It was expected the 12-cylinder cars would be dominant over the V8
Ford-
Cosworths as
Ferrari had won four out of the last five Grands Prix in , and they had a strong line-up consisting of
Mario Andretti,
Clay Regazzoni and
Jacky Ickx.
Jackie Stewart took pole in the
Tyrrell to join
Chris Amon and Regazzoni on the front row.
Denny Hulme was suffering with a new suspension that he said was behaving very strangely. At the start, Regazzoni led the field away at the start – both Stewart and Amon suffering slow starts.
Emerson Fittipaldi managed to hold off Hulme until lap three when he dived through to chase the Ferraris. On lap 17, he squeezed through under braking and the orange
McLaren once again led a race.
Pedro Rodríguez was forced to retire from fourth place when his bodywork started to melt and the hot air began burning his feet. The heat also took its toll on
Jo Siffert, whose engine overheated and
Howden Ganley who was taken ill with heat exhaustion. On lap 37,
John Surtees who had steadily been moving up the field, managed to pass Regazzoni. Surtees however, suffered a gearbox failure on lap 57. Andretti took his first career victory, driving a
Ferrari; his teammate Regazzoni finished in third place behind Stewart. == Classification ==