Argentinian Grand Prix

Buenos Aires, 12 Jan 1975

All cars are 3-litre F1 unless noted.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

3-litre Formula 1 World Championship events 1966-1985

These 1966 to 1985 results were initially compiled by Allen Brown, but these were in the very basic form required to track individual car histories. Since then further details, such as laps completed, qualifying times and so on, have been added from Rob Ryder's extensive database.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can help with our research.

Individual sources for this event

Autosport 16 Jan 1975 pp10-19 (by Pete Lyons). Motor Sport February 1975 pp120-123 (by 'AH' Alan Henry). Autocourse 1975/76 (edited by Mike Kettlewell) reproduced Pete Lyons' reports from Autosport, so included very little information that had not already been published.

The opening event of the 1974 season saw a contingent of 23 drivers with a total of 25 cars. The teams with two cars were McLaren, Tyrrell, Lotus, Brabham, Ferrari, Shadow, Williams and Hill. March and Surtees were only running one car each at this event, but were expected to be up to full strength later. Hesketh had a single car for James Hunt and BRM, which had become Stanley-BRM since 1974, also had a single entry. The newcomer teams were at the bottom of the list: single cars from Parnelli, Penske and Fittipaldi, making its F1 debut as the 29th 3-litre F1 constructor. The Ensign team, having again failed to become FOCA members and gain the benefits that came with it, was absent. The Berta, with its Argentine-built engine, was withdrawn.

The Brabham BT44Bs were to a slightly revised design, but only one was actually a new car. The Shadow DN5 with its rocker-arm front suspension was all new, as was the Fittipaldi of course. McLaren had a new M23, the ninth, which had new front suspension along the lines of the BT44B. Ferrari had a new 312B3, chassis 020, but did not bring along the new 312Ts that had been testing. The Parnelli and Penske were new second cars to the existing designs. Williams was now calling its cars Williams, specifically FW02 and FW03. However, Denis Jenkinson had already decided to call them IR/02 and IR/04, and Alan Henry retained Jenks’ designations. This would cause trouble.

The only spare cars present were a Brabham BT44B and a Hesketh 308. Lyons reminded his readers that Jacky Ickx’s Lotus 72E/5 was actually the ninth Lotus 72. The Surtees TS16 was described by Lyons as a “dash-4” model, so effectively a Mk 4.