Qualifying resulted in pole position for
Vittorio Brambilla in his March, while Lauda qualified fifth fastest and his teammate
Clay Regazzoni 11th. In the race Brambilla took the lead, but by lap 16 he was overtaken by
Carlos Reutemann's
Brabham and eventually had to retire with a blistered front tyre.
Tom Pryce had to pit early due to throttle slides being clogged by sand, whilst
Patrick Depailler suffered a brake line leak. Hunt retired on lap 22 with a brake-pipe leak, promoting Regazzoni and
Mario Andretti. Poor
Jean-Pierre Jarier lost second place to failing oil pressure on lap 38. Young
Tony Brise was showing little respect for his elders, overtaking
Mark Donohue and
Ronnie Peterson and then challenging championship leader
Emerson Fittipaldi. The battle which ensued slowed them up and
John Watson in the
Surtees had soon climbed up behind them. Meanwhile, Lauda was steadily progressing through the field and on lap 42 he was second. He put a series of fastest laps, benefiting from a harder tyre compound, closed on Reutemann and overtook him to win the Grand Prix by 6 seconds. Reutemann finished second with Regazzoni, in the other Ferrari 312T, third. Brise had his gearbox jammed in fourth and surrendered to Donohue, but on his third Grand Prix gained his first World Championship point and
Graham Hill's first as a constructor. It would prove the only point of Brise's promising but brief F1 career. Fittipaldi suffered braking problems and was passed by Jody Scheckter at the race end to finish in eighth. == Classification ==