1973 Belgian Grand Prix
# 1973 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1973 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 20 May 1973. It was race 5 of 15 in both the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was won by British driver Jackie Stewart driving a Tyrrell 006.

The entire Zolder track had to be resurfaced a week before the actual Grand Prix after a few drivers such as Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi and François Cevert walked around the track to inspect it. They found that the track started to break up as a result of a previous race, and the track owners immediately decided to resurface the track, only a week before the Grand Prix. Cevert, Fittipaldi and Stewart refused to drive on the track because of the danger, and Cevert responded to the FIA that they would attempt to cancel the race if the owners did not do a good enough job of fixing the track.

Future world champion Niki Lauda took his first ever career points here, by finishing in fifth place in his BRM.

This race saw the end of teams' numbers changing from race to race - the numbers teams raced with at Zolder lasted until the end of the season. For the 1974 season, the finishing positions in the Constructors' Championship were used to allocate the numbers, after which teams did not change numbers unless they won the Drivers' Championship (or signed the current World Champion).

## Qualifying

### Qualifying classification

| Pos. | Driver | Constructor | Time | No |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ronnie Peterson | Lotus-Ford | 1:22,46 | 1 |
| 2 | Denis Hulme | McLaren-Ford | 1:23,00 | 2 |
| 3 | Jacky Ickx | Ferrari | 1:23,10 | 3 |
| 4 | François Cevert | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:23,22 | 4 |
| 5 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | B.R.M. | 1:23,25 | 5 |
| 6 | Jackie Stewart | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:23,28 | 6 |
| 7 | Carlos Reutemann | Brabham-Ford | 1:23,34 | 7 |
| 8 | Carlos Pace | Surtees-Ford | 1:23,34 | 8 |
| 9 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Lotus-Ford | 1:23,44 | 9 |
| 10 | Peter Revson | McLaren-Ford | 1:23,52 | 10 |
| 11 | George Follmer | Shadow-Ford | 1:23,86 | 11 |
| 12 | Clay Regazzoni | B.R.M. | 1:23,91 | 12 |
| 13 | Mike Hailwood | Surtees-Ford | 1:23,96 | 13 |
| 14 | Niki Lauda | B.R.M. | 1:24,51 | 14 |
| 15 | Chris Amon | Tecno | 1:24,79 | 15 |
| 16 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | March-Ford | 1:24,83 | 16 |
| 17 | Nanni Galli | Iso-Ford | 1:24,89 | 17 |
| 18 | Andrea de Adamich | Brabham-Ford | 1:25,28 | 18 |
| 19 | Wilson Fittipaldi | Brabham-Ford | 1:25,57 | 19 |
| 20 | Mike Beuttler | March-Ford | 1:25,77 | 20 |
| 21 | Howden Ganley | Iso-Ford | 1:26,68 | 21 |
| 22 | Jackie Oliver | Shadow-Ford | 1:28,12 | 22 |
| 23 | Graham Hill | Shadow-Ford | 1:30,45 | 23 |

## Race

### Classification

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 5 | Jackie Stewart | Tyrrell-Ford | 70 | 1:42:13.43 | 6 | 9 |
| 2 | 6 | François Cevert | Tyrrell-Ford | 70 | + 31.84 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | 1 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Lotus-Ford | 70 | + 2:02.79 | 9 | 4 |
| 4 | 9 | Andrea de Adamich | Brabham-Ford | 69 | + 1 Lap | 18 | 3 |
| 5 | 21 | Niki Lauda | BRM | 69 | + 1 Lap | 14 | 2 |
| 6 | 22 | Chris Amon | Tecno | 67 | + 3 Laps | 15 | 1 |
| 7 | 7 | Denny Hulme | McLaren-Ford | 67 | +3 Laps | 2 | |
| 8 | 24 | Carlos Pace | Surtees-Ford | 66 | +4 Laps | 8 | |
| 9 | 12 | Graham Hill | Shadow-Ford | 65 | +5 Laps | 23 | |
| 10 | 19 | Clay Regazzoni | BRM | 63 | Accident | 12 | |
| 11 | 15 | Mike Beuttler | March-Ford | 63 | Accident | 20 | |
| Ret | 14 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | March-Ford | 60 | Accident | 16 | |
| Ret | 20 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | BRM | 56 | Not classified | 5 | |
| Ret | 11 | Wilson Fittipaldi | Brabham-Ford | 46 | Engine | 19 | |
| Ret | 2 | Ronnie Peterson | Lotus-Ford | 42 | Accident | 1 | |
| Ret | 8 | Peter Revson | McLaren-Ford | 33 | Accident | 10 | |
| Ret | 25 | Howden Ganley | Iso-Marlboro-Ford | 16 | Accident | 21 | |
| Ret | 10 | Carlos Reutemann | Brabham-Ford | 14 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 16 | George Follmer | Shadow-Ford | 13 | Throttle | 11 | |
| Ret | 17 | Jackie Oliver | Shadow-Ford | 11 | Accident | 22 | |
| Ret | 3 | Jacky Ickx | Ferrari | 6 | Oil pump | 3 | |
| Ret | 26 | Nanni Galli | Iso-Marlboro-Ford | 6 | Engine | 17 | |
| Ret | 23 | Mike Hailwood | Surtees-Ford | 4 | Accident | 13 | |
| Source: ||||||||

## Championship standings after the race

| | Pos | Driver | Points |
| - | - | - | - |
| | 1 | Emerson Fittipaldi | 35 |
| | 2 | Jackie Stewart | 28 |
| | 3 | François Cevert | 18 |
| | 4 | Peter Revson | 9 |
| | 5 | Denny Hulme | 9 |
| Source: ||||
| | Pos | Constructor | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Tyrrell-Ford | 36 |
| 1 | 2 | Lotus-Ford | 35 |
| | 3 | McLaren-Ford | 15 |
| | 4 | Ferrari | 9 |
| | 5 | Shadow-Ford | 5 |
| Source: ||||

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
