As the grid formed up, there were reports of rain at the far side of the track. Thunderclouds were forming ominously and the cars were returned to the pits to change to wet tyres. (left) with
Bernie Ecclestone After 45 minutes, the grid reformed. Lauda led off the start from
James Hunt and
Patrick Depailler who had shot up from the fourth row.
Mario Andretti spun off, whilst
Bob Evans retired the BRM.
Vittorio Brambilla had shot through the spray to gain a third place, with
Ronnie Peterson leaping from tenth to fourth. By lap 12, it was obvious that Lauda's car was not set up fully to cope with wet conditions and by lap 15 Hunt stormed by to lead for the fifth time this season. However, this was to be short-lived. The Hesketh's engine was running on only seven cylinders and Brambilla was clambering all over the back of the car. Ahead of them Lunger was driving carefully in his first wet race and could not see the leaders approaching him. Brambilla seized the lead and it took a further two laps for Hunt to finally pass his teammate. Peterson had to pit to replace a faulty visor, whilst the
Brabham drivers found they had been racing with one of their own rear tyres and one of their teammates'.
Jochen Mass spun out of third place, and soon there was frantic activity between the
Grand Prix Drivers' Association and the race officials as to whether the race should continue – it was brought to a halt on lap 29. As Brambilla took the flag, he crashed into the barriers and the
March team celebrated a historic victory. However, behind the scenes, there was confusion. Some teams were preparing for a restart, but as the race had already been stopped with the chequered flag, it could not happen anymore. The race results would stand, but with only half points awarded. Brambilla, the oldest man in the field at 37, had won his first and only Grand Prix. This was the first of only two races where
Shadow used a
Matra engine instead of the
Cosworth DFV in
Jean-Pierre Jarier's
Shadow DN7. With neither
Carlos Reutemann nor
Emerson Fittipaldi featuring in the points,
Niki Lauda's sixth position actually allowed him to expand his points lead to 17.5 points. If Lauda scored any points at all at the
Italian Grand Prix the Austrian driver could claim the championship. == Classification ==