Sunday 30th July 1972

Jacky Ickx driving a Ferrari 312B2/72 won the German Grand Prix at at Nürburgring and scored his only Grand Chelem (English:Grand Slam) (led and won the whole race from pole position and set fastest lap). He also beat François Cevert’s 1971 fastest lap record by more than seven seconds, and improved on the pole position record set by Jackie Stewart in the same year by 13 seconds. Championship leader Emerson Fittipaldi’s John Player Special Lotus suffered a rare mechanical failure and retired after a gearbox fire. Jackie Stewart had a long battle for second place with Clay Regazzoni before the two tangled on the last lap at Hatzenbach. Stewart crashed into the Armco barrier, destroying his Tyrrell’s suspension and losing the opportunity to close the gap on Fittipaldi in the title race.