On the first lap of the race, the brakes on Jackie Oliver’s BRM failed and he slammed into the side of Jacky Ickx’s Ferrari. The two cars erupted into a ball of flames almost instantly. Of course, this was the 70s, so the race didn’t stop or anything as sensible as that and the field kept racing around the burning wreckage whilst marshals literally trained their fire extinguishers on Ickx, who was rolling around on the grass whilst on fire.
Apart from Ickx suffering a few burns, incredibly both drivers were unhurt. The track being suddenly wet from all the fire extinguishers and spilt fuel caused a few drivers to spin, but otherwise, the remains of the cars were just left there, smouldering, for the remaining two hours of the race.
Jackie Stewart won for Tyrrell in what was March’s first F1 victory as a constructor. He was over a lap ahead of second-place Bruce McLaren (his final F1 podium) and Mario Andretti in third (his first podium).
