abstract
| - Fittipaldi also managed to give the home fans exactly what they wanted in qualifying, sweeping to pole despite the fact it was only his second race for McLaren. Carlos Reutemann claimed second on the grid, while Niki Lauda shared the front row with Ronnie Peterson. At the start it was the "even" side of the grid that got the best start, as Reutemann and Peterson shot in front of Fittipaldi, while Lauda tumbled down the order with a misfire. The rest of the field filtered through behind a fast starting Clay Regazzoni, who shot up from eighth on the grid. Reutemann led through until lap four, before Peterson elbowed the Argentine out of the way, followed through the Fittipaldi. The source of Reutemann's small drop in pace proved to be his tyres, with the Argentine ultimately falling out of the points as his softer tyres continued to degrade. Peterson and Fittipaldi, meanwhile, were left to duel for the lead, with the Swede managing to keep his former Lotus teammate at bay. Yet, it was not to last, and as the pair came to lap Arturo Merzario, Fittipaldi outwitted Peterson and snatched the lead. Peterson's attempts to retaliate were then thwarted by a slow puncture, with his stop relegating him down to sixth. By this stage the skies were really darkening, with near-black clouds threatening the burst before the race was run. On lap thirty-one the clouds finally burst and dumped huge amounts of water on the circuit, with the pace suddenly dropping to a crawl. A red flag was thrown two laps later, the conditions quickly deteriorating beyond what the wet weather tyres could cope with. The result was declared as the order had stood on lap 32, with Fittipaldi claiming a seemingly dominant victory. The Brazilian had lapped everyone bar second placed Regazzoni, while third went to Ickx, in only his second race for Lotus. Carlos Pace claimed points at his home race with fourth, with Mike Hailwood and Peterson completing the point scorers.
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