1970 Formula One season

The 1970 Formula One season was the 24th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile 's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 21st World Championship of Drivers , the 13th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and three non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over thirteen races between 7 March and 25 October.

Jochen Rindt , driving for Lotus , won his first Drivers' Championship, although he died four races before the end of the season. [ 1 ] He had earned enough championship points that no other driver managed to surpass his total. It is the only season to date in which the Drivers' Championship has been awarded posthumously. Jacky Ickx , driving for Ferrari , finished the season strongly but ended up five points short. The Manufacturers' Cup was won by Lotus, seven points ahead of Ferrari. [ 2 ]

Bruce McLaren , founder and owner of the famous McLaren team, died on 2 June while testing his McLaren M8D Can-Am car at Goodwood Circuit . Piers Courage , driver for Frank Williams's team , was killed during the Dutch Grand Prix on 21 June.

Three-time World Champion Jack Brabham retired at the end of the year.

The starting order of the race would usually be decided by the drivers' fastest time during any of the practice sessions. However, in some cases, only ten "chosen" drivers would be guaranteed a place on the grid, in the order of their best time. The remaining drivers had to earn their entry in a 30-minute qualifying session: the fastest drivers in that session would be allowed to start the race and would be placed on the grid in the order of their original best practice time. This resulted in dr...

Drivers would have to complete at least five laps in practice to be allowed to race. [ 13 ] [ b ]

The FIA published some considerations on circuit design and announced that all circuits would have to pass their inspections: [ 6 ] [ 7 ]

As it had been since 1967 , the championship commenced in South Africa . Reigning champion Jackie Stewart , driving a privatised March 701 for Tyrrell Racing , set the fastest lap, before Chris Amon , driving the same car but for the March works team , set the exact same time, a 1:19.3. Three-time World Champion Jack Brabham joined them on the first row. At the start, Stewart and Brabham had the best initial start, until Jochen Rindt , who started in fourth, made a charge round the outside of th...

During the weekend of the Spanish Grand Prix , the organisers of the event, backed by the Commission Sportive Internationale (currently known as the FIA ), had a falling out with a large number of teams and drivers, represented by the F1CA (later known as FOCA ). The organisers had suddenly decided to allow just 16 starters for the race, and, only after all practice and qualifying sessions were run, decided to discount any lap time set on Friday. Under pressure of the protesting teams, they reve...

In Monaco , the same qualifying rules were implemented, resulting in six cars not qualifying for the race, although none of them were slowest in practice. Championship leader Stewart started on pole position , with Amon next to him. Hulme and Brabham started on the second row. Bruce McLaren retired on lap 19, when he hit the wall going through the fast chicane after the tunnel. On lap 22, Brabham finally managed to pass Amon, and when Stewart's Cosworth engine started misfiring badly, he acquire...

After the death of founder and owner Bruce McLaren , the McLaren team withdrew their cars for the Belgian Grand Prix . The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps had received an upgrade in safety measures: Armco barriers lined around the track and a slow chicane at Malmedy. Unlike in the last two races, practice times were used to determine the order of the grid and it was Stewart again on pole, with Rindt and Amon next to him. Rindt was first at the start, but it was Stewart and Amon fighting for the lea...

Lotus introduced their wedge-shaped Lotus 72 for the Dutch Grand Prix , incorporating revolutionary brake and suspension design. It provided better vision and ventilation to the driver besides the overall advancement in grip and ride . Rindt comfortably qualified on pole position, with Stewart and Ickx next to him. The Belgian driver forced his Ferrari into the lead ahead of Rindt, while Stewart fell to fourth. Going into lap 3, however, Rindt passed Ickx with ease, going round the outside at Ta...

Jochen Rindt in his new Lotus 72 was favourite for the French Grand Prix , but he was suffering from a stomach ulcer and the twisty nature of the track brought on heavy sickness. To add to the misery, in practice, a stone was thrown up by a car in front, hitting his face and cutting his right cheek deeply. After qualifying, it seemed that, like in Spa , the V12 -powered cars would be dominant: Jacky Ickx put his Ferrari on pole position , ahead of Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the Matra . And in the o...

For the British Grand Prix , Rindt was again favourite, but his Firestone tyres were not working perfectly in the high summer temperatures. Brabham, using Goodyear tyres, managed to equal Rindt's time in practice . Ickx completed the front row. Stewart started down in eighth, his March not liking the bumpy off-camber track of Brands Hatch . At the start, Brabham took the lead but was quickly passed by Ickx. The Ferrari was quick until its differential broke on lap 7. Ickx slowed down, Brabham's ...

The German Grand Prix was planned to be held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife , but in light of the deaths of Bruce McLaren and Piers Courage , the drivers asked the FIA to find a safer circuit. This led to the first Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring , which had already been fitted with Armco barriers all around. The track's whose long straights gave the advantage to the V12 -powered cars, whereas the Cosworth V8s suffered from attrition. Jacky Ickx started on pole in his Ferrari, with championshi...

Ferrari's hopes for a resurgence came true during the Austrian Grand Prix . The first race at the new Österreichring saw Jochen Rindt take pole position, but he was closely followed by both Regazzoni and Ickx. Ignazio Giunti in the third Ferrari started fifth. Brabham had another miserable qualifying: he started in eighth. Rindt lost out at the start, dropping to third, and Ickx was waved through by his teammate in a tactical play. François Cevert 's Tyrrell lost oil and in the melee, Rindt drop...

In the Drivers' Championship, Jochen Rindt 's retirement had not made a big dent in his lead, yet. He stood on 45 points, ahead of Jack Brabham with 25 and Denny Hulme with 20. In the battle for the Manufacturers' Cup, Lotus , unsurprisingly, was in the lead with 50 points, ahead of March and Brabham with 33.

With the Scuderia Ferrari coming off a dominant victory in Austria , the tifosi were praying for a repeat during the Italian Grand Prix . Main rivals March and Lotus had prepared their cars for the long straights of Monza by stripping them from any spoilers and such. It allowed them to reach top speeds of over 300 km/h (190 mph) but made them quite unstable in the corners, which Emerson Fittipaldi found out during practice : he crashed going into the Parabolica, escaped unhurt, but gave his Lotu...

The championship concluded with three races in North America , starting with the Canadian Grand Prix at the spectacular Circuit Mont-Tremblant . The Lotus team had decided not to participate, while Tyrrell revealed their first self-designed chassis: the 001 . Jackie Stewart immediately snatched pole position, going four tenths faster than in his March , ahead of the Ferrari pair of Ickx and Regazzoni. In the race, Stewart established a comfortable lead, until on lap 32, his left front suspension...

For the United States Grand Prix , Ickx qualified on pole position, ahead of Stewart and Fittipaldi, the leading Lotus driver after Rindt's demise. Ickx needed to win the two remaining races to stand a chance of overtaking Rindt's points total, but at the start, he fell back to third. On lap 16, he overtook Rodríguez for second, but around half distance, had to make a pit stop to repair a fuel leak. Stewart then retired with an oil leak, and Rodríguez had to pit for extra fuel. This left the Lot...

For the Mexican Grand Prix , Clay Regazzoni qualified on pole, ahead of the three "Jacks": Stewart, Ickx and Brabham. The race was delayed over an hour, because over 200,000 supporters had turned up and were lined up right along the track to get the best view. The drivers pleaded with the crowd to move back and eventually agreed to start the race. When they got underway, Ickx quickly seized the lead. Stewart had to pit due to a loose steering column but he was fighting back to the front until, o...

Jochen Rindt was awarded the Drivers' Championship posthumously, the only time this has ever happened, with 45 points, ahead of the Ferrari drivers Jacky Ickx (40) and Clay Regazzoni (33). Lotus were awarded the Manufacturers' Cup with 59 points, ahead of Ferrari (52) and March (48).

Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race. For both the Championship and the Cup, the best six results from rounds 1–7 and the best five results from rounds 8–13 were counted.

Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:

† Jochen Rindt suffered a fatal accident in practice before the Italian Grand Prix.

‡ Piers Courage suffered a fatal accident during the Dutch Grand Prix.

Other Formula One races held in 1970, which did not count towards the World Championship. The International Trophy and Gold Cup were held concurrently with Formula 5000 cars.