1971
SEASON

Team and driver changes

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

Sporting regulations

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

Safety regulations

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

Pre-season report

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...

Round 1: South Africa

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...

7-week gap between Rounds 1 and 2

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.

Round 2: Spain

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.

Round 3: Monaco

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 ...