Monaco GP 1972

Monaco GP, 1972

The F1 field was much as it had been at Jarama a fortnight earlier (where Emerson Fittipaldi had won for Lotus). Mario Andretti was missing from the Ferrari lineup being busy at Indianapolis and Carlos Reutemann was still out of action because of his broken ankle and so Wilson Fittipaldi was again in action from Brabham. Peter Revson was also busy at Indy and so Brian Redman was in the second McLaren.

There had been changes to the Monaco circuit with the pits moving to the waterfront by the chicane and the track going straight down from the tunnel to a new chicane nearer Tabac. Under pressure from the teams the Automobile Club of Monaco agreed that 25 cars could start.

Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus) took pole from Jacky Ickx (Ferrari). The second row featured Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) and Jean-Pierre Beltoise (BRM) and Peter Gethin (BRM and Chris Amon (Matra) shared row three. Completing the top 10 were Denny Hulme (McLaren), Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell), Henri Pescarolo (in a Williams March) and Redman.

It rained throughout Saturday and on Sunday morning the weather was still bad. At the start Beltoise made a great start to grab the lead from Regazzoni while the front row men were third and fourth. Then came Ickx, Stewart and the rest.

The conditions were terrible and so the leader had a big advantage and he was able to pull away quickly. On the fifth lap he was helped when Regazzoni went up the escape road at the chicane, taking Fittipaldi and Ickx with him. By the time they were all back on track Ickx was ahead of Regazzoni and Fittipaldi. Beltoise was having the race of his life and even Ickx could not make any impression. Further back a lot of drivers made mistakes and hit the barriers but Beltoise kept going to win his first (and only) Grand Prix victory. Ickx finished second while Regazzoni fell behind Stewart (who had worked his way past Amon and Fittipaldi) in the mid-race. The Tyrrell driver then spun and so Regazzoni went back ahead. The Swiss driver then spun on some oil and hit the barriers and so Stewart held third, despite a misfire, until the closing laps when Fittipaldi overtook him to take the final place on the podium. Redman finished fifth after working his way up through the field.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
17 Jean-Pierre Beltoise BRM P160B 80 2h26m54.700s  
Jacky Ickx Ferrari 312B2 80 2h27m32.900s  
Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 72D 79  
Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Cosworth 004 78  
15 Brian Redman McLaren-Cosworth M19A 77  10 
16 Chris Amon Matra Simca-Matra MS120C 77  
12 Andrea de Adamich Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 77  18 
26 Helmut Marko BRM P153B 77  17 
21 Wilson Fittipaldi Brabham-Cosworth BT33 77  21 
10 27 Rolf Stommelen Eifelland March-Cosworth 721 77  25 
11 Ronnie Peterson March-Cosworth 721X 76  15 
12 20 Graham Hill Brabham-Cosworth BT37 76  19 
13 Mike Beuttler March-Cosworth 721G 76  23 
14 David Walker Lotus-Cosworth 72D 75  14 
15 14 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M19C 74  
16 Niki Lauda March-Cosworth 721X 74  22 
17 23 Carlos Pace March-Cosworth 711 72  24 
nc Francois Cevert Tyrrell-Cosworth 002 70  12 
22 Henri Pescarolo March-Cosworth 721 58 Accident 
Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B2 51 Accident 
11 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 48 Accident 11 
19 Howden Ganley BRM P180 47 Accident 20 
10 Tim Schenken Surtees-Cosworth TS9B 31 Accident 13 
dq 18 Peter Gethin BRM P160B 27 Accident/ Reversed Into Pits 
28 Reine Wisell BRM P160B 16 Engine 16