Model produced by: Paul’s Model Art (Minichamps)
Year: 1974
Driver: Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil)
Team: McLaren Ford
Car: McLaren M23
Results: 3 wins, 7 podiums, 2 poles
1974 was the year of change in Formula One. Defending champion Jackie Stewart had retired from racing, creating a power vacuum that sucked a host of racers, old and new, into the battle for the Championship.
And what a season! Predicting the outcome of each race was impossible as the drivers battled to come to terms with closer racing brought about by faster cars with better tyres. It was reliability as much as driving skill that kept the leaderboard in a state of constant flux. By the final race of the season Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren), Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) and Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell) were locked in a fascinating three-way battle for the title. It went right down to the wire.
Emerson Fittipaldi and Clay Regazzoni went into the last race level on points, but Regazzoni dropped down the field with handling problems, so Fittipaldi’s fourth place gave him the championship. Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson and Carlos Reutemann each won three races, Jody Scheckter and Niki Lauda two each, Regazzoni and Denny Hulme, who retired at the end of the season, one each. Graham Hill ran a new team of Lolas, the larger-than-life Hesketh team entered its own car after running James Hunt in a March, and Americans Roger Penske and Parnelli Jones entered their own cars late in the season.
The 1974 season was the first when drivers had permanent racing numbers from race to race, after the system had been instituted in the middle of the previous season.
(Source: Wikipedia, raceart.net)
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