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"In this title I believe and hope. I would like it for Ferrari, for the team, for all the guys but also for me, because I would have really earned it. We worked so hard and I had to fight like never before in my life, in practice and in the races. Nobody has given me the points I have in the championship. I'm only sorry that I lost a lot of them because of silly things, because we wouldn't be arguing about who is going to win on Sunday now".
Montezemolo takes word:
"Fittipaldi found a few points in his pocket as gracious gift, instead...".
Clay Regazzoni replies:
"Yes, that's right. Last year Emerson would have deserved to win the title, but he was unlucky and Stewart took advantage. Remember when he had that accident, through no fault of his own, in Holland and had to sit out for a long time, or when at Monza Peterson didn't help him? But he has made up for it this season, and plenty. Of course, and I'm not saying this out of bias, Fittipaldi has never thrilled me. He drives well, he does what the car allows him to do, but so far he has never had any momentum, he has never taken any risks, as Stewart himself did".
Also Lauda gives his opinion on Fittipaldi.
"Emerson is a really clever man, who know how to wait and how to be satisfied. If the car supports him, he is really strong. Beating him is really a great deed. I hope it’s Clay himself to make it,because his success will reward all of us. On Sunday I will work for him, if the situation will allow me".
By situation, the Austrian driver intends to refer in particular way to his position,Regazzoni’s and Fittipaldi’s in the starting grid.It’s clear that, making an apology, if Lauda and Fittipaldi were in first row and Regazzoni in third or fourth, it would be impossible for Niki to help his teammate.This last one explains:
"If in the early laps Lauda was in the lead, followed by Fittipaldi and myself, he could slow down and favour my eventual rejoining. If, on the other hand, I was in the lead, Lauda could act as a veil and let me increase my advantage over Emerson. It is enough for me to go a fraction slower in the bends: in three or four passes I could immediately have at least a two-second margin".
Regazzoni's words do not find Forghieri's approval According to the engineer, it is very difficult to make such a play, also because the Watkins Glen circuit is wide and facilitates overtaking.
"All it takes is for Lauda to enter the corner too slowly and Emerson will take advantage of it to overtake him on the exit. It's a bit of a problem".
Regazzoni cuts in:
"That may be, but I know the time you lose passing certain lapped drivers. Besides, this is the only kind of help he can give me".
Lauda replies:
"Yes, OK, but it will be necessary for my Ferrari to be a little stronger than Fittipaldi's McLaren".
The Austrian driver pauses for a moment, and adds laughing:
"The ideal would be if in a very slow corner I touched with Emerson and sent him off the track".
A joke, of course, but certainly on Sunday there will be those who will help Regazzoni (certainly in addition to Lauda, Mario Andretti and Arturo Merzario, who told Clay I'm only doing it for you) and those who will give Fittipaldi a hand (Hulme and Mass, McLaren's new driver, who already caused Clay trouble in Canada, and probably some other element of the British teams, linked to economic and advertising interests). Says Regazzoni:
"Everyone will have to risk a little more on Sunday. It is the last race, there will be no more chances. The crucial moment could be the start. If I can get ahead of Emerson, I almost win the title and vice versa for him. Whoever is in front, controls the race better, sets the trajectories calmly, can adjust with more serenity. Whoever is behind, has to think about overtaking and is forced to risk more and force the car. In a word, he is subject to more risk. However, if I am behind Fittipaldi, I will not wait for him to break the engine or something else, as he does with the others. I will try to pass him".
Regazzoni's generous and combative spirit comes through in these words. The Swiss driver has always been a fighter, someone who never gives up, and it is with the calmness of the strong that he goes into battle with Fittipaldi.
"I'm not even excited, I've seen a lot by now...".
The accident the week before, in the three tests, did not shake him.
"On the moment I was scared, but I would have raced even with my foot in plaster. It's the left one, the clutch one, that doesn't have to make any heavy movements. There's a haematoma under the sole of the limb that bothers me a little. But let's not dramatise: it won't be what makes me win or lose the title".
Naturally, the entire Ferrari team is lined up at Regazzoni's side to offer him every possible help. Scuderia Ferrari's sporting director Luca Montezemolo says:
"I agree with Clay, we have a fifty-fifty chance. In any case, however it ends, ours was a splendid season, above all expectations. No one can argue otherwise, even if people tend to look at the result above all".
Every look is today for Clay Regazzoni and Emerson Fittipaldi, but the two, struggling with brake problems, did not shine on this first day of practice for the US Grand Prix. The Italian-American Mario Andretti in his new Parnelli and the usual Brabham duo of Reutemann and Pace, as well as Lauda, stood out; however, the Ferrari and McLaren mechanics didn't care much about the fact: winning the title on Sunday counted. The two teams devoted themselves to tyre tests and tried to solve brake problems.
For Regazzoni and Lauda it was a matter of carrying out those tests that the Swiss driver's accident in practice had interrupted. The Austrian, as always, was a little faster than Regazzoni, who in the final part of practice was blocked by the failure of his Ferrari's engine. It was the same engine that he had already raced in Canada and which, in any case, the Maranello mechanics would have replaced in the course of the evening. And, however, the McLaren team would also fit Fittipaldi's car with a new engine for Saturday's practice. Regazzoni, after an hour or so of practice, felt the pain in his left foot increase.
"It's the vibrations that are transmitted to the limb. Let's see how it goes on Saturday. At most I'll get a painkilling injection. It's Fittipaldi that worries me, not my foot".
The mechanics put a rubber support, a kind of padding, on his footplate and the situation improved. The Swiss, however, did better than the Brazilian (albeit by a little), which encouraged those at Ferrari. The tests, which saw Andretti emerge also thanks to the superiority of the tyres used by Parnelli, were enlivened by an accident in which Beltoise wrecked his B.R.M., suffering a severe contusion to one foot. Perhaps the Frenchman will race anyway, taking the car away from Amon. Merzario also had a bad time: on Arturo's Iso the hub-carrier of the left rear wheel broke at the end of a straight, while he was travelling at 260 km/h. The car performed a frightening series of spins, but stopped without damage.
"I had never been so lucky".
In the course of the evening, Mario Andretti laughs with satisfaction.
"Did you see? I beat them all".
By everybody, Andretti is referring to the European teams, who have a kind of monopoly on the World Championship. In fact, Andretti made a remarkable exploit on the first day of practice at the US Grand Prix, although - looking at the list of the best drivers - one can see that the top ten drivers are within the space of a second. So, it is fairer to say that among the usual names is the former Ferrari driver. For the rest, everything is normal in this tense eve of the race that will have to award the world title. At the top, with Andretti, are the Brabham drivers, namely Reutemann and Pace, who have always played a leading role in recent races, and then Niki Lauda. The Austrian was unable to get the best time due to the not yet perfect set-up of his Ferrari. Regazzoni and Fittipaldi, indivisible to the last, lapped in similar times, and, a fact that can be explained by the characteristics of the circuit (fast stretches and very slow corners), they too complained of brake trouble. The Swiss and the Brazilian would even start on the same row, the fourth, if a violent downpour broke out and the situation did not change. To be honest, neither Ferrari nor McLaren have shone, but it is also logical. The two teams are trying to fine-tune in the most suitable way. After a rather pointless demonstration race by three UOP Shadow Can-Am cars, wins by George Follmer, Saturday’s session got underway with Reutemann establishing fastest time in his Brabham. The way in which this swarthy Argentinian has come to the fore and develops his driving ability this year is quite outstanding. Last year he was never quite as determined in the Brabham BT42, but this year, with Gordon Murray’s BT44, he has developed into an impressive driver. He records an excellent 1'38"97 lap to take pole position for the 59 lap race and never look as though he is having to work hard to do so. Alongside him on the front row of the grid sit James Hunt in the Hesketh after a fine 1'38"99 which is aid by the excellent tyres produces by Firestone’s Akron, Ohio factory for their last major international event. This is the first time Hunt has manage to put Hesketh onto the front row of a Grand Prix grid and provides a degree of consolation for the English team who expect to do so well this year and end up having a rather disappointing season.
Andretti is all set to retain his place at the front of the grid on Saturday afternoon, but he spins at the same corner which has claim both Beltoise and Regazzoni. The Parnelli revolves a couple of times and the American is unfortunately unable to prevent his car hitting the guard rail with a front wheel, slightly bending the suspension and steering. Practice is halt as the damage car is towes back to the pits and, although the entire Parnelli team falls on the car and work like slaves to repair it in order to continue practising, Andretti only makes it back out onto the circuit with just over five minutes left to go. This meant that he was unable to improve on his Friday time, so he faced the start from the second row of the grid alongside Pace’s Brabham which has record 1'39"28. On the inside of the third row, Niki Lauda is flankes by Scheckter in Tyrrell 007/2 although his time is establish in 007/1 after an engine has fail in his newer car while John Watson’s speeds in the brown Hexagon car is repaid with a grid time quicker than Emerson Fittipaldi, the Brazilian not being unduly worry by this because he is ahead of Regazzoni on the grid and realizes full well that he is in the strongest position as far as the outcome of the World Championship is concern. Two rows behind Fittipaldi there is a great A for effort award earn by Chris Amon who is driving the B.R.M. on its door handles' so to speak to record 1'40"7 although it is very difficult to decide whether this is more meritorious than Laffite’s 1'40"59 which put the Frenchman’s Williams-Cosworth ahead of the B.R.M. one place. On the seventh row of the grid are Depailler, feeling crestfallen on 1'40"7 and Donohue, feeling encourages, on 1'40"8. Behind this center point of the grid things are much as usual with one or two major upsets. Neither of the Lotus 72s should be down in the positions they are, but things fail to improve for them on Saturday, Pryce and Mass are rather disappointing while both the Lolas are slow perhaps understandably in this case for Stommelen’s last visit to Watkins Glen ends with minor burns after a serious accident in the Alfa Romeo T33/12 and Hill’s car blow two DFVs during the course of practice.
Its nice to see that Mike Wild’s persistence in the Ensign has pay off and he manages to gain a place on the grid ahead of Koinigg, Hill and Brambilla, the last-name having a slight brush with a barrier in the final session and slightly damaging the March’s monocoque. Dolhem ends up as first reserve, just as he has been at Monza, while Schenken, Stuck, Ashley and Beltoise are the others who fail to get a place at the start. Emerson Fittipaldi won his first battle with Clay Regazzoni. On Sunday 6 October 1974, in the United States Grand Prix, the decisive challenge for the Formula 1 World Championship, the Brazilian started on the second row and the Swiss on the third. This meant that, at the start, barring miracles, Fittipaldi would precede Regazzoni, who would then, in the race, have to do everything possible to overtake him. And Lauda, out of anger, is behind his team-mate, he who is used to taking pole positions as in previous races of the season. It is one of the worst starting grids for Ferrari in the World Championship, and it had to happen on this occasion. The suspense and excitement for the Maranello fans continued right up to the last. The fact that Reutemann, in the Brabham, and Hunt, in the Hesket, are ahead of everyone, with record times (1'38"978 the Argentine and 1'38"995 the Englishman) is certainly not a problem, the problem is Fittipaldi placed on the second row, alongside Pace, right in front of the Ferrari of Regazzoni, who will be in the company of Andretti and his Parnelli. The Ferrari was betrayed, in the decisive effort, by its single-seater engine. Lauda had to interrupt practice after only a few laps, due to the failure of his engine, and get into the reserve car, which was obviously not as well tuned as the other. But a few laps were enough for the Austrian to realise that even the T-Car's engine was not brilliant. And Regazzoni reported a similar verdict on that of his 312 B3.
"They are sluggish, slow, they reach the best regimes with difficulty. The performance is definitely insufficient".
The two Ferrari drivers tell the mechanics. Among the various hypotheses to explain the reasons for the crisis, a fictional one creeps in. During the night, the usual unknown people would have opened the tank with the petrol reserved for the Ferrari, taking a certain amount away. Had they been up to some other tricks as well? In reality, the mechanics had used fuel from another drum during the morning, adding fuel only in the final part of the first practice session from the tampered tank. A rather relative mystery, therefore, which the Maranello technicians resolutely rejected, limiting themselves to taking petrol from another refuelling point for the second and final practice session.
In this final hour and a half, when all the drivers pushed hard trying to improve their positions (and there came the excellent performance of Reutemann, whose Brabham continued its positive series, and Hunt, whose Hesketh benefited, like Andretti's Parnelli, from tyres very well suited to the Watkins Glen circuit) Lauda and Regazzoni struggled at the wheel of their recalcitrant cars. The Austrian gave up even before practice was over.
"The engine got progressively worse, it was useless to continue. I'm really sorry to be behind Regazzoni. I should have been in front of Fittipaldi. What anger".
The Swiss, in a slightly better situation, insisted, and somehow managed to touch up Friday's time and bring himself close to Fittipaldi, who, in turn, was faster than on the first day: 1'39"033 for the Brazilian, 1'39"320 for the Swiss. Fittipaldi, of course, is happy.
"My McLaren went well. To be ahead of Clay is important, and it is also important to be ahead of Scheckter. If we get to the finish line like that, I'm World Champion on Sunday. I don't know if I can explain myself".
Regazzoni also says he is satisfied.
"For me, at this point it was very important not to start too far behind Emerson".
Any particular tactical plans? Regazzoni, who is actually far less happy than he would like to pretend, has a smile:
"But what tactics... Tomorrow I just have to attack, from start to finish. I certainly can't play for the world title by lying in wait for someone to break".
The final point of this eagerly awaited eve comes from the words of Luca Monzemolo:
"It did not go well. There's no point in hiding it. But with the troubles we've had since we've been in America, Lauda in Canada and Regazzoni in free practice at Watkins Glen, and Lauda's engine failure this morning, you couldn't expect more. Regazzoni did his duty in full: Lauda was missed. And not through any fault of his own. By Sunday morning both of them will have new engines. And then, God send us good luck".
On the eve of the US Grand Prix, talking about the title fight, Jackie Stewart declares:
"Emerson Fittipaldi has a better chance than Regazzoni of winning the world title: both because of the situation tonight and because he is more talented and experienced than the Swiss driver, and has already been in similar situations. However, and I don't know why, maybe it's instinct, maybe it's flair, I'm sure it will be Clay who succeeds me tomorrow".
In the course of the evening, Sante Ghedini, the ubiquitous Scuderia Ferrari assistant, says to Niki Lauda:
"Go to bed, Niki".
It is 10:00 p.m., and Niki recalcitrates. But Ghedini urges:
"Mo' vai (Now go), come on, tomorrow I'll give you four new tyres".
At the idea of a set of new tyres, Niki Lauda's face lights up. He smiles, tries to repeat, in a Hapsburg accent, Ghedini's phrase in Modenese ('quater gom novi') and goes to bed. It is the night before the most important race of the Formula One World Championship of the 1974 season, set in the cold, green state of New York, where the winds of Canada, which is a few miles further north, can already be felt. It is the most important Grand Prix in the world for the result (only once before has the World Championship been decided at the last race), the biggest for the volume of prizes (about $50.000), the most impressive for the crowd: 150.000 people are expected for the race on Sunday, 6 October 1974, 50.000 are already camped in the forests around the racetrack. If it weren't for the roar of the engines making their way through the curtain of trees, you'd think you were at Woodstock, or in California, at one of those universal hippie conventions that dot America. Caravans, trucks with stereos, super-erotic water beds and weeks' supply of marijuana, have been lurking behind the circuit's guardrails for days, especially at the spots where François Cevert died last year and Clay Regazzoni left a car in practice this year. The American public, accustomed to the carnage of Indianapolis, the beating of stock-cars, is demanding big thrills from this Formula 1. And hopefully they are disappointed. The New York Times writes:
"This is the only car race in America that the whole world is interested in".
Watkins Glen is a tiny town in the middle of a beautiful region of lakes, full of absurd names: just a few miles away are Athens, Syracuse, Ithaca, Troy, Sparta. It looks like the Grand Prix of Magna Graecia, and the village is now four-fifths populated by this strange circus that has come from overseas with anoraks full of ponies, advertisements for tyres, petrol and deodorants. The boys are mobilised along the streets to sell programmes and peanuts, because the editorial of the local newspaper, the Leader, has called on the entire citizenry to make the most of this huge economic opportunity. But America always has its own serene and refractory bottom line, despite everything. The assembly centre for the organisation is in the totally inadequate gymnasium of a Catholic high school, St. Mary's, and journalists, drivers and mechanics find themselves in the shadow of a portrait of Pope Pacelli autographed for the beloved St. Mary's school. But Sunday's race appears above all to be an Italian-Hapsburg affair: Regazzonl, a representative of Switzerland, and Lauda, an Austrian, and both in a Maranello car, battle it out. And then Fittipaldi (who is Italo-Brazilian), whose father, originally from Basilicata, predicts Lauda first, Fittipaldi second, Regazzoni third. Talking to Lauda and Regazzoni, one notices how calm both appear: the former shy and polite, the latter seemingly aggressive, with that moustache of an unlikely Ticinese Genghis Kahn. There is talk of disagreements in the Ferrari household: if there are any, they will be forgotten in the crucial hours. They will explode, if anything, later, if things have not gone right.
"But why do you want me to lose weight again?"
Exclaims Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari's technical director, now made transparent by the anxiety of this World Championship that the Maranello team should have been winning for at least two months and now has to snatch by the teeth, on the last lap of the last race. On the surface, everything works well in the Ferrari team. There is, just like in the engines, some sudden rise in pressure, some slackening of the brakes, some snapping. Minor things. And if the pressure really builds up, you phone the Commendatore, Enzo Ferrari, in Maranello. And everything quiets down. The longest day of the World Championship starts early. While caravans of cars with number plates from all the American states join the gigantic car park that has sprung up around the Watkins Glen racetrack, on Sunday 6 October 1974 technicians and mechanics from the various teams reach the garages to finish preparing the cars.
Ferrari mechanics worked until midnight to replace the engines of Regazzoni and Lauda's 312 B3. At 1:00 p.m. the Ferrari drivers took to the track for the warm-up. At the end of the twenty minutes of practice, Regazzoni and Lauda are satisfied.
"These look like good engines".
The Swiss runs with a full tank of petrol (about 195 litres). He is calm and jokes with Montezemolo. The start is given at 3:40 p.m. Sunday’s untime warming up session bring last-moment problems for several teams; Hunt’s Hesketh stops on the circuit with fuel pressure problems, Laffite’s Williams break a wheel stud and Andretti’s car runs into a bout of misfiring which is trace to the electrical system. However, some feverish work by the mechanics got everyone ready in time, even though Andretti has to squeeze in three warming up laps before his Parnelli will run properly. All 25 cars line up in front of the lavender-suited starter, Tex Hopkins, with both Schenken and Dolhem waiting optimistically at the back should anything go wrong. And Dolhem is to be reward for, as the grid moves forward to take the flag, Andretti can’t starts the Parnelli and the whole grid surge away leaving the fuming American stationery, Reutemann just beating Hunt to the first corner with Pace and Lauda tucks tightly in behind. Dolhem waves into the race as a replacement and Schenken joins in as well after misinterpreting the official signals. He completes six laps before he is blackflag and disqualify. Meanwhile, as Reutemann led Hunt round the first lap, mechanics push Andretti’s car to the end of the pits where Dick Scammell bled the apparent vapor lock in the car’s fuel system and then send his driver out into the race. Unfortunately there isn’t alternative but to black-flag the unfortunate Andretti and disqualify the car for receiving assistance outside the pits after it has completed four trouble-free laps. Reutemann and Hunt cross the line comfortably together at the end of the first lap leading Pace, Lauda, Scheckter and Fittipaldi with a gap already opening to Regazzoni, Watson, Depailler, Laffite, Jarier and Merzario. It doesn't take long for the leading duo to pull away from their pursuers, Hunt hanging on in fine style but not really looking as though he is about to pass the Brabham, while Pace similarly begins to move away from the next bunch. Lauda is trying hard to keep in front of Scheckter and Fittipaldi, the Brazilian apparently perfectly content to keep the Tyrrell just in front of his McLaren for he knows that Scheckter has to win to take the Championship and then only if the McLaren driver falls to fifth or below.
Regazzoni on the other hand is holding up his pursuers in typical fashion, pulling away from them on the straights and holding them up in the corners with the result that there is a nine-car bunch behind him with five laps of the race completes although Merzario isn’t messing about with any nonsense from the Swiss and elbow past on the second lap to chase off after Watson. Jarier drops back from the front of this group chasing Regazzoni as his Shadow’s tyres start to lose their grip and Koinigg’s Suttees go missing on the tenth lap on the far side of the circuit. It is only much later that the majority of people in the pit area receive news that the young Austrian has been killed when his car leaves the track at the same corner as the two practice accidents occure, ploughing headlong through two catch fences before striking the guard rail at right angles. As has so often happen in the past, the guard rails split and allow the car to pass between them so there isn’t chance of survival for its driver. A sheet is laid over the Surtees wreckage and the race continues with the shatter car lying under the guardrail with Koinigg still inside it. With the first three remaining in the same order and Lauda still keeping the Tyrrell and McLaren behind him, interest is focused on the speed with which Merzario catches Watson and the tenacity with which both Mass and Peterson dispose of Regazzoni’s understeering Ferrari. By lap 15 the Swiss virtually concede any hope of winning the Championship when he rolls into the pits to complain about his car’s impossible handling. The only solution was to replace the front tyres, so the Ferrari is sent back into the race with some fresh rubber at the front only to return later with the same complaint. While the order at the front of this high speed precision remains very much as one might expect bearing in mind the grid positions, the one in the woodpile turn out to be Merzario. By lap 22 he is right on Watson’s tail and challenging the Ulsterman as hard as he knows only to let enthusiasm get the better of his judgment and elbow Watson into a spin three laps later as they jostle for position going into the tight right-hand corner after the pits.
Watson handbrake turns his Brabham with a dexterity that raises cheers from the crowd, but by the time he is pointing in the right direction, Merzario has vanished into the distance in pursuit of Fittipaldi. Regazzoni feels his Ferrari handling just as badly within a few laps and, after a second stop to change the front suspension adjustments, charge back into the race and all but knock Jochen Mass straight out of the contest as the Yardley McLaren laps his Ferrari on lap 28. At the tail of the field Dolhem’s Surtees TS16 is withdrawn after the accident to Koinigg and Donohue’s race, which is hamper ever since the opening stages by spongy brakes, end with a broken rear suspension link on the Penske at the point where it attaches to the bottom of the upright. In bleak contrast to last year’s race, Team Lotus are having an absolutely soul-destroying race. Peterson is fighting his way through the mid-field runners and struggle up to ninth place, his Lotus 72 understeering like mad all the way round the circuit and even the Swede’s brand of determination don’t seem enough to overcome the problems on this occasion. In the pits Colin Chapman wears a grim expression on his face for not only has Schenken hauls off the track, but Ickx has brush a crash barrier on his seventh lap and driven slowly in to retire with derange suspension on his 72. But there is plenty more misfortune in store, for the sole surviving 72 suddenly starts to sound desperately rough and on the 32nd lap Peterson drives into the pits where it is find that an exhaust pipe has come away from one bank of the DFV right up by the cylinder head. After a brief checkover he is send on his way but eventually stops for good when a fuel line becomes detached. Ferraris prepare for right-hand turns. Caliri explains:
"Normal wear was detected in the tyre, but it's not a question of the tyres. Now we have changed the shock absorber calibration".
Regazzoni re-enters the race, but by now it all seems to be over. Whilst all this drama is unfolding for their rival teams, both works Brabhams continues to lap steadily and progressively, Pace taking great chunks out of Hunt’s second place advantage as the race progresses to the lap 45 mark and Hesketh begins to experience fuel-pick-up problems. Encourage by the obvious plight of his immediate rival, Pace speeds up and establishes a new Formula One record of 1'40"6 on lap 54 prior to snatching second place one lap later. From that point on it is all over and the two smart white Brabham BT44s sped confidently on to a convincing 1-2 result at the end of 59 laps’ racing, Reutemann leading Pace over the line by slightly less than 11 seconds. Hunt drops away substantially over the final two laps, but he just manages to keep the Hesketh spluttering round for long enough to beat Fittipaldi by five seconds, the Brazilian not takes any chances whatsoever and cruising gently round those final laps to clinch his second World Championship and the very first for McLaren Racing. By sitting on Scheckter’s tail all the way, he knows that the Tyrrell driver hasn’t chance of taking the title, but when the blue car drifts to a standstill with fuel-pick-up problems on lap 45, the contest is all over. It is only leave for Watson and Depailler to finish in strong fifth and sixth places, Merzario having stops his Williams with an electrical fault which discharge the car’s fire extinguisher into his face and then causes the engine to cut out, while Mass has driven very hard from near the back of the grid to take seventh place. Ferrari has lost everything, but the biggest tragedy at this cursed Watkins Glen circuit is the death of yet another driver: Helmut Koenigg, a 25-year-old driver from Salzburg (Austria), Niki Lauda's best friend. On hearing the news of Koenigg's death (killed by the same guardrail that killed François Cevert last year and against which Regazzoni's Ferrari in practice and Beltoise's car crashed this year), Niki Lauda, already struggling with his car, and clearly detached, retired. Montezemolo, Scuderia Ferrari's sporting director, declared:
"We would have liked to continue a few more laps to find this fault that stopped us today, but Niki Lauda was devastated by the news of his friend's death".
Helmut Koenigg went off the road in the terrible downhill S, losing control of his car; he passed under the net that delimits the track and got stuck under the guardrail, having his head severed. An atrocious death, but even this will not, we fear, help to convince these American organisers that a few hundred dollars, a few expenses to abolish the guardrail at that point are well worth a man's life.
When four professional drivers all go off at the same point, and two of them lose their lives there, one can no longer speak of a fatality: it is, more or less, murder. On Saturday night all the drivers had noticed the danger of that spot, but there was nothing they could do. In the Ferrari team, scrambling all day around the cars undermined by a new evil, the shock absorber crisis, an obvious depression reigns, but Ferrari's defeat, which fills the hundreds of Italians who have flocked here with desolation, is little compared to Koenigg's tragic end. A cursed day, to be forgotten as soon as possible, not a day of sport. Forghieri and Montezemolo, together with the Ferrari men, scrambled around the drivers' cars, loosening the shock absorber, hardening it, changing it, but without finding a solution. Regazzoni racked up his useless laps, Lauda, with despair in his face for the death of Koenigg, his closest Austrian friend, stood by looking on dejectedly. Montezemolo, the sports director, sat with his head in his hands on the pit wall. He was right: at the most important race of the year Ferrari had arrived, through a series of glaring misfortunes, unprepared. With the race over, murmurs a mechanic:
"To us, bad luck never forgives one".
During the course of the race, as drivers and mechanics burnt their last energies in the agony of defeat and the ecstasy of victory, dense columns of smoke rose around the racetrack. In a collective fit of vandalism, cars, trucks, buses were set on fire by groups of drugged hippies, drunk with exhaustion and excitement. It was the final ritual, emblematic of the civilisation of the automobile, this era that many would like to see come to an end: within a racetrack enclosure the high priests, outside the heretics, the desecrators, but all united in the same religion. During the evening of Monday 7 October 1974 Emerson Fittipaldi and his wife Maria Helena celebrate with a group of friends their second world title; on Tuesday Emerson will leave Watkins Glen to travel to Indianapolis, where he will test a McLaren for the 1975 Indy 500, in which he intends to participate: he will then make a trip to Paraguay for a promotional programme of one of the companies financing the team and on Sunday 11 October 1974, finally, he will be in Brazil. Fittipaldi is over the moon, not least because he did not expect to win Jackie Stewart's sceptre so easily.
"There was no fight; Regazzoni had a dart at the start of the race, then disappeared, Scheckter was ahead of me and Reutemann, Hunt and Pace, were travelling at a higher pace than Jody and myself. Perfect, I had nothing more to fear. I feel sorry for Clay, but if he stops and I don't, it's not a matter of luck. I didn't earn the title in the United States, but in all the other races, because my McLaren often had problems with road holding and the Ferraris were really strong. In 1975, if the friends at Maranello will still allow me, I will aim for the trio".
Fittipaldi laughs, and he is right. He always raced with a lot of intelligence and was supported by a very efficient team, who made only one mistake at the beginning of the season, in South Africa, when they made the wrong choice of a set of tyres, Emerson knew how to take advantage of every opportunity, making the most of others' troubles and conceding nothing to the adversaries. He did not exalt, nor did the McLaren prove to be an exceptional car, nevertheless step by step, he built his great success. Ferrari, on the other hand, found itself in crisis in the decisive test. Regazzoni and Niki Lauda took to the track with unrideable cars and could not fight. It was infuriating to see the Swiss trudging along at the back while Fittipaldi drove calmly, it was infuriating to observe the Austrian swaying in the Watkins Glen bends as if his 312 B3 were rolling on a stormy sea. What happened? Regazzoni, Lauda and Mauro Forghieri, one of the engineers who contributed to Ferrari's rebirth this year, a real rebirth - as an organisation, as drivers, as cars - which only lacked the final seal. Says Regazzoni:
"It was a black day, I had never driven such a crazy single-seater. At one point I asked myself why I kept racing. It was humiliating and also risky as the car was pointing all over the place. But it bothered me to give up, it wouldn't have been serious. And to think that the Grand Prix had started well, because in the first five hundred metres I had managed to overtake Fittipaldi. It's done, I thought, this won't pass me anymore. I slipped into the S-curves and goodbye. Terrible understeer".
On Lauda's 312 B3 the phenomenon manifested itself later, around lap 30.
"For me it was excessive oversteer. I could no longer keep up with Scheckter or Fittipaldi's pace, there was a risk of going off the track. At a certain moment, I preferred to stop and have the suspension checked. Who would have thought about the shock absorbers?"
Intervenes Forghieri.
"Mind you, the fault in itself is not with the shock absorbers, but with how we unintentionally operated them. On Saturday, the last day of testing, we had engine trouble and didn't make it in time to do the usual tests with a full tank of petrol. We only did it on Sunday morning, in the twenty minutes of free practice, and no problems emerged. Evidently it was too short a test and the defect came out when it could no longer be remedied, during the race. The shock absorbers closed and were no longer performing their function. Everything happened to us in fifteen days. It bothers me a lot to talk about bad luck, but in practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, Regazzoni went off the track because of a sudden downpour and in the race Lauda, in the lead with a large advantage, ended up off the track because of dirt thrown on the tarmac by another competitor: in the US pre-trials Regazzoni risked a lot by crashing against a guardrail and we had to interrupt training and send other bodies from Italy. In Europe it would have ended differently. It was the result in Canada that conditioned the fight for the title. Personally, I considered the game closed at Mosport. We only came here because of Enzo Ferrari's sportsmanship. However, there is no point crying now. Ferrari has two great drivers and a good team. We will upgrade the 312 B3 and, at the same time, test the new 312 T. For us the championship continues".
Battling intentions are also expressed by Lauda. Niki says while smoking a cigar, the first concession he allows himself in honour of the close of the 1974 season:
"No chatter, we will immediately start working again to bring the 312 T to a very high level of competitiveness. I hope this car will be ready for the Argentine Grand Prix, the first race of 1975".
The first tests of the new Maranello-produced car will take place on Thursday, 10 October 1974 at Ferrari's private facility in Fiorano, then continue at Vallelunga and Le Castellet. Regazzoni, on the other hand, dwells on the past.
"I lost the title between Austria and Italy. This American trip, which is always tough, would have been faced with another spirit, with greater serenity. I'm sorry it ended like that, and not so much for me, who had my satisfactions this year and I'm not complaining, as for Enzo Ferrari, for the mechanics who gave their souls, for our fans. We will see if we can satisfy them in 1975, even if, perhaps, the competition will be tougher".
The Swiss, like Forghieri, calmly analyses the year.
"We came out of an extremely bad 1973, starting 1974 in an excellent way. Then, the others improved and a certain levelling was created. The B3 has the best engine-gearbox unit in Formula 1, but it has to be modified in the front end and made lighter. We all made mistakes and the one who took advantage of them was Fittipaldi, who, after all, only won the title by three points. On Sunday, on the track, I felt helpless. An ordeal”.
The difficult day at Watkins Glen did not dampen spirits. On the contrary, it spurred them on to a strong commitment for the next championship. The redemption that began this year will continue and let us hope that it will receive that prize that has now been missing and that has landed in the greedy hands of a perhaps astonished Emerson Fittipaldi. Tuesday 12 November 1974 marked the beginning of a new chapter for Ferrari. Greeted by a splendid sunny day, the 312 T makes its appearance on the Vallelunga track, giving Scuderia Ferrari great hopes of redemption. Alongside the new bolide produced in Maranello is the B3 still capable of world-class performance. As assistant to the presidency Luca Montezemolo explains, Ferrari is currently working on two precise programmes: to rejuvenate the B3 that will still be engaged in the next Grands Prix in Argentina and Brazil, and to get to know the limits of the 312 T (which on the three kilometres of the Fiorano circuit has gained half a second on the track record), whose competitive baptism is planned for South Africa or Spain. For two class cars, one on the verge of demobilisation after so many glorious tests, the other set to revive them, two world-class drivers such as Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni, who came to Vallelunga to personally test the cars' progress, could not be absent. The nerve-wracking tests, which lasted until late afternoon, the contributions of the technicians during the pit stops, the heated exchanges of ideas: everything takes place in an atmosphere of compact commitment and enthusiasm that gives the impression of the punctilious, revengeful tone that animates, from the drivers to the last mechanic, the Maranello team. Lauda and Regazzoni often exchange impressions after a few test laps, in a spirit of friendship and collaboration that also seems to constitute one of the most valid working platforms on a psychological level. As Lauda gradually forces the engine of the 312 T, Luca Montezemolo declares:
"If a good day dawns we must be satisfied. We have come to Vallelunga, that is to say to a nervous, difficult track, in a different atmospheric climate to begin the thorough testing that we intend to carry out. With us is also the Goodyear truck that came especially from England with an engineer. This is a valuable collaboration that is part of the programmes we have set ourselves. We test new tyres, different types of wings, in sum all those details that should bring the new car to the performance we expect".
Stepping out of the cockpit after about ten laps, Lauda is enthusiastic about the 312 T:
"Already at Fiorano I thought it was fantastic, now we have come to Vallelunga to get confirmation of those first impressions, on a circuit that I think is suitable, considering its difficulties. For now I can say that the car has extraordinary road-holding".
Referring to the bitter end of the racing season, Lauda comments:
"I learned a lot. They were negative experiences that will serve me well, I think that when things go wrong they make the character stronger".
Lauda does not take long to make clear, even on the practical terrain, the punctiliousness with which he prepares the new car, which is only tested by him while Regazzoni devotes himself to tuning the B3. In fact, Lauda beats the overall Vallelunga record by seven tenths of a second, covering a lap in 1'07"7 at an average speed of 169.946 km/h. Regazzoni also records an excellent time (1'09"9) with the B3 that appears less pot-bellied in its bodywork and adopts front suspension similar to that of the 312 T. To conclude, says Montezemolo, the new car will only run when Ferrari is sure it can attempt big goals. For now it is off to Argentina with the B3.
"Probably four or five days in advance, to avoid the discomfort that the change in climate could cause us".
The 1974 season for the Scuderia Ferrari ended with Ferrari's initiative in favour of young Italian drivers.
To the rambling proposals of some ex-Italian drivers returning from the pseudo-democratic convention of the Italian Automobile Sports Commission, held recently in Genoa, to the poisonous written polemics of a certain Bolognese environment, to the empty chatter of the representatives of this tottering CSAI, Ferrari responds with facts. On Wednesday 4 December 1974 Scuderia Ferrari issued a communiqué on the subject.
"Following conversations with Ferrari S.p.A., the Scuderia del Passatore will be able to use the Fiorano track for F2 testing with drivers Serblin and Leoni. It will also have a Ferrari Formula 1 type B3 in the second half of 1975. This single-seater will be used for induction tests at the Santa Monica circuit in Misano for those young drivers that the team deems suitable. At a later date other tests will be carried out at the more demanding Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola".
Ferrari was attacked and punished because it does not employ Italian drivers in the Formula 1 team and because it does not work to create a school for young people. Always easy to reason in someone else's skin. In this case, then, the Maranello team should act out of patronage or by looking at its passport. Yet the English B.R.M. employed three Frenchmen, Lotus a Belgian and a Swede, and so on. But useless polemics aside, this extremely nice and interesting initiative remains. Ferrari is keeping its very good team, its Lauda and Regazzoni, it is aiming at the 1975 title with a compact team and a limited financial budget, but it is thinking seriously and within its possibilities about young Italian drivers. The agreement with the Romagna-based team of Passatore concerns 20-year-old Lamberto Leoni, from Ravenna, and 26-year-old Gabriele Serblin, from Vicenza. The former has made a name for himself in Formula Italia, the latter in Formula 2. The agreement will offer Leoni and Serblin numerous advantages: driving at Fiorano, a model track, with a television system, photoelectric cells, breathing the Maranello air (contacts with technicians, drivers, etc.); driving - with other youngsters chosen by the Scuderia Ferrari - a single-seater 312 B3 without obligations and commitments, without anxiety, first at Misano and then at Imola. A progressive test, an experience more unique than rare. This is no small offer, in fact it is a practical and concrete initiative. Ferrari is moving, but as Enzo Ferrari wants. The rest is just talk. On Christmas Eve 1974, Scuderia Ferrari is in Kyalami, fine-tuning the 312 T. During testing, the oil tank shows significant problems in fast corners. The mechanics, therefore, find themselves in the position of having to make a new oil tank on site with makeshift means. A tin can abandoned in the pit comes to the rescue, which, with the necessary adaptations, turns out to be a far better tank than the one for which engineer Forghieri had spent sleepless nights designing. Mounted on the single-seater-with excellent results on the track-the Maranello team takes every precaution to ensure that it is not photographed, as Ferrari's tests are closely followed. Before leaving Kyalami to return to Italy, Forghieri telephones Enzo Ferrari, and informs him of the outcome of the test, which is positive thanks to the fact that he has built an all new tank that works perfectly. When the team returns to Maranello, Enzo Ferrari waits for the mechanics and Forghieri with enormous perplexity and curiosity to see the new construction:
"But what is this stuff here?"
Enzo Ferrari exclaims in disbelief upon seeing a large aluminum Coca-Cola container, modified and adapted for use for a Formula 1 Ferrari; that was actually the real reason the team did not want it photographed. An alternative way to prepare for the 1975 World Championship.