Monaco '72: Beltoise under the downpour

The thirtieth anniversary of the Monaco GP experienced a strange and daring edition.

Mario Andretti and Peter Revson, both involved in the Indianapolis 500, were missing from the lineup for that race. Furthermore, BRM made a certain Helmut Marko make his debut...

That year the circuit underwent some important changes. The most significant was the moving of the pit lane at the exit of the tunnel, and some changes were also made to some corners of the track. These changes were well accepted by all the drivers, despite completely distorting the reference points of the circuit. It was also decided to admit 25 cars to the start, and this diminished the usual battle for the last place on the grid among the smaller teams, given that there were exactly 25 participants. But knowing that there would be constant rain on Saturday, all the teams they had to set a good time already on Friday in order to secure a good place on the grid.

In fact, on Saturday it rained all day, and the starting grid was established according to the results of Friday's tests. The line-up was therefore formed as follows: Fittipaldi, Ickx, Regazzoni, Beltoise, Gethin, Hulme, Stewart.

The heavy rain on Saturday had left some certainties: it certainly couldn't have been worse. But if the track remained dry on Sunday morning, a real downpour descended in the afternoon. The track was so flooded that the drivers were given a 30-minute session to familiarize themselves with the wet track.

After a couple of reconnaissance laps, the grid stopped on the starting grid for the start-up procedure. Surprisingly, Beltoise immediately took the lead at the start, passing Fittipaldi, Ickx and Regazzoni. The Frenchman had a clear track and therefore much better visibility than his pursuers and immediately began to gain an advantage. Regazzoni, who was second, however, went wide at a chicane, and Fittipaldi, immediately behind him, did the same, visibility was so precarious. So in second place went Jacky Ickx, considered the rain wizard, in whom many placed their hopes for victory. But the aggressive driving of the Frenchman from BRM did not allow even a second to the Belgian from Ferrari. Meanwhile, having started in the middle of the group, Jackie Stewart had begun his furious comeback.

After 20 laps Beltoise led with an average of 114km/h over Ickx, Regazzoni, Stewart, Gethin, Fittipaldi. Nothing could have been worse: it rained more and more, and when it seemed to begin to abate, it began again more and more insistently.

After 50 laps, the hourly average had dropped dramatically to 101 km/h. The leadership of the race was still firmly in the hands of Beltoise, with about 20 seconds on Ickx, while Stewart, who had risen to third place, had put too much strain on his engine and was forced to fall back on defense. In fact, on the 50th lap Regazzoni, with his Ferrari, managed to overtake him, but two laps later he crashed into the wall, giving up the position again to the Scotsman. For Beltoise there were only two moments of trepidation: when he lost control of the car at the Portier, but without damaging the car, and when he ran into Tim Schenken's Surtees which had just spun.

Fortunately the Frenchman managed to stay on the track and avoid the accident, and went on to win in 1:51'.33” at an average speed of 101km/h. On the podium with him went Jacky Ickx and Emerson Fittipaldi, who in the final laps had caught and overtaken Jackie Stewart, with his engine failing.

So it was in this hellish deluge that Jean Pierre Beltoise took his first and only Formula 1 victory, and the last ever for British Racing Motors. Few storms like this were seen in Monaco, but a similar case occurred in 1984, a race that highlighted a certain Ayrton Senna for the first time...

Matteo Bramati.