The 1972 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nivelles on 4 June 1972. It was race 5 of 12 in both the 1972 World Championship of Drivers and the 1972 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 85-lap race was won by Lotus driver Emerson Fittipaldi after he started from pole position. François Cevert finished second for the Tyrrell team and McLaren driver Denny Hulme came in third.
Reigning World Champion Jackie Stewart was a notable absence – his gruelling schedule of racing in Formula 1, Can-Am and European touring cars, plus promotional events for Tyrrell sponsors Elf and Ford, as well as 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.
Qualifying Qualifying for the 1972 Belgian Grand Prix at the new Nivelles circuit was dominated by Emerson Fittipaldi in the Lotus 72, who set the fastest time and looked clearly superior to the rest of the field, with Clay Regazzoni’s Ferrari and Denny Hulme’s McLaren closest behind and Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jackie Ickx also competitive.
Qualifying classification Pos.NoDriverConstructorTimeGap132 Emerson FittipaldiLotus-Ford1:11.43230 Clay RegazzoniFerrari1:11.58 +0.1539 Denny HulmeMcLaren-Ford1:11.80 +0.37429 Jacky IckxFerrari1:11.84 +0.4158 François CevertTyrrell-Ford1:11.93 +0.50623 Jean-Pierre BeltoiseBRM1:12.12 +0.69710 Peter RevsonMcLaren-Ford1:12.19 +0.76834 Mike HailwoodSurtees-Ford1:12.35 +0.92919 Carlos ReutemannBrabham–Ford1:12.50 +1.071036 Andrea de AdamichSurtees-Ford1:12.54 +1.111116 Carlos PaceMarch-Ford1:12.64 +1.211233 David WalkerLotus-Ford1:12.76 +1.33135 Chris AmonMatra1:12.80 +1.371411 Ronnie PetersonMarch-Ford1:13.00 +1.571525 Howden GanleyBRM1:13.01 +1.581617 Graham HillBrabham-Ford1:13.10 +1.671724 Peter GethinBRM1:13.15 +1.721818 Wilson FittipaldiBrabham-Ford1:13.20 +1.771915 Henri PescaroloMarch-Ford1:13.40 +1.97206 Rolf StommelenEifelland-Ford1:13.43 +2.002135 Tim SchenkenSurtees-Ford1:13.60 +2.172214 Mike BeuttlerMarch-Ford1:13.70 +2.272327 Helmut MarkoBRM1:14.10 +2.672422 Nanni GalliTecno1:14.60 +3.172512 Niki LaudaMarch-Ford1:16.50 +5.072626 Vern SchuppanBRM1:16.90 +5.47
Race In the race Regazzoni led initially, but Fittipaldi passed him on lap nine and then drove away in complete control to a comfortable victory, confirming his advantage shown in practice. François Cevert finished a strong second for Tyrrell and Hulme took third for McLaren, while the rest of the field was spread out by mechanical problems and attrition, making Fittipaldi’s performance the outstanding feature of both qualifying and the race.
Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 32 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 85 1:44:07.3 1 9 2 8 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 85 + 26.6 5 6 3 9 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 85 + 58.1 3 4 4 34 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 85 + 1:12.0 8 3 5 16 Carlos Pace March-Ford 84 + 1 Lap 11 2 6 5 Chris Amon Matra 84 + 1 Lap 13 1 7 10 Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 83 + 2 Laps 7 8 25 Howden Ganley BRM 83 + 2 Laps 15 9 11 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 83 + 2 Laps 14 10 27 Helmut Marko BRM 83 + 2 Laps 23 11 6 Rolf Stommelen Eifelland-Ford 83 + 2 Laps 20 12 12 Niki Lauda March-Ford 82 + 3 Laps 25 13 19 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 81 + 4 Laps 9 14 33 Dave Walker Lotus-Ford 79 + 6 Laps 12 17 Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 73 Suspension 16 15 Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 59 + 26 Laps 19 30 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 57 Accident 2 36 Andrea de Adamich Surtees-Ford 55 Engine 10 22 Nanni Galli Tecno 54 Accident 24 29 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 47 Injection 4 14 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 31 Halfshaft 22 18 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Ford 28 Gearbox 18 24 Peter Gethin BRM 27 Fuel Pump 17 23 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 15 Overheating 6 35 Tim Schenken Surtees-Ford 11 Overheating 21 26 Vern Schuppan BRM Driven by Marko
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Australian driver Vern Schuppan. This was the 200th Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in which a British driver participated. Of those 200 races, British drivers won 93 Grands Prix, achieved 208 podium finishes, 93 pole positions, 90 fastest laps, 25 Grand Slams and won 8 Driver's World Championships. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Italian engine supplier Tecno.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Emerson Fittipaldi 28 1 2 Denny Hulme 19 1 3 Jacky Ickx 16 4 Jackie Stewart 12 5 Jean-Pierre Beltoise 9Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 28 2 McLaren-Ford 23 3 Ferrari 19 4 Tyrrell-Ford 18 5 BRM 9Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References