- Monaco Grand Prix
Stewart equals Clark's record
Jackie Stewart took a third win of the season as his Tyrrell won the Monaco Grand Prix on a circuit that had been revised since 1972.
A new tunnel section, a new sequence of corners around the swimming pool and a new comer called La Rascasse were introduced and Stewart adapted best to claim pole position from Ronnie Peterson's Lotus.
The McLaren of Denny Hulme shared row two with the second Tyrrell of François Cevert and it was Cevert who made the best start to lead but he hit a kerb on lap two and headed to the pits with a puncture. It allowed Peterson into the lead with the BRM of Clay Regazzoni in second and the rest of the field bottled up behind. The BRM couldn't match the pace of the Lotus and Peterson pulled away as the rest of the field struggled to find a way past the wide BRM. On lap six, Regazzoni made a mistake and went up an escape road, allowing Stewart up to second and in pursuit off Peterson's Lotus.
Stewart was spared the aggravation of trying to pass the Lotus on Monaco's tight and twisty confines as Peterson hit fuel feed problems and fell down the order, leaving the Tyrrell leading Emerson Fittipaldi. Niki Lauda took third but his BRM retired with a gearbox problem and Jacky Ickx's Ferrari broke a driveshaft. It promoted Wilson Fittipaldi to third behind his brother until a fuel leak stopped him on lap 72. So Peterson was back up to third despite his problems, finishing ahead of Cevert.
But the honours went to Stewart, who took his 25th world championship win to equal Jim Clark's record.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
