Brazilian GP
January 26, 1975

40 Laps, 7.96 km

There was considerable speculation that Ronnie Peterson would be switching to the Shadow team because of Lotus's lack of performance but he remained a Lotus driver in Brazil where Jean-Pierre Jarier took his second consecutive pole position in the Shadow. Emerson Fittipaldi, the winner of the first race at fortnight earlier in Argentina, was second in his McLaren while Carlos Reutemann (Brabham) and Niki Lauda (Ferrari) shared the second row. Then came Carlos Pace (Brabham) and Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) followed by James Hunt (Hesketh), Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler (Tyrrells) and Jochen Mass (McLaren). With Mario Andretti having decided to use Goodyear tires, the Akron firm had a monopoly for the first time.

At the start Fittipaldi had too much wheelspin and Reutemann passed him and took the lead from Jarier at the first corner, while Pace also made a good start to take third place ahead of Regazzoni, Lauda, Scheckter and the slow-starting Fittipaldi.

Jarier had no intention of letting Reutemann win and on lap five he went ahead and began to pull away, leaving Reutemann to fall into the clutches of his team mate Pace. On lap 14 the Brazilian went ahead and began to create a gap because Reutemann was struggling with his tires. In the laps which followed he dropped behind Regazzoni, Lauda and Mass With only 10 laps to go and Jarier ahead by 25 seconds, the Shadow suddenly began to misfire and the gap to Pace began to reduce. On lap 33 the Shadow's engine stopped. Pace took the lead and went on to win his F1 victory. There was much celebrating in the grandstands as Emerson Fittipaldi was in second place, having overtaken Regazzoni a couple of laps earlier. The Swiss Ferrari driver was struggling with his handling and lost third to Mass.

Regazzoni and Lauda finished fourth and fifth while the final point went to James Hunt.

Carlos Pace Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 40 1h44m41.170s  
Emerson Fittipaldi McLaren-Cosworth M23 40 1h44m46.960s  
Jochen Mass McLaren-Cosworth M23 40 1h45m17.830s  10 
11 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B3 40 1h45m24.450s  
12 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312B3 40 1h45m43.050s  
24 James Hunt Hesketh-Cosworth 308 40 1h45m46.290s  
27 Mario Andretti Parnelli-Cosworth VPJ4 40 1h45m47.980s  18 
Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Cosworth BT44B 40 1h46m20.790s  
Jacky Ickx Lotus-Cosworth 72E 40 1h46m33.010s  12 
10 18 John Watson Surtees-Cosworth TS16 40 1h47m10.770s  13 
11 21 Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth FW 39  19 
12 22 Graham Hill Lola-Cosworth T370 39  20 
13 30 Wilson Fittipaldi Copersucar-Cosworth FD02 39  21 
14 23 Rolf Stommelen Lola-Cosworth T370 39  23 
15 Ronnie Peterson Lotus-Cosworth 72E 38  16 
17 Jean-Pierre Jarier Shadow-Cosworth DN5 32 Mechanical 
Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 31 Suspension/ Accident 
16 Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN3B 31 Accident 14 
20 Arturo Merzario Williams-Cosworth FW 24 Mechanical 11 
14 Mike Wilds BRM P201 22 Electrics 22 
28 Mark Donohue Penske-Cosworth PC1 22 Handling 15 
Jody Scheckter Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 18 Oil Tank 
Vittorio Brambilla March-Cosworth 741 Engine 17 

Brazilian GP, Interlagos, January 26, 1975, Round: 2, Race Number: 252

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