1975 Dutch Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 8 of 14 in the 1975 Formula One season | |||
 |
|||
| Date | June 22, 1975 | ||
| Location | Zandvoort | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.252 km (2.642 mi) | ||
| Distance | 75 laps, 318.9 km (198.15 mi) | ||
| Weather | Wet, drying later | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:20.29 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Niki Lauda
|
Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:21.54 on lap 55 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Hesketh-Ford | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
The 1975 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Zandvoort on 22 June 1975. It was the 24th Dutch Grand Prix. It was held over 75 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 318 kilometres.
The race is memorable for one of the greatest underdog victories in Formula One. British driver and future world champion James Hunt won his first Formula One Grand Prix, giving small privateer operation Hesketh Racing the highlight of its six-year history with its first and only Grand Prix win. Hunt drove his Hesketh 308 to a one-second win over the Ferrari 312T of the World Championship points leader, Austrian driver Niki Lauda. Third was taken by Lauda's Ferrari team mate, Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni.
Niki Lauda dominated practice, with teammate Clay Regazzoni joining him on the front row. Jean-Pierre Jarier had a crash and the Maki team's weekend ended abruptly in a cloud of smoke from engine problems. James Hunt had a storming practice to take third place on the grid. On Saturday afternoon, weather conditions meant practice times would not improve, so Hunt was sent out to get some extra testing – during which something in the metering unit broke. This was fortunate as the Dutch Grand Prix did not have Sunday morning practice, so had it not been for those extra laps, the mechanical problems would have occurred during the race itself.
The race was delayed by rainstorms as the teams persuaded the organizers to let them run on wet tyres. Lauda led from Jody Scheckter whilst Vittorio Brambilla and Patrick Depailler collided. Jochen Mass was having metering unit troubles and Jacky Ickx exploded his engine. Meanwhile, Hunt had changed onto dry tyres and was gaining time rapidly on the drying surface to take the lead from Jarier and Lauda by lap 15. The Austrian championship leader was finding overtaking a very difficult prospect indeed. Emerson Fittipaldi dropped out with engine problems whilst John Watson broke a wing support and Carlos Reutemann got past Tom Pryce who was suffering from brake problems.
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