1971 Formula One season

The 1971 Formula One season was the 25th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile 's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 22nd World Championship of Drivers , the 14th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and a number of non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over eleven races between 6 March and 3 October.

Jackie Stewart , driving for Tyrrell Racing , won his second Drivers' Championship. [ 1 ] Tyrrell won their first and only Manufacturers' Cup. [ 2 ] Their car was powered by the famous Cosworth DFV V8 , while rivals BRM and Ferrari made use of self-designed V12 engines . 1970 champions Team Lotus had a desultory season after the death of their driver and champion Jochen Rindt , experimenting with a gas turbine engine and four-wheel drive , but ending up just fifth in the standings.

Two Formula One drivers lost their lives this year while racing: Pedro Rodríguez crashed his Ferrari 512 in July, at an Interserie race at the Norisring , and Jo Siffert died in October, in a fiery crash during the Victory Race at Brands Hatch .

This was the first season where at least 22 cars started every championship race, except the Monaco Grand Prix , where 18 cars started.

While Lotus and Tyrrell had kept their line-up from 1970 , quite a lot of changes happened further down the field:

The maximum race distance for World Championship Grand Prix races was reduced from 400 km (250 mi) to 325 km (202 mi).

It was mandated that a driver should be able to evacuate himself or be evacuated from his cockpit within 5 seconds. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]

Austrian Jochen Rindt had won the championship posthumously in 1970 for Lotus-Ford; he was killed at Monza during practice for the Italian Grand Prix in September of that year. Although three races remained after Monza, Rindt's points lead after four consecutive Grand Prix victories earlier in the season was enough to secure him the championship. Briton Jackie Stewart, world champion in 1969, had a transitional year in 1970, using a customer March car after Matra refused to allow Stewart's boss ...

Over the winter months Ferrari technical director Mauro Forghieri and his engineers at Ferrari developed the car into 312B/2 form. Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni were retained but the team's third driver, Italian Ignazio Giunti was killed in January during the Buenos Aires 1000 kilometer long-distance sportscar race. Jean-Pierre Beltoise was pushing his Matra sportscar back to the pits when he was hit by Giunti's Ferrari 312P; the Italian was killed in the ensuing crash. As a result, Mario Andret...

Walker's decision to stop racing freed veteran Graham Hill and he moved to Brabham (which was now being run by Ron Tauranac, and would be bought by Bernie Ecclestone that year) where he was joined by former Williams driver Tim Schenken while Williams entered old Marches for Derek Bell and Matra refugee Henri Pescarolo.

The first Argentine Grand Prix since 1960 was held as a non-championship Grand Prix in the sweltering heat of a January summer in the capital city of Buenos Aires; the reason for this was that the FIA stipulated that in order for a country to host an official championship Grand Prix round, the organizers had to prove themselves by successfully running an interim non-championship race to their standards. This race was held at the slightly modified Buenos Aires Autodrome, the same venue used previ...

The South African Grand Prix, held at the fast and flowing high-altitude Kyalami circuit between Johannesburg and Pretoria in March kicked off the championship season. Stewart took pole, ahead of the twelve-cylinder cars of Amon, Regazzoni and Andretti. At the start, Regazzoni took the lead going into the Crowthorne corner ahead of Fittipaldi, Ickx (who had started 8th), Hulme, Rodríguez, Andretti, and Stewart. Amon dropped to 14th. Hulme in his McLaren-Ford passed Fittipaldi for second then Reg...

There were three non-championship events between the first and second 1971 Formula One championship rounds. Two weeks after the South African Grand Prix, a number of teams traveled to England (where most F1 teams were and are based) to compete in the Race of Champions, held at the undulating and bumpy Brands Hatch circuit just outside London. This race, run at a shorter distance than is usual for a Grand Prix was won by the Swiss Regazzoni in a Ferrari, ahead of pole-sitter Jackie Stewart and ve...

The Questor Grand Prix in the western United States was held one week after the Race of Champions, at the Ontario Motor Speedway in southern California. The circuit was based on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , but also had an interior road circuit which also utilized part of the speedway oval. This race, like the Argentine race, was run in two heats; Mario Andretti won in a Ferrari ahead of Jackie Stewart. Financial problems for the organizers meant that Ontario was never to be used again for ...

Another race in England, the Spring Trophy, was held at Oulton Park near Manchester. This event was not entered by Ferrari, and Stewart took pole again ahead of Briton Peter Gethin in a McLaren-Ford, Rodríguez and Siffert BRMs. In misty, damp and cold weather, Rodríguez won the event, ahead of Gethin and Stewart.

The Spanish Grand Prix in 1971 was held at the Montjuic Park city street circuit in Barcelona; the previous year it had been held at the Circuito del Jarama near Madrid as part of a rotation with the Catalan circuit. The Ferraris of Ickx and Regazzoni were 1–2 on the grid respectively, followed by Amon, Stewart, Rodríguez, Beltoise, Gethin and Andretti. Six of the first eight cars had 12-cylinder engines. Stewart took second place at the start, and passed Ickx for the lead on lap 6. Amon overtoo...

A third non-championship race took place in England three weeks after the Spanish Grand Prix, at Silverstone . This race also included Chevrolet-powered Formula 5000 cars. Ferrari did not enter, and the race, run in two heats, was won by British veteran Graham Hill in a Brabham-Ford.

Two weeks after the non-championship International Trophy race and five weeks after the second round in Spain came the most prestigious round of the calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix, which was also the 200th World Championship Grand Prix. Qualifying was run in rainy conditions, and Stewart took pole by 1.2 seconds from Jacky Ickx's Ferrari. The second row featured Siffert's BRM and Amon's Matra; then it was Rodríguez, Hulme, Beltoise, Ronnie Peterson in a March, Hill and John Surtees in a car of ...

The Belgian Grand Prix was originally supposed to be held as a championship round two weeks after the Monaco event on 6 June at the fast 8.7 mile (14.1 km) Spa-Francorchamps circuit, but the failure of the track owners and authorities to bring Spa up to mandatory safety standards meant that the rural circuit was deemed unsuitable for Formula One cars to race on and the event was cancelled. Formula One did not return to Spa until 1983, after it was re-designed and shortened in 1979. [ 7 ]

Another non-championship round, the Rhein-Pokalrennen, was held three weeks after the Monaco Grand Prix at the very fast Hockenheim circuit in West Germany, and was won by Jacky Ickx in a Ferrari. This race was run on the same day as the final day of the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race in western France.

One week after the non-championship Hockenheim event and four weeks after Monaco was the Dutch Grand Prix, held at the very fast and dangerous Zandvoort circuit, west of Amsterdam. The bumpy circuit had few safety features. Ickx took pole, ahead of Rodríguez, Stewart, Regazzoni and Amon. The race was run in wet conditions, and at the start Mario Andretti's Ferrari was missing because of a fuel pump problem. He did start the race but was a long way behind and retired after just a few laps.

Ickx went ahead of Rodríguez, Stewart and Amon. Siffert blew his chances with a spin. On the second lap Amon spun out and on the third lap Stewart had a rare spin and dropped to eighth place; the Goodyear-shod runners were suffering compared to the Firestone-shod cars. This left Regazzoni third and Surtees fourth ahead of Wisell. The Swede did not last long because a rear wheel worked loose and trying to solve the problem he reversed into the pitlane and was disqualified. As everyone else strugg...

Two weeks after the Dutch race was the French Grand Prix at the brand-new Paul Ricard circuit near Marseille in the south of France. This circuit, in stark comparison to the rudimentary facilities of Zandvoort, was one of the most modern racing circuits in the world, with a smooth surface and state-of-the-art facilities not seen before in Formula One. It also had a long 1.1 mile straight, typical of French circuits. In the two previous years, the event had held at the twisty Charade public road ...

Two weeks after France was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Before the race, Pedro Rodríguez had been killed in a crash while driving a Ferrari 512S sportscar at a German Interserie race at the Norisring street circuit. At the start Regazzoni and Ickx took the lead for Ferrari with Stewart third. At the tail of the field Oliver ran into the back of Graham Hill's Brabham, putting both men out of the race. Stewart and Siffert overtook Ickx during the second lap and on lap four Stewart overto...

The German Grand Prix returned to an updated 14.2 mile (22.8 km) Nurburgring after a year's absence from the track due to safety concerns. The circuit had been resurfaced and lined with Armco barrier, some of the worst bumps were taken out or smoothed over and the circuit was made less twisty, and was therefore a little faster than before. But with the layout being largely unchanged, the circuit was still dangerous. Stewart took pole ahead of Ickx, Siffert and Regazzoni. The race distance was 12...

For only the third time, the Austrian Grand Prix was a championship round. The race was held at the Österreichring in the rural Styrian mountains near Graz . Jackie Stewart had a large lead in the driver's championship - 51 points compared to second-placed Jacky Ickx's 19 points and Ronnie Peterson's 16 points. If Ickx and Peterson both failed to score here, Stewart would be champion. Jo Siffert took pole in his BRM, followed by Stewart, Cevert, Regazzoni, Fittipaldi and Ickx. Siffert took the l...

The Gold Cup non-championship Grand Prix at Oulton Park was won by veteran John Surtees in his own Surtees car. This race was held one week after the Austrian Grand Prix. The Tyrrell team did not enter this event.

A year since the death of Jochen Rindt at Monza, there were still some legal problems between Team Lotus and the Italian authorities which meant that Team Lotus did not officially enter the event, although a Lotus 56 did enter under the name World Wide Racing. This car was powered by an American Pratt & Whitney turbine jet engine. McLaren was also down to just one entry as Denny Hulme was away in the United States for a USAC race in California. Matra was also running only one car as Jean-Pierre ...

Two weeks after the Italian Grand Prix, the Canadian Grand Prix was held at Mosport Park circuit near Toronto. World Champion Stewart took pole position ahead of Siffert, Cevert, Fittipaldi, Amon, Peterson, Wisell, and Mark Donohue in a Penske-entered McLaren. The Ferraris were not competitive with Ickx 12th, Andretti 13th and Regazzoni 18th. 37-year old Wayne Kelly was killed on lap 2 of a Formula Ford support race and the Grand Prix was delayed, and by the time the race started it was pouring ...

Another fortnight later, the championship moved to the newly revamped and redesigned Watkins Glen circuit in upstate New York. The circuit, originally 2.3 miles long, had been significantly upgraded, with a new pits and paddock complex and an additional mile of new track. Jackie Stewart took his sixth pole position of the year for Tyrrell, ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi, Denny Hulme, Clay Regazzoni, Francois Cevert, Jo Siffert, Jacky Ickx and Chris Amon. 29 drivers entered and started the race; Ste...

It was Cevert's first World Championship victory and with the Mexican Grand Prix having been cancelled due to crowd control problems the previous year, the United States Grand Prix was the last World Championship race of the 1971 season.

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 five results from rounds 1-6 and the best four results from rounds 7-11 were counted.

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

A number of other Formula One races, which did not count towards the World Championship, were also held in 1971. The Questor Grand Prix and the last three British races were open to both Formula One and Formula 5000 cars.