- 1971 Italian Grand Prix
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The 1971 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Monza on September 5, 1971. This race is often referred to as the fastest Formula One race of all time, with a record average speed of 242.615 km/h (150.754 mph), a record that was not broken until 32 years later at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.[1] This race featured the closest finish in Formula One history.[2] Peter Gethin came from 4th place to lead on the final lap with a bold move. None of the 6 points-scoring drivers had ever previously won a Grand Prix.
Contents
Race report
With the championship settled, this was an opportunity for new drivers to prove themselves. Chris Amon in the Matra proved an embarrassment to Ferrari by seizing pole at their home track, with the BRM's on the second row, whilst champion Stewart was in 6th after suffering gearbox problems. Mike Hailwood was making his debut for Surtees—an inspired choice as he held both the Formula 5000 and motorbike lap records for Monza. Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari thrilled the crowd by surging forward from the fourth row to lead from Jo Siffert and Stewart until lap 3, when Ronnie Peterson took the lead. On lap 7, Stewart took the lead. By lap 16, Stewart and Jacky Ickx retired with engine problems, followed two laps later by Clay Regazzoni. The race began to break into high-speed packs—the leading one containing Hailwood (leading on his debut), François Cevert, Peterson, Siffert, Howden Ganley, Chris Amon, Peter Gethin and Jackie Oliver. Gethin, Peterson, Cevert, Hailwood and Ganley (who fell back slightly) battled right down to the line and all finished within two-tenths of a second within each other. Siffert dropped back after problems with a gearbox that would only select fourth gear.
Classification
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 18 Peter Gethin
BRM 55 1:18:12.60 11 9 2 25 Ronnie Peterson
March-Ford 55 + 0.01 6 6 3 2 François Cevert
Tyrrell-Ford 55 + 0.09 5 4 4 9 Mike Hailwood
Surtees-Ford 55 + 0.18 17 3 5 19 Howden Ganley
BRM 55 + 0.61 4 2 6 12 Chris Amon
Matra 55 + 32.36 1 1 7 14 Jackie Oliver
McLaren-Ford 55 + 1:24.83 13 8 5 Emerson Fittipaldi
Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 54 + 1 Lap 18 9 20 Jo Siffert
BRM 53 + 2 Laps 3 10 28 Jo Bonnier
McLaren-Ford 51 + 4 Laps 21 Ret 10 Graham Hill
Brabham-Ford 47 Gearbox 14 NC 26 Jean-Pierre Jarier
March-Ford 47 Not classified 24 NC 24 Mike Beuttler
March-Ford 41 Engine 16 Ret 16 Henri Pescarolo
March-Ford 40 Suspension 10 Ret 23 Andrea de Adamich
March-Alfa Romeo 33 Engine 20 Ret 4 Clay Regazzoni
Ferrari 17 Engine 8 Ret 3 Jacky Ickx
Ferrari 15 Engine 2 Ret 30 Jackie Stewart
Tyrrell-Ford 15 Engine 7 Ret 22 Nanni Galli
March-Ford 11 Electrical 19 Ret 11 Tim Schenken
Brabham-Ford 5 Suspension 9 Ret 27 Silvio Moser
Bellasi-Ford 5 Suspension 22 Ret 21 Helmut Marko
BRM 3 Engine 12 Ret 7 John Surtees
Surtees-Ford 3 Engine 15 Ret 8 Rolf Stommelen
Surtees-Ford 0 Accident 23 Notes
- Pole Position: Chris Amon - 1:22.4
- Fastest lap: Henri Pescarolo - 1:23.8
- Emerson Fittipaldi drove a Lotus 56 4WD powered by a gas turbine
- Tyrrell-Ford won their first Constructors' Championship with 2 races left to go
- This was the last race ever to be held on the extremely fast, chicane-less Monza circuit. Chicanes made of tire-walls were installed for the next Italian Grand Prix.
Standings after the race
- Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points 1 Jackie Stewart
51 2 Ronnie Peterson
23 3 Jacky Ickx
19 4 François Cevert
16 5 Emerson Fittipaldi
16 - Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford
55 2 Ferrari
32 3 BRM
30 4 March-Ford
24 5 Lotus-Ford
19 - Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ^ http://forix.autosport.com/8w/6thgear/fastestraces-laps.html
- ^ All-Time F1 Records It should be noted that times in this race were only measured to the nearest 0.01 second, so the finish may or may not have been closer than that of the 2002 United States Grand Prix, where the gap between 1st and 2nd was 0.011 seconds.
- "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1971/522/. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
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