1972 French Grand Prix

The 1972 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Charade Circuit in Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, France on July 2, 1972.

Due to cutting the corners, a stone thrown from Emerson Fittipaldi's Lotus hit Helmut Marko in the eye during the race, ending his F1 career. The stones also had caused ten deflated tyres, but no big crashes. The French Grand Prix was moved to the new Paul Ricard Circuit for 1973.

Chris Amon achieved the fifth and final pole position of his career and was leading the race until a puncture forced him to pit, but he charged back through the field, annihilating the circuit's lap record to finish third. Jackie Stewart won the race, with Fittipaldi second.

Classification

Charade circuit

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	4	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	38	1:52:22.5	3	9
2	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	38	+ 27.7	8	6
3	9	Chris Amon	Matra	38	+ 31.9	1	4
4	7	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	38	+ 49.3	7	3
5	12	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	38	+ 56.8	9	2
6	26	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	38	+ 1:36.1	10	1
7	2	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	38	+ 1:48.1	2
8	19	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham-Ford	38	+ 2:25.1	14
9	11	Brian Redman	McLaren-Ford	38	+ 2:55.5	13
10	18	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	38	+ 2:59.5	20
11	3	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	37	+ 1 Lap	4
12	20	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	37	+ 1 Lap	17
13	30	Nanni Galli	Ferrari	37	+ 1 Lap	19
14	28	Andrea de Adamich	Surtees-Ford	37	+ 1 lap	12
15	5	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	37	+ 1 Lap	24
16	10	Rolf Stommelen	March-Ford	37	+ 1 Lap	15
17	27	Tim Schenken	Surtees-Ford	36	+ 2 Laps	5
18	6	Dave Walker	Lotus-Ford	34	Halfshaft	22
19	15	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	33	Out of Fuel	23
NC	8	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	33	Not Classified	16
Ret	24	Reine Wisell	BRM	25	Gearbox	18
Ret	17	Carlos Pace	March-Ford	18	Engine	11
Ret	25	Helmut Marko	BRM	8	Eye injury	6
Ret	14	Niki Lauda	March-Ford	4	Halfshaft	21
DNQ	29	Dave Charlton	Lotus-Ford

Notes

• Pole Position: Chris Amon - 2:53.4
• Fastest Lap: Chris Amon - 2:53.9 (lap 32)
• François Cevert drove and crashed the new Tyrrell 005 in practice. He was forced to drive the 003 during the race.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Emerson Fittipaldi 34 2 Jackie Stewart 21 3 Denny Hulme 19 4 Jacky Ickx 16 5 Jean-Pierre Beltoise 9

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 34 2 Tyrrell-Ford 27 3 McLaren-Ford 23 4 Ferrari 19 5 BRM 9

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

• "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1972/513/. Retrieved 2008-01-22.