1973 World Championship of Drivers

The 1973 Formula One season was the 27th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-race series that commenced on 28 January and ended on 7 October. There were two new races for the 1973 season – the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos in São Paulo and the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp. The season also included two non-championship races which were open to both Formula One and Formula 5000 cars.

The World Championship of Drivers was won by Jackie Stewart and the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers was awarded to John Player Special. In the World Championship, John Player Team Lotus teammates Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson raced each other while Jackie Stewart was supported by François Cevert at Elf Team Tyrrell. Stewart took the Drivers' title, but then at the final race of the season, the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Cevert crashed during Saturday practice in the notorious 'Esses' and was killed instantly. Stewart and Tyrrell withdrew from the race, handing the Manufacturers title to Lotus. At the end of the season Stewart made public his decision to retire, a decision that had been made before the US Grand Prix. By the end of the 1973 season the best car on the track was probably the new McLaren M23, a wedge-shaped car following the same concept as the Lotus 72 but with more conventional suspension and up to date aerodynamics.

For the first time in Formula One's history, this season saw the intervention of a Safety Car in the form of a Porsche 914 at the Canadian Grand Prix. The sport, however, would officially introduce this safety concept only 20 years later during the 1993 season. Briton Roger Williamson died in a crash at the Dutch Grand Prix, which was his second Formula One race. Helmut Marko suffered a career-ending injury during the French Grand Prix when a stone thrown from Fittipaldi's Lotus penetrated his helmet visor and blinded him in the left eye.

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