1971 United States Grand Prix

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United States   1971 United States Grand Prix
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 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:42.642
Fastest Lap
Driver Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari
Time 1:43.474 (on lap 43 of 59)
Podium
First France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford
Second Switzerland Jo Siffert BRM
Third Sweden 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 France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 59 1:43:52.0 5 9
2 14 Switzerland Jo Siffert BRM 59 40.062 6 6
3 25 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 59 44.07 11 4
4 16 New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 59 56.749 12 3
5 8 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 59 + 1:00.003 1 2
6 5 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 59 + 1:16.426 4 1
7 22 United Kingdom Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 18  
8 12 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 58 + 1 Lap 10  
9 15 United Kingdom Peter Gethin BRM 58 + 1 Lap 21  
10 31 United Kingdom David Hobbs McLaren-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 22  
11 27 Italy Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 57 + 2 Laps 26  
12 11 New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 57 + 2 Laps 8  
13 17 Austria Helmut Marko BRM 57 + 2 Laps 16  
14 28 Canada John Cannon BRM 56 + 3 Laps 24  
15 20 United Kingdom Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 54 Accident 14  
16 29 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 54 Out of fuel 28  
17 18 United Kingdom John Surtees Surtees-Ford 54 + 5 Laps 13  
NC 33 United States Skip Barber March-Ford 52 Not Classified 25  
NC 32 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 49 Alternator 7  
NC 2 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 49 Not Classified 2  
NC 30 United States Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 49 Not Classified 29  
Ret 7 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 47 Accident 3  
Ret 23 Australia Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 41 Engine 15  
Ret 24 United Kingdom Chris Craft Brabham-Ford 30 Suspension 27  
Ret 21 France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 23 Engine 20  
Ret 26 Italy Nanni Galli March-Ford 11 Wheel 23  
Ret 3 Sweden Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 5 Brakes 9  
Ret 10 United States 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

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.
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