1973 Dutch GP (Williamson death)

Driver Roger Williamson was killed in the race; this was the first of two driver fatalities in the 1973 season. François Cevert, who took the podium in second place at this race, would later perish during practice for the 1973 United States Grand Prix.

On the eighth lap of the race through the high speed esses near the Tunnel Oost (East Tunnel) right-hand corner, a suspected tyre failure caused Williamson's car to pitch into the barriers at high speed, and be catapulted 300 yards (275 m) across the track, eventually coming to rest upside down against the barriers on the other side. The petrol tank had ignited whilst being scraped along the track, and the car caught fire. Williamson had not been seriously injured by the impact, but was trapped in the car. The race was not stopped and continued with a local yellow at the scene.

Fellow driver David Purley, who witnessed Williamson's impact, almost immediately pulled his car over on the opposite side of the track, then ran across the live racetrack to assist him. Williamson was heard shouting to Purley to get him out of the car as Purley tried in vain to turn the car upright. There appeared to have been ample time to right the car and pull Williamson out, but as desperately as he tried, Purley was unable to do it by himself, and the marshals, who were not wearing flame retardant overalls, refrained from assisting him due to the intense heat.

Race control assumed that it was Purley's car that had crashed and that the driver had escaped unharmed. Many drivers who saw Purley waving them down to stop later claimed that they assumed Purley to be trying to put a fire out from his own car, having safely exited it, and thus did not know that a second driver had been involved. As a result, the race continued at full pace while Purley desperately tried to save the life of Williamson, unbeknownst to the marshals and the drivers.

There was only a single fire extinguisher in the area, and it was not enough to put out the fire. With the car still burning upside-down, the situation became hopeless, and the distraught Purley was led away by a marshal. As can be seen in the race footage, some spectators breached the safety fences in order to assist Williamson, but were likewise unable to get close to the upturned car due to the heat.

With the race still on, it took some eight minutes for a fire truck to completely travel around the circuit with the flow of race traffic. By the time the car was eventually righted, and the fire extinguished, Williamson had died of asphyxiation. A blanket was thrown over the burnt-out wreck with Williamson still inside, and the race carried on.

Purley was awarded the George Medal for his brave actions in trying to save his fellow sportsman. Williamson's remains were later cremated and his ashes transferred to an undisclosed location.

In an otherwise uneventful race, Jackie Stewart won his 26th career Grand Prix and broke Jim Clark's 5-year-old record of the most career Grand Prix victories. This was also the 100th Grand Prix win for a British driver. The race also marked the 75th consecutive time a Ford-powered car had finished in the top #10, breaking the record of the longest streak of top #10-finishes set by Coventry Climax between the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix and the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. This was also the 5th win of a Dutch Grand Prix by a Ford-powered car, breaking the old record set by Coventry Climax at the 1965 Dutch Grand Prix.