1974 French Grand Prix

1974 French Grand Prix
1974 French Grand Prix
	Dijon-Prenois Circuit
Race details
Date	7 July 1974
Location	Dijon-Prenois, Dijon, France
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	3.289 km (2.044 miles)
Distance	80 laps, 263.12 km (163.495 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Niki Lauda ;
Time	0:58.79
Fastest lap
Driver	Jody Scheckter
Time	1:00.00 on lap 10
Podium
First	Ronnie Peterson ;
Second	Niki Lauda ;
Third	Clay Regazzoni ;
	Lap leaders ;

Last updated January 11, 2026

The 1974 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Dijon-Prenois near Dijon, France on 7 July 1974. It was race 9 of 15 in both the 1974 World Championship of Drivers and the 1974 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

The 80-lap race was won by Ronnie Peterson, driving a Lotus-Ford. Niki Lauda finished second in a Ferrari, having started from pole position, with teammate Clay Regazzoni third. Until the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix,^{[ failed verification ]} this was the only^{[ failed verification ]} World Championship Grand Prix in which lap times of less than one minute were set, by 12 drivers during qualifying, including pole position starter Lauda.^[3]

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Pos.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Grid
1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	0:58.79	1
2	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	0:59.08	2
3	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	0:59.11	3
4	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	0:59.13	4
5	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	0:59.20	5
6	Mike Hailwood	McLaren-Ford	0:59.22	6
7	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	0:59.32	7
8	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	0:59.36	8
9	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	0:59.43	9
10	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	0:59.51	10
11	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	0:59.54	11
12	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	0:59.59	12
13	Jacky Ickx	Lotus-Ford	1:00.00	13
14	John Watson	Brabham-Ford	1:00.02	14
15	Arturo Merzario	Iso-Marlboro-Ford	1:00.16	15
16	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1:00.26	16
17	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	1:00.36	17
18	Jochen Mass	Surtees-Ford	1:00.48	18
19	Henri Pescarolo	BRM	1:00.67	19
20	Guy Edwards	Lola-Ford	1:00.68	20
21	Graham Hill	Lola-Ford	1:00.73	21
22	François Migault	BRM	1:00.86	22
23	Vern Schuppan	Ensign-Ford	1:01.24	—
24	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford	1:01.35	—
25	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Iso-Marlboro-Ford	1:01.52	—
26	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1:01.60	—
27	José Dolhem	Surtees-Ford	1:01.70	—
28	Rikky von Opel	Brabham-Ford	1:01.79	—
29	Leo Kinnunen	Surtees-Ford	1:03.15	—
30	Gérard Larrousse	Brabham-Ford	1:03.27	—

*Positions with a pink background indicate drivers that failed to qualify

Race

Race summary

To honor the 80th birthday of the ACF, a parade of vintage cars was organized with a selection of great drivers from the 20s and 30s up to the present day. The race itself was largely uneventful. Tom Pryce put in a superb performance to be 3rd on the grid behind Ronnie Peterson and Niki Lauda. However, he was slow off the start and was hit by Carlos Reutemann, ending his race. James Hunt and Henri Pescarolo were also taken out in the ensuing accident. Lauda led convincingly from Peterson and Clay Regazzoni with Emerson Fittipaldi up to 4th by lap 15. Lauda dropped back with handling problems on lap 16, and was passed by Peterson, who led to the flag. He was followed by Lauda and Regazzoni, who came home 3rd despite vibration problems. Regazzoni had been challenged strongly by Fittipaldi, but just as the McLaren driver was preparing to pass, Fittipaldi's engine exploded, ending his race. Jody Scheckter was fourth, less than a second behind Regazzoni.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	80	1:21:55.02	2	9
2	12	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	80	+ 20.36	1	6
3	11	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	80	+ 27.84	4	4
4	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	80	+ 28.11	7	3
5	2	Jacky Ickx	Lotus-Ford	80	+ 37.54	13	2
6	6	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	80	+ 38.14	11	1
7	33	Mike Hailwood	McLaren-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	6
8	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	9
9	20	Arturo Merzario	Iso-Marlboro-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	15
10	14	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	79	+ 1 Lap	17
11	10	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	16
12	17	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	12
13	26	Graham Hill	Lola-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	21
14	37	François Migault	BRM	78	+ 2 Laps	22
15	27	Guy Edwards	Lola-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	20
16	28	John Watson	Brabham-Ford	76	+ 4 Laps	14
Ret	5	Emerson Fittipaldi	McLaren-Ford	27	Engine	5
Ret	7	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	24	Handling	8
Ret	19	Jochen Mass	Surtees-Ford	4	Clutch	18
Ret	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow-Ford	1	Collision	3
Ret	15	Henri Pescarolo	BRM	1	Clutch	19
Ret	24	James Hunt	Hesketh-Ford	0	Collision	10
DNQ	22	Vern Schuppan	Ensign-Ford
DNQ	8	Rikky von Opel	Brabham-Ford
DNQ	34	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Ford
DNQ	21	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Iso-Marlboro-Ford
DNQ	9	Hans Joachim Stuck	March-Ford
DNQ	18	José Dolhem	Surtees-Ford
DNQ	23	Leo Kinnunen	Surtees-Ford
DNQ	43	Gérard Larrousse	Brabham-Ford
Source:^[4]

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French drivers José Dolhem and future Grand Prix winner Jean-Pierre Jabouille.
This was the 100th Grand Prix start for a German driver. In those 100 races, German drivers had won 2 Grands Prix, achieved 10 podium finishes, 1 pole position and 2 fastest laps.
This was the first fastest lap set by a South African driver.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Niki Lauda	36
1	2	Clay Regazzoni	32
2	3	Emerson Fittipaldi	31
	4	Jody Scheckter	26
3	5	Ronnie Peterson	19
Source: ^[5]

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
1	1	Ferrari	45
1	2	McLaren-Ford	43 (45)
	3	Tyrrell-Ford	30
	4	Lotus-Ford	22
	5	Brabham-Ford	10
Source: ^[5]

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 7 results from the first 8 races and the best 6 results from the last 7 races counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

↑ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 39. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
↑ Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 41. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.
↑ "Dijon 1974 - classification". F1 Facts. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
↑ "1974 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
1 2 "France 1974 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.

Previous race:
1974 Dutch Grand Prix

FIA Formula One World Championship
1974 season

Next race:
1974 British Grand Prix

Previous race:
1973 French Grand Prix

French Grand Prix

Next race:
1975 French Grand Prix

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[LangVol3P39-1] Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 39. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.

[LangVol3P41-2] Lang, Mike (1983). Grand Prix! Vol 3. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 41. ISBN 0-85429-380-9.

[3] "Dijon 1974 - classification". F1 Facts. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2016.

[4] "1974 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.

[champ-5] 1 2 "France 1974 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.

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[5]

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