1974 Formula One Season !!hot!! Review

| Driver | Team | Car | Role in Season | |--------|------|-----|----------------| | | McLaren | M23 | The cerebral Brazilian. Defending champion (1972) but had an off year in '73. Returned hungry. | | Niki Lauda | Ferrari | 312B3-74 | The rising Austrian. Second season. Crashing in practice then winning races. Arrogant, brilliant. | | Jody Scheckter | Tyrrell | 007 | The South African wild child. Overtaking king. Won three races. Equally likely to win or cause a pile-up. | | Clay Regazzoni | Ferrari | 312B3-74 | The Swiss veteran. Steady, fast, but often unlucky. Finished 2nd in championship. | | Ronnie Peterson | Lotus | 72E / 76 | The "SuperSwede." Still the fastest driver on raw pace, but trapped in Lotus's decline. | | Carlos Reutemann | Brabham | BT44 | Argentine "Lole." Smooth as silk. Won in South Africa and Austria. |

For most of the season, the championship was a battle between three men: 1974 formula one season

The 1974 season is the forgotten pivot point of F1 history. Wedged between Jackie Stewart’s twilight (1973) and Niki Lauda’s first title (1975), 1974 was a bloody, transitional year. It was the last season before the advent of the modern rear-wing endplates and the first season of the "safety era." It produced the closest title fight in F1 history at the time (three drivers alive for the final race) and crowned as the first world champion for McLaren . | Driver | Team | Car | Role

Fittipaldi 55, Regazzoni 52, Scheckter 45. | | Niki Lauda | Ferrari | 312B3-74 | The rising Austrian

Emerson Fittipaldi secured his second World Championship in 1974, but the story of the year was the resurgence of McLaren and the emergence of Ferrari as a modernized powerhouse under the guidance of a young Luca di Montezemolo. The Changing of the Guard

| Position | Driver | Team | Points | Wins | |----------|--------|------|--------|------| | 1 | Emerson Fittipaldi | McLaren | 55 | 3 | | 2 | Clay Regazzoni | Ferrari | 52 | 1 | | 3 | Jody Scheckter | Tyrrell | 45 | 2 | | 4 | Niki Lauda | Ferrari | 38 | 2 | | 5 | Ronnie Peterson | Lotus | 35 | 3 |