The 1975 Italian Grand Prix was a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

motor race Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of ...

held at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Mo ...

on 7 September 1975. It was race 13 of 14 in both the 1975 World Championship of Drivers and the

1975 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers The 1975 Formula One season was the 29th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1975 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1975 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers which were contested concurrently from 12 January to 5 Oc ...

. It was the 45th

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921. In 2013 it ...

and the 41st to be held at Monza. The race held over 52 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a race distance of 300 kilometres. The race was won by Swiss driver

Clay Regazzoni Gianclaudio Giuseppe "Clay" Regazzoni (5 September 1939 – 15 December 2006) was a Swiss racing driver. He competed in Formula One races from 1970 to 1980, winning five Grands Prix. His first win was the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in his debu ...

in his

Ferrari 312T The Ferrari 312T was a Ferrari Formula One car design, based on the 312B3 from 1974. In various versions, it was used from 1975 until 1980. It was designed by Mauro Forghieri for the 1975 season, and was an uncomplicated and clean design tha ...

in a glorious day for

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in reference to their logo. ...

. It was Regazzoni's third win, Ferrari's fifth win for the season. Regazzoni took a sixteen-second win over the

McLaren M23 The McLaren M23 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Coppuck, with input from John Barnard, and built by the McLaren team. It was a development of the McLaren M16 Indianapolis 500 car. A Ford Cosworth DFV engine was used, which wa ...

of outgoing world champion, Brazilian driver

Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Moving up from Formula Two, Fittip ...

. Behind Fittipaldi was the second Ferrari of Austrian driver

Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.

Race summary

The Italian supporters were gathered in expectation of

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

gaining their first championship in 11 years-on home ground, with many

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

ns travelling over the border to support

and were delighted when Ferrari filled both spaces on the front row.

Tony Brise Anthony William Brise (28 March 1952 – 29 November 1975) was an English racing driver, who took part in ten Formula One Grand Prix events in 1975, before dying in a plane crash with Graham Hill. Early life Brise was born in Erith, Kent, t ...

delighted his boss

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

by gaining a third-row spot. Lauda only needed to finish better than 6th to be champion; The only other driver who was mathematically eligible for the championship, Argentine

Carlos Reutemann Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentine racing driver who raced in Formula One from to , and later became a politician in his native province of Santa Fe, for the Justicialist Party, and governor o ...

needed to win this race as well as the

United States Grand Prix The United States Grand Prix is a motor racing event that has been held on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The Grand Prix later became part of the Formula One World Championship. , the Grand Prix has been held ...

with Lauda out of the points in both races. On Sunday morning there was a cloudburst and for some time the future of the race was in jeopardy, but the rain dried up with about an hour to go before the start.

led from Lauda and

Jody Scheckter Jody David Scheckter (born 29 January 1950) is a South African business proprietor and former motor racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 1972 to 1980, winning the Drivers' Championship in with Ferrari. Scheckter remains the only Afri ...

Vittorio Brambilla Vittorio Brambilla (11 November 1937 – 26 May 2001) was a Formula One driver from Italy who raced for the March, Surtees and Alfa Romeo teams. Particularly adept at driving in wet conditions, his nickname was "The Monza Gorilla", due to h ...

's clutch burnt out on the first lap, whilst Bob Evans halted with a failed engine plug. There was a chaotic accident at the chicane-Scheckter had to take to the escape road as around him

Jochen Mass Jochen Richard Mass (born 30 September 1946) is a German former racing driver. Life and career Born in Dorfen, Bavaria 50 km (31 mi) from Munich, Mass participated in 114 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 Ju ...

hit the kerb, damaging his car's suspension.

Ronnie Peterson Bengt Ronnie Peterson (; 14 February 1944 – 11 September 1978) was a Swedish racing driver. Known by the nickname 'SuperSwede', he was a two-time runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. Peterson began his motor racing care ...

collided with another car, jamming his throttle open.

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, t ...

and

Rolf Stommelen Rolf Johann Stommelen (11 July 1943 – 24 April 1983) was a racing driver from Siegen, Germany. He participated in 63 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, achieving one podium, and scored a total of 14 championship points. He also particip ...

retired with accident damage and Brise spun across the chicane.

Harald Ertl Harald Ertl (31 August 1948 – 7 April 1982) was an Austrian racing driver and motorsport journalist. He was born in Zell am See and attended the same school as Grand Prix drivers Jochen Rindt, Helmut Marko and Niki Lauda. Ertl sported an 'Impe ...

soared over the top of

Hans-Joachim Stuck Hans-Joachim Stuck (born 1 January 1951), nicknamed "Strietzel", is a German racing driver who has competed in Formula One and many other categories. He is the son of pre-WW2 racing driver Hans Stuck Life and career He was born in Garmisch-Pa ...

's car, damaging the uprights. After six laps,

Carlos Pace José Carlos Pace (October 6, 1944 – March 18, 1977) was a racing driver from Brazil. He participated in 73 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting at the 1972 South African Grand Prix. He won one race, achieved six podiums, a ...

retired with a broken throttle link, soon joined by

and

Lella Lombardi Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi (26 March 1941 – 3 March 1992) was an Italian racing driver who participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. Lombardi is one of two female drivers to qualify for Formula One and is the only female ...

. The Ferraris were circulating 1–2 with

leading majestically from

. On lap 14,

passed

for third place, and Reutemann's involvement in the championship was effectively over; he finished 4th in the race. Despite the Ferraris being way ahead, Fittipaldi would not give up the chase, carving down a gap of over ten seconds. With just six laps left, he managed to pass Lauda. Meanwhile,

Patrick Depailler Patrick André Eugène Joseph Depailler (; 9 August 1944 – 1 August 1980) was a racing driver from France. He participated in 95 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 2 July 1972. He also participated in several non-champi ...

had taken

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) ''Autocourse Grand Prix Archive'', 14 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in ...

for fifth only to spin off down the escape road. Hunt,

Tom Pryce Thomas Maldwyn Pryce (11 June 1949 – 5 March 1977) was a British racing driver from Wales known for winning the Brands Hatch Race of Champions, a non-championship Formula One race, in 1975 and for the circumstances surrounding his death ...

and Reutemann were duelling, Pryce taking the place when Hunt spun off on lap 27—but ceding it to him after a further ten laps.

was a lap down, but drove so well that Pryce could not overtake him. Regazzoni took the flag, Fittapaldi was second, Lauda was third and it was enough for Lauda to secure his first world championship. Lauda's 16.5 point lead would be too much for Fittipaldi to bridge at the final round of the championship at the

. With Regazzoni and Lauda scoring 13 points between them, Ferrari also secured the International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers, their first such win since

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

. Ferrari won the championship for the first time since

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

in front of their home crowd.

Race classification

Championship standings after the race

*Bold indicates world champions. ;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings *Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 6 results from the first 7 races and the best 6 results from the last 7 races counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

{{F1GP 70-79

Italian Grand Prix

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...