 This was not acceptable to Ickx, because the Nürburgring where the German Grand Prix was being held that year was his favorite race track.As a result, he left the team halfway through the season in order to contest the 1973 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in a McLaren, where he took 3rd place behind the Tyrrells of Stewart and François Cevert, despite being given an older-spec Ford Cosworth V8 and the hardest compound of tyres available.During the summer Forghieri was recalled as technical director and set about revising the B3 incorporating some of the ideas used on his radical "spazzaneve".