1973 British Grand Prix

The race started at 2:00pm local time. It featured the most cars to start a Grand Prix as it featured 28 cars in rows of three by two.^[2]

Ronnie Peterson led away but a very quick start by Jackie Stewart brought him from fourth to second, as Stewart passed Peterson to take the lead at Beckets. Carlos Reutemann was in third with Denny Hulme and Jody Scheckter behind him. As the exited Woodcote corner to complete the first lap, Stewart led Peterson and Reutemann but carnage was happening behind them. Scheckter tried to pass Hulme on the outside Scheckter's car went wide and spun right across the track and it hit the retaining wall of the pits and bounced back into the middle of the track. Hulme escaped undamaged, as Francois Cevert, James Hunt, Peter Revson, and Clay Regazzoni also went by. The big one then happened as Scheckter's car ricocheted back from the pit wall, Revson struck Scheckter's rear wing, and then all hell broke loose as the rest of the field crashed into the wrecks or dodged about to miss the wreckage. Nine cars were involved in the resulting carnage, Andrea de Adamich had crashed headlong into the barriers on the outside of the track and he was trapped in the cockpit of his Brabham with a broken ankle. Apart from minor bruises and shakings, no one else was hurt but the Surtees cars of Mike Hailwood, Carlos Pace, and Jochen Mass were smashed up. The Shadow's were also involved: Jackie Oliver's car was wrecked, while George Follmer's car was ripped open. The Embassy Hill-entered Shadow of Graham Hill was struck in the rear and a wishbone broken; Hill drove it round back to the pits under its own power. The BRM of Jean-Pierre Beltoise and the works March of Roger Williamson were wrecked, as was the McLaren of Scheckter.^[3][4][5] It would be F1's biggest race start crash until the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix took out thirteen cars; no one was injured.^[6]

The race organisation acted instantly and the race was red flagged indicating without argument or discussion that the race was stopped and would be started again later. Meanwhile, those ahead of the accident were still racing until they ended the lap, when they all came to a rapid stop at the scene of the crash. It took 30 minutes to release de Adamich from the wreckage of the Brabham, plus an hour to clear away the wrecked cars and the debris. The cars that escaped were wheeled back to the starting grid and Hill's Shadow was repaired in the pits, and Niki Lauda's BRM that had been in the pits all the time had a new drive-shaft fitted. Hunt's March needed a new airbox as his original one was damaged in the wreck and borrowed Mike Beuttler's airbox from his car.^[3][4][5]

Drivers were allowed to use spare cars but none were used, Lauda's BRM and Hill's Shadow having been repaired during the red flag period. Non-starters included de Adamich who had been taken to hospital, Scheckter who was barred by McLaren as several team bosses including John Surtees wanted to throw him out for causing the crash, Graham McRae's Iso-Marlboro which had a throttle issue and could not restart, and David Purley's March which had spun off before the big one and did not restart. Other drivers who did not take the restart included Oliver, Follmer, Beltoise, Williamson, Purley, Pace, Hailwood, and Mass. It was 3.30 p.m. before the track was clear and there were nineteen starters ready for the restart over the original distance on 67 laps. At 3:35 pm, the depleted field moved up on to the starting grid. Everyone took up their original positions, leaving gaps for those who had been eliminated. This time it was Lauda who had an excellent start and moved up behind Peterson into second, with Stewart third. Stewart passed Lauda on lap 2 and charged after Peterson. On lap 6, Stewart again tried to pass Peterson for the lead but the Swedish driver shut the door; Stewart lost control of his Tyrrell and spun off into the thick grass. Although he was able to continue, Stewart ended up finishing 10th, one lap down.^[3][4][5]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Peter Revson	McLaren-Ford	67	1:29:18.5	3	9
2	2	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford	67	+ 2.8	1	6
3	7	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	67	+ 3.0	2	4
4	27	James Hunt	March-Ford	67	+ 3.4	11	3
5	6	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	67	+ 36.6	7	2
6	10	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford	67	+ 44.7	8	1
7	19	Clay Regazzoni	BRM	67	+ 1:11.7	10
8	3	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	67	+ 1:17.4	19
9	25	Howden Ganley	Iso-Marlboro-Ford	66	+1 lap	18
10	5	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	66	+1 lap	4
11	15	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	65	+2 Laps	24
12	21	Niki Lauda	BRM	63	+4 laps	9
13	28	Rikky von Opel	Ensign-Ford	61	+6 laps	21
Ret	11	Wilson Fittipaldi	Brabham-Ford	44	Oil leak	13
Ret	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	36	Transmission	5
Ret	29	John Watson	Brabham-Ford	36	Fuel system	23
Ret	12	Graham Hill	Shadow-Ford	24	Chassis	27
Ret	22	Chris Amon	Tecno	6	Fuel system	29
Ret	30	Jody Scheckter	McLaren-Ford	0	Collision	6
Ret	23	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	0	Collision	12
Ret	31	Jochen Mass	Surtees-Ford	0	Collision	14
Ret	24	Carlos Pace	Surtees-Ford	0	Collision	15
Ret	20	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	BRM	0	Collision	17
Ret	9	Andrea de Adamich	Brabham-Ford	0	Collision	20
Ret	14	Roger Williamson	March-Ford	0	Collision	22
Ret	16	George Follmer	Shadow-Ford	0	Collision	25
Ret	17	Jackie Oliver	Shadow-Ford	0	Collision	26
Ret	26	Graham McRae	Iso-Marlboro-Ford	0	Throttle	28
DNS	18	David Purley	March-Ford	0	Spun Off	16
Source:[7]

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British drivers Roger Williamson and future Grand Prix winner John Watson, German driver and future Grand Prix winner Jochen Mass and for New Zealand driver Graham McRae.
• This was the 61st pole position for Lotus, breaking the old record set by Ferrari at the 1972 Italian Grand Prix.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points   1   Jackie Stewart 42   2   Emerson Fittipaldi 41   3   François Cevert 33   4   Ronnie Peterson 25   5   Denny Hulme 23 Source: [8]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points   1   Lotus-Ford 58 (62)   2   Tyrrell-Ford 53 (57)   3   McLaren-Ford 35   1 4   Brabham-Ford 12   1 5   Ferrari 12 Source: [8]

• 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.

• List of red-flagged Formula One races