The 1974 South African Grand Prix (formally the XX Lucky Strike Grand Prix of South Africa) was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 30 March 1974. It was race 3 of 15 in both the 1974 World Championship of Drivers and the 1974 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. This was Carlos Reutemann's first win, the first for an Argentinian driver since Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1957 German Grand Prix, and Brabham's first since the 1970 South African Grand Prix.
Pre race notes, practice, and qualifying It was initially uncertain that the South African Grand Prix would go ahead due to the 1973 oil crisis, but it did so, albeit at the end of March rather than at the start of the month. Lotus stunned the paddock with an innovative car which used four pedals and an electric clutch.
However, practice was overshadowed by an accident which killed Peter Revson. While driving his Shadow-Ford in a test session before the race, Revson suffered a front suspension failure on the outside of Barbecue Bend and crashed heavily into the Armco barrier, the car bursting into flames. Revson died instantly, and the Shadow team withdrew from the race. Niki Lauda took pole by a fraction of a second from Carlos Pace.
Race summary The two Lotus cars of Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx tangled shortly after the start with the incident also involving Jochen Mass and Henri Pescarolo whilst Tom Belsø's race lasted no more than a few hundred yards due to clutch failure. Lauda led a train of cars consisting of Carlos Reutemann, Clay Regazzoni, Jody Scheckter and James Hunt, whose Hesketh was suffering vibration problems.
Mike Hailwood caught and passed Scheckter when he missed a gear, and then passed Reutemann on lap 9. On lap 75, nearly at the finish, Lauda was forced to retire with ignition problems and low oil pressure, handing the lead to Reutemann. Jean-Pierre Beltoise fought his way up through the field to 2nd, holding off a determined challenge from Hailwood who took the final podium place. Beltoise's 2nd place would turn out to be the last podium finish for a BRM.
Classification Qualifying Pos. Driver Constructor Time/Gap 1 Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:16.58 2 Carlos Pace Surtees–Ford +0.05 3 Arturo Merzario FWRC–Ford +0.21 4 Carlos Reutemann Brabham–Ford +0.22 5 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren–Ford +0.24 6 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari +0.27 7 Hans-Joachim Stuck March–Ford +0.40 8 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell–Ford +0.41 9 Denny Hulme McLaren–Ford +0.53 10 Jacky Ickx Lotus–Ford +0.60 11 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM +0.76 12 Mike Hailwood McLaren–Ford +0.76 13 James Hunt Hesketh–Ford +0.83 14 John Watson Brabham–Ford +1.03 15 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell–Ford +1.17 16 Ronnie Peterson Lotus–Ford +1.42 17 Jochen Mass Surtees–Ford +1.65 18 Graham Hill Lola–Ford +1.67 19 Vittorio Brambilla March–Ford +1.71 20 David Charlton McLaren–Ford +1.79 21 Henri Pescarolo BRM +1.81 22 Ian Scheckter Lotus–Ford +1.98 23 Richard Robarts Brabham–Ford +2.02 24 Eddie Keizan Tyrrell–Ford +2.42 25 François Migault BRM +2.56 26 Paddy Driver Lotus–Ford +2.91 27 Tom Belsø FWRC–Ford +3.22 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 78 1:42:40.96 4 9 2 14 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM 78 + 33.94 11 6 3 33 Mike Hailwood McLaren-Ford 78 + 42.16 12 4 4 4 Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 78 + 44.19 15 3 5 9 Hans Joachim Stuck March-Ford 78 + 46.23 7 2 6 20 Arturo Merzario Iso-Marlboro-Ford 78 + 56.04 3 1 7 5 Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Ford 78 + 1:08.39 5 8 3 Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Ford 78 + 1:10.54 8 9 6 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 9 10 10 Vittorio Brambilla March-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 19 11 18 Carlos Pace Surtees-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 2 12 26 Graham Hill Lola-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 18 13 29 Ian Scheckter Lotus-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 22 14 32 Eddie Keizan Tyrrell-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 24 15 37 François Migault BRM 75 + 3 Laps 25 16 12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 74 Ignition 1 17 8 Richard Robarts Brabham-Ford 74 + 4 Laps 23 18 15 Henri Pescarolo BRM 72 + 6 Laps 21 19 23 Dave Charlton McLaren-Ford 71 + 7 Laps 20 11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 65 Oil Pressure 6 28 John Watson Brabham-Ford 54 Fuel System 13 2 Jacky Ickx Lotus-Ford 31 Brakes 10 24 James Hunt Hesketh-Ford 13 Transmission 14 19 Jochen Mass Surtees-Ford 11 Suspension 17 30 Paddy Driver Lotus-Ford 6 Clutch 26 1 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Ford 2 Collision 16 21 Tom Belsø Iso-Marlboro-Ford 0 Clutch 27 16 Peter Revson Shadow-Ford Fatal Accident 17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Ford Entry Withdrawn 22 Rikky von Opel Ensign-Ford 25 John McNicol Lotus-Ford 27 Guy Edwards Lola-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Italian driver Vittorio Brambilla and South African driver Ian Scheckter. This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British constructor Hesketh.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Clay Regazzoni 10 9 2 Carlos Reutemann 9 1 3 Emerson Fittipaldi 9 1 4 Denny Hulme 9 5 Mike Hailwood 9Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Ford 22 2 Ferrari 12 4 3 Brabham-Ford 9 1 4 BRM 8 2 5 Lotus-Ford 4Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References