Jacky Ickx completes a Grand Slam with his final Formula 1 victory

Jacky Ickx’s final Formula 1 victory was not a fading champion’s fortunate last result. At the Nürburgring in 1972, he took pole position, led every lap, set the fastest lap and won by nearly 50 seconds, completing the most emphatic afternoon of his World Championship career.

The German Grand Prix still used the full Nordschleife, a 22.8-kilometre circuit that turned every lap into a long examination of memory, balance and commitment. Ickx had already demonstrated a particular affinity for the place, qualifying third overall there in a Formula Two car in 1967 and winning the Grand Prix for Brabham in 1969.

Ferrari finds its best weekend

Ferrari’s 1972 season had not matched the form of the leading Lotus and Tyrrell teams, but the 312B2 worked at the Nürburgring. Ickx qualified on pole with Clay Regazzoni alongside him, placing both Ferraris at the front of a grid where one mistake could cost several minutes rather than several tenths.

Ickx controlled the race from the start. He completed all 14 laps in the lead and recorded the fastest lap in 7 minutes 13.6 seconds. Regazzoni followed him home 48.3 seconds later, giving Ferrari a one-two. Ronnie Peterson finished third for March.

The combination of pole, victory, fastest lap and every lap led gave Ickx the only Grand Slam of his Formula 1 career. It was also Ferrari’s only World Championship victory of the 1972 season.

An eighth win, and the last

Ickx was 27 and still regarded as one of the fastest drivers of his generation. Nothing about the result suggested that it would be his final Grand Prix victory. Yet Ferrari’s competitiveness declined, and his later Formula 1 spells with McLaren, Williams, Ensign and Ligier never produced another win.

His World Championship total therefore stopped at eight victories. The last one was also the cleanest: 14 laps of the Nordschleife, a Ferrari one-two, and no statistical category left for anyone else.