1973 Season

Driver changes

The most significant move sees Ronnie Peterson join Lotus from March, pairing with reigning world champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Clay Regazzoni departs Ferrari after three seasons and joins BRM, which has assembled an ambitious trio alongside Niki Lauda and returning Jean-Pierre Beltoise. Graham Hill leaves Brabham to form his own privateer outfit, Embassy Racing. Andrea de Adamich moves from Surtees to fill Hill’s vacancy at Brabham, while Carlos Pace takes de Adamich’s seat at Surtees. Frank Williams loses Henri Pescarolo and Pace and signs Howden Ganley from BRM and Nanni Galli from Tecno. Tecno, in turn, signs Chris Amon. At March, Jean-Pierre Jarier takes the seats vacated by Peterson and Lauda, though March expect his Formula One season to be difficult; Jarier is primarily there for his Formula Two programme, where he goes on to dominate.

Team changes

Matra withdraw from Formula One after reducing operations to a single car in 1972, making this the first season since 1966 without a French constructor. Shadow enter the championship backed by Universal Oil Products, with technical direction from ex-BRM designer Tony Southgate. The team carries an American licence but is based in Britain, and brings Can-Am veterans Jackie Oliver and 1972 Can-Am champion George Follmer as its drivers. Shadow also sell a chassis to Graham Hill’s new Embassy Racing team.

Calendar

The season expands from 12 to 15 rounds. São Paulo hosts the first ever Brazilian Grand Prix at Autodromo de Interlagos. Sweden holds its first world championship race at the Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp, inspired in part by Ronnie Peterson’s growing popularity at home. The Dutch Grand Prix returns after a one-year absence; Zandvoort was cancelled in 1972 for safety upgrades including new asphalt, new barriers, a layout change, and a new race control tower.

Among existing rounds, the Belgian and Monaco Grands Prix swap positions on the calendar so Monaco falls after Belgium. The Belgian Grand Prix also moves from Nivelles-Baulers to Circuit Zolder. The Spanish Grand Prix moves from Jarama to the Montjuïc street circuit in Barcelona, in line with the event-sharing arrangement between the two venues. The British Grand Prix moves from Brands Hatch to Silverstone, and the French Grand Prix moves from Circuit de Charade to Circuit Paul Ricard.

Regulation changes

The minimum car weight rises from 550 kg to 575 kg. Drivers are now required to complete a full warm-up lap before the race, replacing the previous practice of forming a dummy grid a short distance behind the official grid. Car numbering is formalised from the second race onward: teammates are paired (Lotus 1 and 2, Tyrrell 3 and 4, and so on). The pairings are fixed for the remainder of the season from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards, and starting in 1974, numbers will be assigned based on the final positions in the 1973 Manufacturers’ championship.