Of the dozen Drivers’ Championship titles won by McLaren drivers, seven have been sealed on the final day of the season. They have all been dramatic in their own way, even – or perhaps especially – where the title fight was a straight up scrap between team-mates. The one, however, that’s been most talked about this week is the 1974 finale in which McLaren’s Emerson Fittipaldi triumphed over Ferrari’s Clay Regazzoni. It is the only time in history the championship leaders had gone to the final round level on points… until this week.

There are plenty of parallels with ’74 this weekend, not least of which being the fact that both championships were in the balance, though with McLaren’s advantage over Ferrari being only five points, that one was considerably tighter than this year’s constructors battle. The most significant difference between then and now is that, although Emmo and Clay were tied on 52 points, they weren’t the only drivers in the hunt. Tyrrell’s Jody Scheckter trailed by seven points thus still had an outside chance of claiming the title.

The scoring system in ’74 was very different, with the top six finishers scoring points in the order 9-6-4-3-2-1. Across the 15-race season, the drivers could count seven results from the first eight races towards their total, and six results from the final seven. All three had, however, had at least one DNF in the six races preceding the final round, and thus that particularly tortuous mathematical calculation didn’t come into the reckoning. Then, as now, should the season end in a tie, count-back would determine final positions. Going into the final round, Emmo led the championship by virtue of taking three victories in the Cosworth-powered McLaren M23, in Brazil, Belgium and Canada, against Regazzoni’s single victory in Germany. If neither finished in the top six, he would remain ahead of Regazzoni. Scheckter’s maths were a little more complex. He needed to win the race, taking him to 54, while hoping Emmo didn’t finish better than sixth or Regazzoni better than fifth.

The season in 1974 looks leisurely, by modern standards, with 15 races, beginning in Buenos Aires on 13 January 13 for the Argentine Grand Prix, then making a stop two weeks later in Brazil. The teams then didn’t hold another Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix for two months, next appearing in South Africa on 30 March – with non-championship races in Brasília, won by Emmo, and the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in between. Following the non-championship BRDC Trophy at Silverstone on 7 April, the European bulk of the season began on 28 April in Madrid, before hitting Belgium, Monaco, Sweden, Holland, France, Britain, Germany, Austria and finally Italy on 8 September. At this point, with just trips to Mosport Park in Ontario and Watkins Glen in New York to come, Regazzoni led the championship with 46 points, ahead of Scheckter with 45 and Emmo with 43.

The Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park, near Toronto changed things around – though not in any definitive way. Niki Lauda led for most of the race but ran over debris 13 laps from home and spun into a barrier. Emmo, who had started on pole position, inherited the lead. Regazzoni trailed him home by 13 seconds to finish second, with Scheckter retiring a little over half-distance with a broken halfshaft. Emmo 52, Regazzoni 52, Scheckter 45.

While the Canadian and US Grands Prix usually ran consecutively at this point in time, they had not yet started to run back-to-back, and thus the teams and drivers had two weeks to dwell on those points tallies, while making the short trip from Mosport Park to Watkins Glen, in upstate New York.

Despite the season finale being a three-horse race, the ’74 season had been wide-open. Alongside the McLarens, Ferraris and Tyrrells, Brabham and Lotus were also winning races, and victories in the first 14 races of the season had been split between seven drivers. One of those, Carlos Reutemann, took pole for Brabham, but behind him on the grid were James Hunt for Hesketh and Mario Andretti for Parnelli. Scheckter in P6 was the highest qualifying contender, with Emmo P8 and Regazzoni behind him in P9.

The field got away well, but in the opening laps, Regazzoni began to fall back from Fittipaldi with what was later diagnosed as a failing damper. He did, however, have team-mate Lauda ahead of the championship contenders and able to back-up the pack, allowing him to stay in touch. He pitted but the problem could not be rectified, and, while he returned to the track, he continued to lose ground and would finish the race four laps down. Lauda was released to run his own race, though he retired shortly after the mid-point in the race. He had a suspension problem, but his retirement was also informed by the death of compatriot Helmuth Koinigg, driving for Surtees, who crashed in manner reminiscent of the accident the previous year that had killed François Cevert.

On the road, and unaware of the tragedy, Emmo’s race was greatly simplified by Regazzoni’s problem, but Scheckter was still running, and a place ahead of the McLaren. He wasn’t making progress on the top three ahead however, and Emmo was largely comfortable to follow his rival, safe in the knowledge that would be good enough.

The problem became moot, however, when Scheckter was forced to retire his Tyrrell with a fuel hose problem on lap 44. While no threat to the podium of Reutemann, Brabham team-mate Carlos Pace or third-placed Hunt, Emmo finished a very satisfactory P4, 1m17s behind Reutemann. With neither Ferrari troubling the scorers, McLaren had a double championship success to celebrate. Jackie Stewart, the 1973 champion, now working as a broadcaster, was on hand to congratulate Emmo at the flag, though the celebrations were understandably muted, given the earlier fatality.

One final piece of news from the race. Then, as now in the case of Kimi Räikkönen, the final grand prix of the 1974 season saw the retirement of a world champion and McLaren legend, with Denny Hulme having called time on his illustrious F1 career. Denny had started the season with a victory but decided at the mid-point of the year to make his seventh season with the team also his last. With a double world championship secured, McLaren were heading into unchartered territory for 1975.

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