1971 Italian Grand Prix
Race details
Date 5 September 1971
Official name 42º Gran Premio d'Italia[1]
Location Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
Monza, Lombardy, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.750 km (3.573 miles)
Distance 55 laps, 316.25 km (196.515 miles)
Pole position
Driver
Matra
Time 1:22.4
Fastest lap
Driver France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford
Time 1:23.8 on lap 9
Podium
First
BRM
Second
March-Ford
Third
Tyrrell-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1971 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 5 September 1971. It was race 9 of 11 in both the 1971 World Championship of Drivers and the 1971 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.[2]

This race featured the closest finish in Formula One history, as Peter Gethin beat Ronnie Peterson by 0.01 seconds.[3] The top five were covered by just 0.61 seconds, with François Cevert finishing third, Mike Hailwood fourth and Howden Ganley fifth. With an average speed of 242.615 km/h (150.754 mph), this race stood as the fastest-ever Formula One race for 32 years, until the 2003 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.[4]

Race report

The historical Monza National Autodrome, located just north of the northern Italian city of Milan, in 1971 became the fastest circuit used by Formula One after the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps circuit was removed from the calendar. However, this was the last year in which the circuit was used with this configuration: considering the enormous speed that the cars reached in this edition, two chicanes were introduced the following year in the two most dangerous curves of the track.

Emerson Fittipaldi drove a four-wheel drive Lotus 56B powered by a gas turbine, the only time he would race in a Formula One World Championship race in a car not powered by a Ford Cosworth DFV engine. Due to ongoing legal issues between Team Lotus and the Italian authorities following Jochen Rindt's death the previous year, the car was entered under the name "World Wide Racing".[5]

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 fastest lap of all time in a Formula One championship race, lapping at 156 mph (252 km/h), with the BRMs 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 of each other. Siffert dropped back after problems with a gearbox that would only select fourth gear. Tyrrell-Ford won their first Constructors' Championship with two races remaining.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 12 New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 1:22.40 —
2 3 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:22.82 +0.42
3 20 Switzerland Jo Siffert BRM 1:23.03 +0.63
4 19 New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 1:23.15 +0.75
5 2 France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 1:23.41 +1.01
6 25 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:23.46 +1.06
7 30 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:23.49 +1.09
8 4 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:23.69 +1.29
9 11 Australia Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 1:23.73 +1.33
10 16 France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 1:23.77 +1.37
11 18 United Kingdom Peter Gethin BRM 1:23.88 +1.48
12 21 Austria Helmut Marko BRM 1:23.96 +1.56
13 14 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver McLaren-Ford 1:24.09 +1.69
14 10 United Kingdom Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 1:24.27 +1.87
15 7 United Kingdom John Surtees Surtees-Ford 1:24.45 +2.05
16 24 United Kingdom Mike Beuttler March-Ford 1:25.01 +2.61
17 9 United Kingdom Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 1:25.17 +2.77
18 5 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 1:25.18 +2.78
19 22 Italy Nanni Galli March-Ford 1:25.19 +2.79
20 23 Italy Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 1:25.73 +3.33
21 28 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 1:26.14 +3.74
22 27 Switzerland Silvio Moser Bellasi-Ford 1:26.54 +4.14
23 8 Germany Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Ford 1:27.92 +5.52
24 26 France Jean-Pierre Jarier March-Ford 1:28.19 +5.89
Source:[6]

Race

The close finish of the race, with five drivers crossing the finish line within a second
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 18 United Kingdom Peter Gethin BRM 55 1:18:12.60 11 9
2 25 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 55 + 0.01 6 6
3 2 France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 55 + 0.09 5 4
4 9 United Kingdom Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 55 + 0.18 17 3
5 19 New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 55 + 0.61 4 2
6 12 New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 55 + 32.36 1 1
7 14 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver McLaren-Ford 55 + 1:24.83 13  
8 5 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 54 + 1 Lap 18  
9 20 Switzerland Jo Siffert BRM 53 + 2 Laps 3  
10 28 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 51 + 4 Laps 21  
Ret 10 United Kingdom Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 47 Gearbox 14  
NC 26 France Jean-Pierre Jarier March-Ford 47 + 8 Laps 24  
Ret 24 United Kingdom Mike Beuttler March-Ford 41 Engine 16  
Ret 16 France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 40 Suspension 10  
Ret 23 Italy Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 33 Engine 20  
Ret 4 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 17 Engine 8  
Ret 3 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 15 Engine 2  
Ret 30 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 15 Engine 7  
Ret 22 Italy Nanni Galli March-Ford 11 Electrical 19  
Ret 11 Australia Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 5 Suspension 9  
Ret 27 Switzerland Silvio Moser Bellasi-Ford 5 Suspension 22  
Ret 21 Austria Helmut Marko BRM 3 Engine 12  
Ret 7 United Kingdom John Surtees Surtees-Ford 3 Engine 15  
DNS 8 Germany Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Ford 0 Accident 23  
WD 6 Switzerland Herbert Müller Lotus-Ford  
WD 15 Brazil Carlos Pace March-Ford  
WD 29 France François Mazet March-Ford  
Source:[7]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

  1. ↑ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1971". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "1971 Italian Grand Prix Entry list".
  3. ↑ All-Time F1 Records Times in this race were only measured to the nearest hundredth of a second (0.01 seconds), so the finish may or may not have been closer than that of the 2002 United States Grand Prix, where Rubens Barrichello beat Michael Schumacher by 0.011 seconds.
  4. ↑ Schaefer, Michael; Diepraam, Mattijs (14 September 2003). "Fastest races and laps ever". Autosport. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Grand Prix results: Italian GP, 1971". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  6. ↑ Pritchard, Anthony (1972). The Motor Racing Year No3. ISBN 0393085023.
  7. ↑ "1971 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Italy 1971 - Championship". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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