Ferrari's 1974 driver line-up

On the Jean-Pierre Jarier thread a couple of people wrote that JPJ had actually signed a contract to drive for Ferrari in 1974. Jarier was already under contract to March, and Max Mosley wouldn't let him go unless Ferrari paid a hefty tranfer fee. Ferrari wouldn't. Later, Don Nichols did.

I've also read that Peter Revson rejected a Ferrari deal for 1974. Does anyone know why? Money? Status? A conflict over Revson's other racing activities? I know that Revson signed to do Indy (and other races?) for Penske in '74, but was that before of after the Ferrari deal fell through?

Does anyone know the order in which Ferrari's driver negotiations occurred? I've always assumed that Regazzoni was chosen first. Was he? Who was next - Revson? Jarier? Could Lauda have been Ferrari's last choice? Did Ferrari have talks with any other drivers?

Imagine how different the history of the sport would be if Ferrari had gone into the 1974 (and, hence, the 1975) season with a different driver line-up.

yes then Lauda would have become WDC with BRM

IIRC, Peter Revson mentioned in his biography Speed With Style that he was offered a Ferrari contract but the sticking point was his USAC committments (Indy 500 and others) in America. He was offered the third factory McLaren in Yardley colours (probably the best option as it would include USAC with McLaren) but opted to be No.1 at Shadow and drive their F1 and CanAm cars plus, I presume, the odd USAC race.

Don't forget that Ferrari only scored 12 points for the entire 1973 Constructors' Championship; 9 of them in the first three races (with the old car) and no points at all in the last seven races of the season - and no podium finish in an entire F1 season. Looked like they were really in a mess as far as F1 was concerned. Meanwhile Shadow scored 2 podium finishes in 1973, their first season in F1 ....

Little better than BRM, really...

Maybe AndreasF1 is right? But then again, there might have been some problems getting around Big Lou.

Originally posted by scheivlak
Don't forget that Ferrari only scored 12 points for the entire 1973 Constructors' Championship; 9 of them in the first three races (with the old car) and no points at all in the last seven races of the season - and no podium finish in an entire F1 season. Looked like they were really in a mess as far as F1 was concerned. Meanwhile Shadow scored 2 podium finishes in 1973, their first season in F1 ....

1973 was the year that FIAT stepped up to the plate and saved Ferrari from almost certain bankruptcy. It was FIAT's money that saved Ferrari and allowed them to have a competitive car for the 1974 season.

IIRC, Peter Revson mentioned in his biography Speed With Style that he was offered a Ferrari contract but the sticking point was his USAC committments (Indy 500 and others) in America. He was offered the third factory McLaren in Yardley colours (probably the best option as it would include USAC with McLaren) but opted to be No.1 at Shadow and drive their F1 and CanAm cars plus, I presume, the odd USAC race.

Would that have meant Shadow provided Revson with an Indycar or would he have used another USAC chassis? Who had he signed for stateside?

Would that have meant Shadow provided Revson with an Indycar or would he have used another USAC chassis? Who had he signed for stateside?

In that same book, Revson had stated that he had a contract with PENSKE for the 3 500 milers no matter Who the F1 contract was with. All the while he was negotiating with McLaren & Ferrari, but on the way out of McLaren due to Emerson's Marlboro/Texaco $$$. Gulf was leaving due to that and that limited the McLaren Indy effort to just 1 car. Remember this was a very trying time for Teddy Mayer & McLaren in trying to drum up Sponsorship for the US Racing efforts and F1. Yardly $$ were well below the norm in the F1 series and the Texaco/Marlboro support was a significant forward push for them. He couldn't secure a sponsor for the new M-25 F5000 car , which is the program he initially offered Revson instead of F1, nor did he ever find $$ for the Indycar program in '74 which would have been Revson's as well. That F5000 car never did race for an Official McLaren effort. Ferrari was only offering 100k$ for the F1 drive and Revson believed he could do better. He had previously raced for Ferrari in the Sportscar series, at least had a contract there, and that is what opened the F1 opportunity. He said in the book that he had almost signed the Yardley McLaren deal when Shadow came thru with their offer for F1 and Can Am. Revson was also talking with PENSKE for F1, as he was in the planning stages of his own effort. One wonders what may have happened had he stayed with McLaren, at least for another year, in that as a team they won both the Indy 500 and the F1 Championship that year. He worried that Emmo would get all the attention, and as such wouldn't be given a true effort in the 3rd car. Tyler Alexander later stated that he really tried to get Peter to stay and truly beleived in his talent, and that the real issue was that Teddy Mayer didn't think Revson was a strong enough driver. A position that he didn't agree with. 2 wins in '73 + a Can Am championship, '71 Indy Pole position, and the first 200mph Indycar qualifying Pole at Ontario in '73, + a pole @ Pocono that year as well. One could surmise that he had the goods, just not the ability to pull the sponsor money like Emerson.

Italian weekly AutoSprint ran stories during 1973 to the effect that Ferrari were courting Cevert for '74...

Regazzoni, qui était avec Lauda, chez BRM, en 1973 à été engagé le premier, et à conseiller à Enzo de prendre Niki avec lui.

Regazzoni, who was with Lauda at BRM, was hired in 1973 to the first, and to advise Enzo Niki take with him.