Date 20 May 1973 Course length 4.220 km (2.622 mi) | Course Grand Prix Circuit | |
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Official name XXXI GROTE PRIJS VAN BELGIE Location Circuit Zolder
Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium Distance 70 laps, 295.379 km (183.540 mi) | ||
The 1973 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 20 May 1973. It was the fifth race of the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers. The race was won by British driver Jackie Stewart driving a Tyrrell 006.
The entire Zolder track had to be resurfaced a week before the actual Grand Prix after a few drivers such as Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi and François Cevert walked around the track to inspect it. They found that the track started to break up as a result of a previous race, and the track owners immediately decided to resurface the track, only a week before the Grand Prix. Cevert, Fittipaldi and Stewart refused to drive on the track because of the danger, and Cevert responded to the FIA that they would attempt to cancel the race if the owners did not do a good enough job of fixing the track.
Future world champion Niki Lauda took his first ever career points here, by finishing in fifth place in his BRM.