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.
This race featured the closest finish in Formula One history, as Peter Gethin beat Ronnie Peterson by 0.01 seconds.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. 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 , this race stood as the fastest-ever Formula One race for 32 years, until the 2003 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Furthermore, it would turn out to be Gethin's only Grand Prix victory before retiring from Formula One in 1974.
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. Before and during the race there were several tributes in memory of reigning champions Jochen Rindt who had died the previous season.
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".
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 , 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 the top 4 finished within two-tenths of a second of each other, with Ganley a further four-tenths back in fifth. Polesitter Amon took the last point in sixth, nearly half a minute behind Ganley. 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 Chris Amon Matra 1:22.40 — 2 3 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:22.82 +0.42 3 20 Jo Siffert BRM 1:23.03 +0.63 4 19 Howden Ganley BRM 1:23.15 +0.75 5 2 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 1:23.41 +1.01 6 25 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:23.46 +1.06 7 30 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:23.49 +1.09 8 4 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:23.69 +1.29 9 11 Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 1:23.73 +1.33 10 16 Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 1:23.77 +1.37 11 18 Peter Gethin BRM 1:23.88 +1.48 12 21 Helmut Marko BRM 1:23.96 +1.56 13 14 Jackie Oliver McLaren-Ford 1:24.09 +1.69 14 10 Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 1:24.27 +1.87 15 7 John Surtees Surtees-Ford 1:24.45 +2.05 16 24 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 1:25.01 +2.61 17 9 Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 1:25.17 +2.77 18 5 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 1:25.18 +2.78 19 22 Nanni Galli March-Ford 1:25.19 +2.79 20 23 Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 1:25.73 +3.33 21 28 Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 1:26.14 +3.74 22 27 Silvio Moser Bellasi-Ford 1:26.54 +4.14 23 8 Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Ford 1:27.92 +5.52 24 26 Jean-Pierre Jarier March-Ford 1:28.19 +5.89 Source:
Race 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 10 Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 47 Gearbox 14 26 Jean-Pierre Jarier March-Ford 47 + 8 Laps 24 24 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 41 Engine 16 16 Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 40 Suspension 10 23 Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 33 Engine 20 4 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 17 Engine 8 3 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 15 Engine 2 30 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 15 Engine 7 22 Nanni Galli March-Ford 11 Electrical 19 11 Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 5 Suspension 9 27 Silvio Moser Bellasi-Ford 5 Suspension 22 21 Helmut Marko BRM 3 Engine 12 7 John Surtees Surtees-Ford 3 Engine 15 8 Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Ford 0 Accident 23 6 Herbert Müller Lotus-Ford 15 Carlos Pace March-Ford 29 François Mazet March-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French driver Jean-Pierre Jarier. This race saw the 5th podium finish for a Swedish driver. This race marked the 1st pole position for a Matra-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jackie Stewart 51 1 2 Ronnie Peterson 23 1 3 Jacky Ickx 19 4 4 François Cevert 16 1 5 Emerson Fittipaldi 16Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford 55 2 Ferrari 32 3 BRM 30 1 4 March-Ford 24 1 5 Lotus-Ford 19Source:
Bold text indicates the 1971 World Champions.
References
External links