.png "os2 trasparenza (1)")
If anyone has doubts about the popularity of Grand Prix racing they should visit the Austrian Grand Prix, for even though the Osterreichring has only had three Grand Prix races there, it has built up a far-reaching reputation. No-one will ever forget the 1970 event when Ferrari finished first and second, and B.R.M. enthusiasts will not forget 1971 when Siffert led from start to finish, while enthusiasts for youth will remember the smooth and competent performance put up by Emerson Fittipaldi last year. The Austrian organisers started off on the right foot by building their new circuit in beautiful mountain surroundings which encouraged spectators to have an open-air camping weekend, and they followed this up by increasing and improving the facilities each year, and with the backing of the government tobacco company called Memphis, the build-up to this year’s event lacked nothing. People will come from Yugoslavia, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Great Britain, to form one of the greatest crowds ever seen in Austria. There will be an estimated 50.000 for practice and race day estimates varied from 100.000 to 130.000 and it will be certainly the biggest crowd seen at the Osterreichring, and they will have everything going for them; glorious weather, perfect camping conditions, fairs, markets, beer halls, music, supporting races, parades, flying displays, and as the piece-de-resistance the Austrian Grand Prix for nearly 1½ hours. It was a veritable summer-fest with activity nearly all the week leading up to the short, sharp Grand Prix. The McLaren team and the Hesketh team took the opportunity to do some unofficial practice and testing before the official periods begin on Friday afternoon so that it is no surprise that they should set the pace when lappery becomes timed officially. The Hesketh March has been finely tuned aerodynamically in search of maximum speed at the expense of lower cornering power on some corners which are considered to be less important and James Hunt is putting the theories to the test with good results. The revamped Ferrari driven by Merzario does not go far before the engine went sick and it is immediately returned to the paddock and torn apart in order to install a new engine. Not far away the Goral Tecno is strewn all over the place in the throes of an engine change, having arrived directly from a test session at Goodwood, so Amon is driving the earlier car in the meantime. In the B.R.M. pits Lauda have discovered very quickly that his damaged wrist, sustained in the German Grand Prix, was not going to let him race, so his car is put aside as a spare, which is just as well for Regazzoni’s engine blew up. A few days before the Austrian Grand Prix, Niki Lauda's cousin, Eugen (nicknamed Jenzy), received a call in the office provided by the Austrian driver in Salzburg:
"Ferrari called".
Lauda replied:
"Ah, yes, I answered, and did he also say that now he's kicking everyone out and taking the great Lauda?"
But Jenzy was too excited to joke. It had become a fixed ritual that Niki Lauda, upon entering the office, would ask:
"Has Enzo called yet?"
And Jenzy would usually respond with some nonsense:
"Not today, not yet".
Or something like that. Of course, Lauda didn't really expect Enzo Ferrari to be calling; it was just an abstract joke. So, he took it as just another variation of their old game. But Jenzy insisted:
"Someone named Monte… had called and requested discretion and an appointment".
The name turned out to be Montezemolo, the sports director of Ferrari: young, tall, elegant, cultured, a lawyer, a collateral descendant of the Agnelli dynasty. He had just begun his career at Fiat, and it was clear that he would rise to the top. However, he didn't let it go to his head, which naturally made dealing with him easier. The two later met in London. Montezemolo told Lauda that he was carrying an offer from the Commendatore and asked how much he would want as compensation. Lauda proposed the sum of 1.000.000 shillings per year. There were no other difficulties except for the translation of this amount into lire; they made a lot of confusion in the calculation. However, Lauda and Montezemolo agreed to meet after the Austrian Grand Prix. Both McLaren drivers have a go in the spare M23, as well as in their own cars and they are setting the pace in this first part of practice, with Hulme fastest and Revson third fastest, the irrepressible Hunt being between them until his engine broke, which put a stop to his practice for the day. After a short break practice continues until 4:00 p.m. for a total of nearly three hours and in the second part the Lotus boys begin to come into the picture. A sign that Peterson was beginning to get into the groove was seen when he came into the pits with his right rear tyre fizzing and bubbling and covered in blisters. At the other end of the pits Pace is in with a flat rear tyre on his Surtees, not due to heat and speed, but due to a manufacturing fault on the Melmag wheel, the bead-shoulder being low on diameter so that the tyre did not sit down properly. It is not the first one to be discovered, a poor reflection on the standards of Formula 1 Construction that no-one had an inspection department to check outside manufacture. While the Lotus team were beginning to get down to business, the Tyrrell team were a long way off, and Stewart seem to be more concerne with counting the number of photographers round the circuit than concentrating on his driving, while Cevert's training ends due to a brake problem.. This time the problem was an unusual one in that a rear disc broke. After the pedals on 005 had been reset for the tall Frenchman, having been set up for the Wee Scot, Cevert continued his practice in the spare car, but the very high speed Austrian circuit was too much for him to shine brightly, added to which none of the Tyrrells seemed particularly well balanced to the high-speed swerves and swoops.
In the Brabham team Wilson Fittipaldi’s car will not run properly so he takes the spare car, which has Stommelen’s number on it, and with Regazzoni in Lauda’s B.R.M. and both McLaren drivers using the spare M23 there could have been a lot of confusion, but the time-keepers coped admirably. Stommelen is number 9, Fittipaldi number 9T, Regazzoni number 19 and also in 21T, while number 35 is the spare McLaren no matter whether Hulme or Revson is driving it. The day ends with Peterson out in front, closely followed by Hulme and Revson, and the official lap record has long since been improved upon. The Formula One record was set up last year by Hulme with 1'38"32, although fastest time in practice had been Emerson Fittipaldi’s 1'35"97. In the 1000 Kilometre sports car race earlier this year, Cevert set up a new circuit lap record of 1'38"30 in a Matra-Simca sports car, and now Peterson is down to 1'35"37. On Saturday, with the weather getting hotter and hotter, the crowds getting larger and larger, and the beer halls getting noisier and noisier, it all begins again, with most people ready once more. Hunt has another engine in the Hesketh March, the Tecno chaps have finally got the new engine to fit into the Goral chassis, Cevert’s car is repaired, Regazzoni’s B.R.M. has another engine installed, the Firestone tyre people are muttering about Melmag wheels, the Goodyear tyre people are trying to pretend that they did not have any special short-life qualifying tyres, the Csi and the GPDA are getting up-tight about the social scene in the pits and shortly after midday the circus was in full swing. Since the Zandvoort accident, when certain drivers thought certain drivers went too fast through the smoke and past the rescue vehicles, the Csi, the GPDA and the F1 Constructors got together and dreamed up a Pace car control system, and during the first part of practice this was given a dry-run. Between the fun and games, which included a brief protest meeting by journalists and photographers when they were banned from the pit lane, Team Lotus got down to some serious trying, using all their own tweaks and those of Goodyear tyres as well. The result is that by the end of the three-hour session, with its half-hour break, Fittipaldi has scored the first lap at under 1'35"0 with a time of 1'34"98, a speed of 224.04 km/h and he is alone in the class. Stewart tried too hard, too soon on the special sticky Goodyear tyres and returned to the pits with the left rear one flailing great strips of rubber. The McLaren team are still hard on the heels of Team Lotus and the lone Ferrari is well placed, Merzario having made a very respectable time with it on the first day of practice.
Bearing in mind that he is not an outstanding driver and like Cevert, does not particularly like the high-speed Austrian circuit, it looks as though the re-vamped Ferrari 312B3 is going to be competitive, and one wonders what lckx was thinking about it all while he was away on holiday. The new Tecno is running too hot and the old one had broken its engine, while Hailwood seems to spend most of his time being towed in by the course car, his fuel system going on the blink continuously. His team-mate is much better off and is up with the fast runners, alongside Stewart on the fourth row of the grid. The Williams' cars are vying with Graham Hill’s Shadow for the back of the grid, and as practice ends Ganley’s engine blows up and spreads mess all along the finishing straight. On Sunday, August 19, 1973, the circuit is packed out and those Formula One Teams who still were not ready or felt they had not done enough practice, have an extra untimed session. Lotus are confident and spend the time on detail preparation and inspection, and Regazzoni’s B.R.M. is having its engine changed yet again. Having achieved last position and two from last position on the grid with the two Tecnos, Amon felt he had better things to do and went off home. The jollifications, parades, and supporting races keep the spectators entertained from dawn until 3:00 p.m. when the serious business of the Austrian Grand Prix is due to start, and be run over 54 laps of the circuit. The heat is terrific and as the cars line up on the dummy-grid drivers and cars are covered with every form of protection front sunshades to tarpaulins. The field was held on the dummy-grid for an awful long time before the signal was given that all was ready. The crowd of team managers, mechanics, friends, press, hangers-on and officials finally leave the hot track as engines are started and the twenty-three cars move forward to the starting grid led by the black and gold Lotus 72s of Fittipaldi and Peterson. As the flag drops Peterson makes a superb start, with Hulme tucked in behind him, followed by Fittipaldi and Merzario. In the midst of it all Revson can be seen almost stationary with his arm extended upwards front the cockpit. His clutch has given up and the Mcl.aren creeps along the front of the pit wall and expires, baulking those immediately behind him as it went. In the dust and confusion Cevert baulks Beuttler, who had to lift off and Hailwood hits the yellow March in the rear and breaks the oil cooler. As Beuttler goes up the hill he leaves a stream of oil behind him, and retires before he had even had a chance to go racing. With the leader not yet half-way round the first lap two cars have retired, which is not a good start to the proceedings.
Swooping and diving round the undulating circuit Peterson leads the field on the opening lap, closely followed by Hulme, who looks to be in a belligerent mood; they are followed by Fittipaldi E, Merzario (having a moment of glory in fourth place), Stewart, Reutemann, Pace, Cevert and Hunt, all good runners and going well. Hulme has split the Lotus team and there is not much they can do about it, though the rest of the field are trying to get themselves sorted out. On lap 4 Stewart forces his Tyrrell past the Ferrari into fourth place, but already the leading trio were getting out of sight. At the end of the third lap Hunt arrives slowly at the pits with a control rod to the fuel metering unit broken and his race is ended, while on lap 6 Cevert ends his own race by misjudging the moment to pass Merzario’s Ferrari and the two cars bang wheels together, the blue car suffering a bent front wishbone, while the red one went on its way unharmed. Cevert roars into the pits at an absurd speed, but he doesn’t roar out again, his race is finished. Almost unnoticed Follmer drifts into the pits the Cosworth V8 engine in his Shadow misfiring, and two laps later, Oliver joins him with the second works Shadow. At seven laps things look a bit stable, with Hulme still close behind Peterson and Fittipaldi watching them from a little way off. Then comes Stewart on his own, unable to match the pace of the leaders, and then come Reutemann, Merzario, Pace, Jarier, Beltoise, Wilson Fittipaldi, and Regazzoni all within sight and sound of one another. Ganley is circulating on his own, with Hailwood next along and then Hill leading the tail enders, comprising Stommelen, von Opel, van Lennep and the two black Shadows when they could be persuaded to run. Already the pace is below the old lap record, which is no surprise, but it is nothing like as fast as practice had been. Peterson was clocked at 1'37"39, with Hulme still on his tail and looking like having a go to get by. However, on lap 12 the McLaren goes up the hill past the pits sounding less crisp than usual and next time round it is not only on seven cylinders but Fittipaldi has got by into second place. While this is going on at the front of the race, in mid-field Merzario has lost another place as Jarier forces the works March past the Ferrari, and Hailwood is heading slowly for the pits with a flat left front tyre, (another duff Melmag wheel). Peterson ends lap 13 comfortably in the lead, followed by Fittipaldi in the second Lotus, then comes Stewart’s blue Tyrrell and Hulme is charging into the pits, everyone except van Lennep going by while the McLaren mechanics look at the engine and find a plug lead had come adrift down in the deep plug recess of the Cosworth engine.
It is clipped back on and Hulme takes off in a cloud of dust and wheelspin smoke, now in fifteenth position. With the threat of Hulme gone and with Stewart barely keeping pace the two John Player sponsored Lotus cars have things all their own way and Peterson eases up and lets Fittipaldi join him. Their pre-race instructions had been to play it by ear and see what the situation was, it being agreed that it would be to everyone’s benefit if Fittipaldi could win, as it would give him a chance of winning the points rat-race for the World Championship title. No matter which car wins, the team will benefit in the Manufacturers Championship. In complete command of the race Peterson waves Fittipaldi by into the lead on lap 17 and the two Lotus 72s circulate nose to tail, completely untroubled by any opposition. Behind Stewart there is a stir up as Pace got by Reutemann and draws away from the works Brabham. On lap 18 as Hulme is preparing to pass the tail enders his engine goes on to seven cylinders again and he is back into the pits; once again the faulty plug clip is pressed back on, and he is out again without losing a place. With less than half-distance covered the race as such was all over and the more disinterested spectators begin to head off for the car parks, a long crocodile of people streaming down the hillsides. The pits are kept busy by Ganley whose engine would not work properly, Stornmelen whose Brabham had a seized front wheel bearing and Hulme who came in yet again on seven cylinders. This time the McLaren mechanics get really tough with the faulty plug clip and graunch it into place for ever more. Surprisingly the B.R.M. pits are all peace and quiet, both cars running faultlessly, if not very fast, but the Embassy pit receive Graham Hill with the information that the Shadow felt funny. This is not surprising as the right-hand radius rod of the rear suspension was pushing its way into the monocoque. It is said that after the first incident the mounting had been strenghened, but only on the left side. Wilson Fittipaldi visits the pits as his engine will not run properly and Hailwood comes in with a fuel leak under the car. Oliver had already retired with a fuel leak and Follmer had gone out with trouble in his Hewland final drive. The Ensign disappears quietly with a lack of fuel pressure for the injection system and Jarier retires the works March with a recalcitrant Cosworth engine and a troublesome Hewland gearbox.
Round and round goes the triumphant Lotus team, with Stewart settled in third place, but not very secure for Pace is going faster and faster as the race wears on. At 43 laps he is seven seconds behind the Tyrrell and by 48 laps he is barely four seconds behind and has notched up a new lap record. While this wakes everyone up from the heat torpor a black and gold car is seen to slow right up in the dip in the centre of the circuit. It is Fittipaldi’s car, and the engine has died. Peterson ends lap 49 on his own, his team-mate stranded by the trackside. The rubber petrol pipe feeding the fuel metering unit down in the vee of the Cosworth engine had come adrift from its union and there is no easy way of putting it back on. Peterson cruises home to a lonely victory while the drama of Stewart and Pace fizzles out about as undramatically for the Surtees car pops and bangs on lap 52 as the fuel system fails to work properly and the pressure for the injection System falls. Poor Pace limps along in third place, with Reutemann closing on him fast, but the Surtees completes the race a few yards ahead of the Brabham. They are followed home by the B.R.M.s of Beitoise and Regazzoni, with Merzario a lap behind in the Ferrari, followed by an unhappy Hulme, whose day is completed by the rear aerofoil mounting breaking during his last lap. The Austrian Grand Prix won by the Swede Ronnie Peterson at the wheel of the Lotus on the Osterreich circuit saw Jackie Stewart make another leap forward in the World Championship standings and virtually 90% secure the title with only three races to go in 1973. The Scotsman of Tyrrell had a good dose of luck on his side this time, which translated in practical terms into the retirement of his main rival, World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi, who after dominating practice and much of the race in his Lotus was forced to retire just five laps from the end due to damage to a power cable. Stewart, however, who started in a condition of clear psychological inferiority to Fittipaldi after the Brazilian's magnificent performance in practice, set his race according to the most logical tactic, that of waiting, which in the long run allowed him to finish the race with a result that perhaps went well beyond his hopes. Now, in the World Championship standings, Stewart has taken his points tally to 66 points against the 45 points of his team-mate, François Cevert, who was also forced to retire, and the 42 points of Emerson Fittipaldi, who sees any remaining hope of retaining the title practically vanish.
In the three races still to come, it should not be difficult for Stewart, barring the worst of bad luck, to control the situation. Only a miracle in fact could allow Fittipaldi to engage the Scot again: this is also confirmed by the Lotus driver, who appeals to bad luck.
"It's over for me this year. It will certainly not be Cevert who will put a spoke in Stewart's wheels and the title is now awarded. It's a pity because my car was going very well: all of a sudden, however, the petrol stopped flowing to the engine, blocking me completely".
Even Stewart, who before the race had entered into controversy with the organisers over track conditions, seems confident in the final result:
"Driving the Tyrrell was a hard task, because it did not hold the road very well. My goal, however, was to finish with a good placing. I managed to achieve it and I can say that I am on the threshold of the title".
Arturo Merzario in the Ferrari 312-B3 finished seventh, giving him hope for the Italian Grand Prix to be held on Sunday 9 September 1973. After a brilliant start, which brought him up to fourth position, the Italian driver had to slow down due to a progressive drop in the car's power:
"The test of the B3 remains incomplete because, excluding the first three laps, I never had the chance to force the car to its limits. For Monza, however, we have a good amount of time to make other modifications and to face the race in the best conditions".
Austrian Grand Prix winner Ronnie Peterson concluded at the end of the race:
"It finally went well, after so much bad luck that accompanied me in previous races. However, I would have been equally happy if Emerson had won. I feel sorry for him. He practically had victory in the bag".
Before the start of the race, a dispute again arose between the press representatives and the organisational management. Whereas on Saturday evening, after the rehearsals, it had been agreed to allow free movement to 50 journalists from the international press, marked by name on a precise list, and 50 journalists from Austria, the Csi reverted to its previous decision: no free movement permit for the journalists, who therefore remained in their assigned pits. All protests were in vain. For the next round, it was decided to allow a maximum of 135 journalists to watch the race.