1973 Canadian F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: Canadian Grand Prix
Track: Mosport Park

Weather: rain at start, drying

Peter Revson won his 2nd F1 World Championship race at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix. The McLaren-Ford Cosworth driver started from second on the grid and won on the Mosport Park circuit for the 1st time. It was also his 2nd win of the season and the 8th win for the McLaren F1 team.

The first F1 safety car

The 1973 Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport is remembered as the first F1 World Championship race in which a safety car was deployed, and as a textbook case of how chaotic that could be. The Porsche 914 driven by Eppie Wietzes joined the track on lap 35 after Francois Cevert was injured in a collision with Jody Scheckter, but timing officials failed to track which car it should pick up. The eventual result was disputed for four hours.

The race started in light rain. Niki Lauda made the start of the year in the BRM, taking the lead by lap 3 and pulling away by four seconds a lap. As the track dried, the first wave of tyre stops began on lap 17. Peterson, leading after Lauda pitted, suffered a slow puncture and crashed out. The pit-stop wave reshuffled the field continuously over twenty laps; positions became impossible to track.

The Cevert-Scheckter clash

On lap 33 Cevert tried to pass Scheckter for sixth at the second corner. Scheckter held his line; the two cars touched and the Tyrrell speared into the barriers head-on at high speed. A furious Cevert climbed out and ran to Scheckter’s McLaren, hitting him on the helmet before marshals separated them. Cevert had ankle injuries; ambulances arrived; the safety car came out.

The Porsche’s instructions, to position itself ahead of the race leader, misfired. While Stewart was in the pits, the safety car was placed in front of Howden Ganley (mistakenly thought to be the leader). The actual front-runners, Beltoise, Oliver and Revson, were ahead of the safety car and effectively gained almost a lap on the rest. When the race restarted on lap 45, nobody could be sure who was leading.

The result

Officials eventually credited Revson with the win after four hours of timing reconstruction, his second F1 victory of the year, his eighth and last F1 podium. Fittipaldi was second (he believed throughout the race that he had won), Oliver third (Shadow’s second F1 podium). Beltoise was fourth, Stewart fifth on his 99th F1 start, Ganley sixth.

It would prove to be Francois Cevert’s 46th and final F1 start. Stewart and Cevert had only one race left in their planned 100th and shared dream of a Tyrrell-Tyrrell 1-2 finale at Watkins Glen. Fittipaldi led Cevert by seven points for the runner-up spot. The 1973 season would not end well.

Classification 1973 Canadian F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Car & Engine	Grid	Laps	Led	Time	Pts
1	8	PeterRevson	McLaren	McLaren M23Ford DFV	2	80	34	1:59:04.083	9
2	1	EmersonFittipaldi	Team Lotus	Lotus 72EFord DFV	5	80	13	1:59:36.817+32.734s	6
3	17	JackieOliver	Shadow	Shadow DN1Ford DFV	14	80	7	1:59:38.588+34.505s	4
4	20	Jean-PierreBeltoise	BRM	BRM P160EBRM P142	16	80	6	1:59:40.597+36.514s	3
5	5	JackieStewart	Tyrrell	Tyrrell 006Ford DFV	9	79	1	+1 lap	2
6	25	HowdenGanley	Iso Marlboro	Iso Marlboro IRFord DFV	22	79		+1 lap	1
7	27	JamesHunt	March	March 731Ford DFV	15	78		+2 laps
8	10	CarlosReutemann	Brabham	Brabham BT42Ford DFV	4	78		+2 laps
9	23	MikeHailwood	Surtees	Surtees TS14AFord DFV	12	78		+2 laps
10	29	ChrisAmon	Tyrrell	Tyrrell 005Ford DFV	11	77		+3 laps
11	11	WilsonFittipaldi	Brabham	Brabham BT42Ford DFV	10	77		+3 laps
12	9	RolfStommelen	Brabham	Brabham BT42Ford DFV	18	76		+4 laps
13	7	DennyHulme	McLaren	McLaren M23Ford DFV	7	75		+5 laps
14	26	TimSchenken	Iso Marlboro	Iso Marlboro IRFord DFV	24	75		+5 laps
15	4	ArturoMerzario	Ferrari	Ferrari 312B3Ferrari 001	20	75		+5 laps
16	12	GrahamHill	Shadow	Shadow DN1Ford DFV	17	73		+7 laps
17	16	GeorgeFollmer	Shadow	Shadow DN1Ford DFV	13	73		+7 laps
18	24	CarlosPace	Surtees	Surtees TS14AFord DFV	19	72		+8 laps
NC	18	Jean-PierreJarier	March	March 731Ford DFV	23	71		Not classified
NC	28	Rikkyvon Opel	Ensign	Ensign N173Ford DFV	26	68		Not classified
DNF	21	NikiLauda	BRM	BRM P160EBRM P142	8	62	17	Transmission
DNF	0	JodyScheckter	McLaren	McLaren M23Ford DFV	3	32		Accident
DNF	6	FrançoisCevert	Tyrrell	Tyrrell 006Ford DFV	6	32		Accident
DNF	15	MikeBeuttler	March	March 731Ford DFV	21	20		Engine
DNF	2	RonniePeterson	Team Lotus	Lotus 72EFord DFV	1	16	2	Suspension
DNF	19	PeterGethin	BRM	BRM P160EBRM P142	25	5		Oil Pump

Fastest lap: 1:15.496 min by Emerson Fittipaldi (Team Lotus 72E)

✅ Check out 1973 F1 Championship Standings
✅ Check out 1973 F1 Teams & Drivers

✅ Check out All Time F1 Drivers Rankings
✅ Check out All Time F1 Driver Records
✅ Check out All Time F1 Teams Rankings

About the author

Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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