The British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch was the tenth race of the 1974 Formula One World Championship. After a dismal 1973, Ferrari was on the way up again, thanks largely to the efforts of Niki Lauda whose victories in Spain and Holland had put him at the head of the contest for the drivers’ title. In qualifying at the Kent circuit, Lauda met a formidable opponent in Sweden’s Ronnie Peterson and the Ferrari and the Lotus ended up tying for pole position. The second row consisted of Jody Scheckter’s Tyrrell and Carlos Reutemann’s Brabham, while home eyes were focused on row three where James Hunt’s Hesketh lined up alongside the Shadow of young Welshman Tom Pryce, who had already won the 100 bottles of champagne presented by the Evening News for the fastest lap during the Thursday morning practice session. Even as the cars left the pits before the start there was drama, Hunt’s Hesketh hitting a Tyrrell mechanic and breaking both his legs. The crowded pit lane would be a foretaste of things to come.
At the end of the first of the 75 laps, Lauda held a two-second lead over Scheckter, ahead of Clay Regazzoni, who had shot up from the fourth row, and Peterson. Lauda and Scheckter pulled away steadily from the chasing pack, many of whom were being crippled by punctures. As early as lap 19 John Watson in a privately entered Brabham called into the pits with a puncture, caused by the proliferation of small flinty stones on the track, and over the next few laps five more drivers, including Regazzoni, Peterson and Graham Hill, were all forced to stop with deflated tyres. Out in front Lauda remained unruffled, his lead having stretched to a comfortable eight seconds, but then on lap 55 he, too, sustained a slow puncture. The previously smooth-running Ferrari began to handle erratically. His pit signalled that they had a new tyre ready and urged him to come in, but Lauda was desperate for championship points and knew that a stop at that stage would as good as hand the race to Scheckter. So he made a calculated decision to try and hold out to the finish.
It was not to be. Scheckter closed relentlessly and, five laps from the end, capitalised on Lauda’s misfortune to sweep past into the lead. Lauda soldiered on gamely but two laps later Emerson Fittipaldi relegated him to third. Then on the penultimate lap the tyre finally burst. Bits of rubber were flying everywhere, leaving Lauda no option but to rumble into the pits on the flat. The Ferrari crew changed the tyre in 20 seconds but as Lauda accelerated away to rejoin the race, he found his way barred by crowds of people who had flooded the pit lane to watch Scheckter take the chequered flag. To make matters worse, an RAC official had backed his Ford Cortina across the exit in readiness for the winner’s lap of honour. Fearing an accident, a marshal rushed out and showed Lauda the red flag, whereupon the Austrian climbed out of his car and stormed off.
The red flag signalling the immediate end of the race gave Lauda a finishing position of ninth (and therefore no championship points). Ferrari protested but the RAC stewards dismissed it, so Ferrari appealed to the sport’s governing body, the FIA. They elevated Lauda to fifth (and two points) on the grounds that the red flag had been shown incorrectly. It was a chaotic end to a Grand Prix, and ultimately the two points which Lauda clawed back made no difference to the outcome of the championship as Fittipaldi took the title with something to spare.