Peterson, almost King of Sweden
Anderstorp 1973. A total of 29 cars were entered for the Swedish Formula 1 Grand Prix 1973, however only 22 arrived at the race. The field was smaller than usual as there was no time for some teams to repair the damaged cars after Monaco and travel in time to the distant Anderstorp (1200 miles). Unthinkable nowadays.
Ronnie Peterson (picture above) did not disappoint his fans in qualifying, taking a convincing pole in his Lotus 72E. Second was François Cevert in a Tyrrell 006.
For 70 laps it looked like Colin Chapman’s John Player Special Team Lotus would score a sensational 1-2 with Ronnie Peterson first and reigning World Champion, Emerson Fittipaldi second. Then disaster struck when the Brazilian retired with gearbox failure and Peterson started to suffer with tyre wear while Denny Hulme (McLaren M23) was quickly gaining ground on the leader.
On the penultimate lap, Hulme was able to pass the local hero and snatch victory, the New-Zealander’s decision to run harder tyres having paid off. Peterson finished four seconds adrift in second place and would never win his home Grand Prix. François Cevert scored a good podium with third, 10.6 seconds behind the winner. Denny Hulme (picture below), interviewed on the podium, expressed “sadness to have taken this one away from Ronnie.”