The race was won by Austrian driver Niki Lauda giving the new Ferrari 312T its first win. The win broke a 20-year drought at Monaco for Ferrari. Lauda dominated the race, only losing the lead during a pitstop. He won by two seconds over the McLaren M23 of Emerson Fittipaldi. Carlos Pace finished third in his Brabham BT44B. This was also both the 179th and final Grand Prix for 1962 and 1968 World Champion Graham Hill, although he failed to qualify after 176 race starts.
Circuit changes and qualifying summary
The future of Grand Prix racing was under scrutiny following the disastrous Spanish Grand Prix held two weeks prior. Actions had to be taken quickly: extra guard rails and catch fences were erected, kerbing resited and the chicane was modified. New measures were introduced: the grid was staggered and in addition would be restricted to just 18 cars. This last change affected Graham Hill's chance to qualify: the five-time Monaco winner had all sorts of practice problems and failed to qualify by 0.377 seconds. John Watson and Clay Regazzoni collided in practice, whilst the Surtees team was ordered to remove pro-Europe political stickers from its cars.
After failing his qualifying attempt for the start, Hill announced his retirement as a driver after 17 seasons and 176 races to concentrate on his Embassy Hill team.
The race began under rain conditions, so everyone went for wet tyres. Lauda was fastest at the start, while Pryce had a slow start and was passed by Jarier and Peterson;[2] the Frenchman soon attempted to pass Lauda in an ill-advised overtaking manoeuvre, and hit the barriers at the Mirabeau; his car was damaged in the collision and handled badly, which caused him to hit the wall again at the Tabac corner[2] and then retire. Peterson went into the second place with Vittorio Brambilla third, until Pryce hit the Italian's wheel. Regazzoni stopped to change a tyre and the nosecone of his car, and James Hunt stopped to change onto slick tyres, anticipating a drying of the track surface. However, his team's slow pit work cost him a substantial amount of time.
In the last laps Lauda's oil pressure was fading and Fittipaldi was closing. With three laps left the gap was 2.75 seconds; however, the two-hour time limit was reached and the race was stopped, with Lauda winning. Ferrari had won their first Monaco Grand Prix in 20 years; the tragedy of the Spanish Grand Prix receded and the championship race was back on. Fittipaldi's second position strengthened his narrow points lead over early season points leader Pace.
Classification
Qualifying classification
Pos.
Driver
Constructor
Time
No
1
Niki Lauda
Ferrari
1:26,40
1
2
Tom Pryce
Shadow-Ford
1:27,09
2
3
Jean-Pierre Jarier
Shadow-Ford
1:27,25
3
4
Ronnie Peterson
Lotus-Ford
1:27,40
4
5
Vittorio Brambilla
March-Ford
1:27,50
5
6
Clay Regazzoni
Ferrari
1:27,55
6
7
Jody Scheckter
Tyrrell-Ford
1:27,58
7
8
Carlos Pace
Brabham-Ford
1:27,67
8
9
Emerson Fittipaldi
McLaren-Ford
1:27,77
9
10
Carlos Reutemann
Brabham-Ford
1:27,93
10
11
James Hunt
Hesketh-Ford
1:27,94
11
12
Patrick Depailler
Tyrrell-Ford
1:27,95
12
13
Mario Andretti
Parnelli-Ford
1:28,11
13
14
Jacky Ickx
Lotus-Ford
1:28,28
14
15
Jochen Mass
McLaren-Ford
1:28,49
15
16
Mark Donohue
Penske-Ford
1:28,81
16
17
John Watson
Surtees-Ford
1:28,90
17
18
Alan Jones
Hesketh-Ford
1:29,12
18
19
Jacques Laffite
Williams-Ford
1:29,28
—
20
Arturo Merzario
Williams-Ford
1:29,32
—
21
Graham Hill
Hill-Ford
1:29,49
—
22
Bob Evans
BRM
1:30,33
—
23
Roelof Wunderink
Ensign-Ford
1:31,60
—
24
Torsten Palm
Hesketh-Ford
1:31,95
—
25
Lella Lombardi
March-Ford
1:32,20
—
26
Wilson Fittipaldi
Fittipaldi-Ford
1:33,02
—
*Positions in red indicate entries that failed to qualify.