marko chasing. In the opening varvs Fittipaldi moved ahead of Hailwood, Schenken and Marko to take fifth place. On the ninth varv Marko's race (and sadly his career) ended when a stone thrown up by Fittipaldi's car hit him in the left eye. He lost sight in that eye and never raced F1 again, but did help to develop the careers of many young Austrian drivers in the years that followed, notably Gerhard Berger. Peterson inherited sixth place, having overtaken Hailwood. Stewart overtook Hulme on varv 17 and then Amon had to pit because on a puncture, caused by the flying stones and so Stewart took the lead. Hulme stopped for new tires and dropped down the order, leaving Ickx in second place. The Ferrari than had a puncture and Ickx had to pit and so Fittipaldi moved to second place ahead of Peterson and Cevert. In the closing varvs Amon recovered, repassing Peterson (who had been overtaken by Cevert) and then Cevert himself to grab third place.

 

Sammanställning Grand Prix Frankrike Datum 2 Juli 1972 Bana Clermont-Ferrand Säsong 1972 Deltävling 6 Längd (km) 8.055 Varv 38 Tid 1:52:21.500

Placering Nr Förare Team Tid Grid 1 4 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 1:52:21.500 3 2 1 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus 27.700 8 3 9 Chris Amon Matra 31.900 1 4 7 François Cevert Tyrrell 49.300 7 5 12 Ronnie Peterson March 56.800 9 6 26 Mike Hailwood Surtees 96.100 10 7 2 Denny Hulme McLaren 108.100 2 8 19 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham 145.100 14 9 11 Brian Redman McLaren 175.500 13 10 18 Graham Hill Brabham 179.500 20 11 3 Jacky Ickx Ferrari +1 varv 4 12 20 Carlos Reutemann Brabham +1 varv 17 13 30 Nanni Galli Ferrari +1 varv 19 14 28 Andrea de Adamich Surtees +1 varv 12 15 5 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM +1 varv 24 16 10 Rolf Stommelen March +1 varv 15 17 27 Tim Schenken Surtees +2 varv 5 r 6 Dave Walker Lotus +4 varv 22 r 15 Mike Beuttler March +5 varv 23 nc 8 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell +5 varv 16 r 24 Reine Wisell BRM +13 varv 18 r 17 Carlos Pace March +20 varv 11 r 25 Helmut Marko BRM +30 varv 6 r 14 Niki Lauda March +34 varv 21 ns 16 Henri Pescarolo March     ns 23 Howden Ganley BRM     ns 22 Peter Gethin BRM     ns 21 Derek Bell Tecno     ns 29 Dave Charlton Lotus

NC=Not Classified NT=No time set in qualifying R=Retired EX=Excluded from meeting W=Withdrawn DQ=Disqualified NS=Did not start NQ=Did not qualify NPQ=Did not pre-qualify

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