1971 United States Grand Prix
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| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 11 of 11 in the 1971 Formula One season. | ||
| Date | October 3, 1971 | |
| Location | Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course Watkins Glen, New York |
|
| Course | Permanent road course 3.377 mi / 5.435 km |
|
| Distance | 59 laps, 199.24 mi / 320.67 km | |
| Weather | Dry | |
| Pole | ||
| Driver |  Jackie Stewart |
Tyrrell-Ford |
| Time | 1:42.642 | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver |  Jacky Ickx |
Ferrari |
| Time | 1:43.474 (on lap 43 of 59) | |
| Podium | ||
| First |  François Cevert |
Tyrrell-Ford |
| Second |  Jo Siffert |
BRM |
| Third |  Ronnie Peterson |
March-Ford |
The 1971 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 3, 1971 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
Jackie Stewart's domination in 1971 clinched his second Driver's Championship with three races remaining, but the final round belonged to his Tyrrell teammate, François Cevert. The Frenchman took the lead from Stewart on lap 14 and never looked back, as he claimed his only career win, the first GP victory for a French driver since Maurice Trintignant in 1958.
As usual, the American race attracted a large field of entrants, despite it being the last race of the year and both Championships having long been wrapped up. It seemed nearly every spare works F1 car and quite a few independents, as well, were present to try for a share of the $267,000 in prize money, easily the richest purse in F1. Unfortunately, the two most popular American drivers, Mario Andretti and Mark Donahue, who was fresh from a stunning third place finish in Canada in his Formula One debut, were committed to drive on Sunday in a USAC race which had incomprehensibly been rescheduled to the GP weekend after a previous rainout. The two drivers qualified, Andretti in a Ferrari and Donahue in a McLaren shared with David Hobbs, hoping for more rain in New Jersey and the chance to return for the race on Sunday. Since the previous year's race, the course had been resurfaced, widened and, most significantly, lengthened by a mile to 3.377 miles with an entirely new section at the southwest corner called the "Boot" or "Anvil". The pits were also moved from the north end straight back before the right angle turn known as "The 90," which now became Turn One.
Friday was sunny and hot (105°!), and Stewart jumped immediately to the top of the charts with a time of 1:42.844, as the times were recorded to a thousandth of a second for the first time. On Saturday, with the temperature now 110° and both Goodyear's and Firestone's qualifying tires breaking down after a few laps, Emerson Fittipaldi pipped Stewart's time from the day before, but the Scot returned to the track and grabbed the pole by .017 of a second. Dennis Hulme joined them on the front row in his McLaren, followed by Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari, Cevert and the soon-to-be-absent Andretti. American Peter Revson qualified nineteenth in the third Tyrrell. It was his only race for Tyrrell and his first Grand Prix since 1964.
Sunday was dry in both upstate New York and Trenton, and word came that the USAC race would go on, dismaying both the crowd and the organizers, who were robbed of seeing the country's two best road racers. At the start, Hulme jumped into the lead, ahead of Cevert and Stewart, but by the end of the first lap, Stewart led Hulme, Cevert, Regazzoni, Jo Siffert, Jacky Ickx, Chris Amon and Fittipaldi.
At first, Stewart was able to open a gap back to the following group, now headed by his teammate, but after ten laps, his tires began to go off and the gap closed. The Scot realized that Cevert's Goodyears were holding up much better in the heat, and when Cevert closed up right behind him, he waved him by on lap 14. Hulme was now struggling with a terrible vibration in his tires and was passed, first by Ickx, then Regazzoni and Siffert. On lap 15, American Sam Posey, in his first Grand Prix, retired from a fine run with a blown piston in his Surtees. By the time Ickx could get around Stewart on lap 17, Cevert's lead was 5.7 seconds.
At about half-distance, Cevert finally began to struggle with the same understeer that had plagued Stewart much earlier. Ickx was closing, and his Firestones were getting better as the race went on. On lap 43, the Belgian set the fastest lap of the race, and the gap was down to 2.2 seconds. Then, on lap 49, the Ferrari's alternator fell off, punching a hole in the gearbox and spilling oil all over the track! Hulme hit the oil and spun into the barrier, bending his front suspension. He was standing beside the track when Cevert came by and also hit the barrier, but kept going, now 29 seconds in the lead!
Jo Siffert was now in second place and 33 seconds clear of Ronnie Peterson. With four laps to go, however, Siffert began to run low on fuel. The Swede took huge chunks off the gap as Siffert jerked the BRM from side to side, trying to use every remaining drop of fuel. Cevert coasted home, taking both hands off the wheel to wave as he crossed the line, and Siffert weaved his way around to hold second place by four seconds over Peterson's March.
After taking the checkered flag, Cevert gave a nod to his teammate. "I feel pretty good with a $50,000 win. I followed Stewart in the beginning and was flagged on ahead. Jackie Stewart is a very sensible driver and a very good teacher. He let me go through." While it was the first race on the expanded Watkins Glen track, it was the third year in a row that The Glen had rewarded a driver with his first career victory.
[edit] Classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | François Cevert |
Tyrrell-Ford | 59 | 1:43:52.0 | 5 | 9 |
| 2 | 14 | Jo Siffert |
BRM | 59 | 40.062 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | 25 | Ronnie Peterson |
March-Ford | 59 | 44.07 | 11 | 4 |
| 4 | 16 |  Howden Ganley |
BRM | 59 | 56.749 | 12 | 3 |
| 5 | 8 | Jackie Stewart |
Tyrrell-Ford | 59 | + 1:00.003 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 5 | Clay Regazzoni |
Ferrari | 59 | + 1:16.426 | 4 | 1 |
| 7 | 22 | Graham Hill |
Brabham-Ford | 58 | + 1 Lap | 18 | |
| 8 | 12 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise |
Matra | 58 | + 1 Lap | 10 | |
| 9 | 15 | Peter Gethin |
BRM | 58 | + 1 Lap | 21 | |
| 10 | 31 | David Hobbs |
McLaren-Ford | 58 | + 1 Lap | 22 | |
| 11 | 27 |  Andrea de Adamich |
March-Alfa Romeo | 57 | + 2 Laps | 26 | |
| 12 | 11 | Chris Amon |
Matra | 57 | + 2 Laps | 8 | |
| 13 | 17 |  Helmut Marko |
BRM | 57 | + 2 Laps | 16 | |
| 14 | 28 |  John Cannon |
BRM | 56 | + 3 Laps | 24 | |
| 15 | 20 | Mike Hailwood |
Surtees-Ford | 54 | Accident | 14 | |
| 16 | 29 | Jo Bonnier |
McLaren-Ford | 54 | Out of fuel | 28 | |
| 17 | 18 | John Surtees |
Surtees-Ford | 54 | + 5 Laps | 13 | |
| NC | 33 |  Skip Barber |
March-Ford | 52 | Not Classified | 25 | |
| NC | 32 | Jacky Ickx |
Ferrari | 49 | Alternator | 7 | |
| NC | 2 |  Emerson Fittipaldi |
Lotus-Ford | 49 | Not Classified | 2 | |
| NC | 30 | Pete Lovely |
Lotus-Ford | 49 | Not Classified | 29 | |
| Ret | 7 | Denny Hulme |
McLaren-Ford | 47 | Accident | 3 | |
| Ret | 23 |  Tim Schenken |
Brabham-Ford | 41 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 24 | Chris Craft |
Brabham-Ford | 30 | Suspension | 27 | |
| Ret | 21 | Henri Pescarolo |
March-Ford | 23 | Engine | 20 | |
| Ret | 26 | Nanni Galli |
March-Ford | 11 | Wheel | 23 | |
| Ret | 3 | Reine Wisell |
Lotus-Ford | 5 | Brakes | 9 | |
| Ret | 10 | Peter Revson |
Tyrrell-Ford | 1 | Clutch | 19 |
| Previous race: 1971 Canadian Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship, 1971 season |
Next race: 1972 Argentine Grand Prix |
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| Previous race: 1970 United States Grand Prix |
United States Grand Prix | Next race: 1972 United States Grand Prix |
[edit] Notes
- The win, naturally, was the high point of Cevert's career, which would end tragically at The Glen two years later, just as he was set to take over the Number One drive at Tyrrell from the retiring Stewart.
[edit] References
- Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and grand prize races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-1263-1
- Rob Walker (January, 1972). "13th U.S. Grand Prix: A First For Number Two". Road & Track, 39-43.
