1971 Formula One season
1971 FIA Formula One World Championship season |
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Drivers' Champion: Jackie Stewart Constructors' Champion: Tyrrell-Ford | |||
Previous: | 1970 | Next: | 1972 |
The 1971 Formula One season included the 22nd FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on 6 March 1971, and ended on 3 October after eleven races.
After the death of Jochen Rindt the previous year, Lotus had a desultory season, with young and inexperienced drivers such as Emerson Fittipaldi appearing in the cars. The team spent a lot of time experimenting with a gas turbine powered car, and with four wheel drive again. Using their own chassis heavily inspired by the Matra MS80 but with conventional tanks, Tyrrell and Jackie Stewart easily took success in 1971. Of the 11 races in the season, Mario Andretti, Jacky Ickx, Jo Siffert, Peter Gethin and François Cevert won one race each, while Stewart won the other 6 races.
Jo Siffert and Pedro Rodríguez, who had an intense rivalry driving for John Wyer's Gulf-sponsored works Porsche endurance sportscar team both lost their lives racing in 1971. Rodriguez died driving a Ferrari 512 at an Interserie race at the Nosiring, Germany in July; and Siffert died in a fiery crash at the World Championship Victory Race non-championship Formula One event at Brands Hatch in October.
The Belgian Grand Prix was originally supposed to be held on 6 June (between the Monaco and Dutch Grands Prix), at the notorious 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 specs meant that the circuit was deemed unsuitable for Formula One cars to race on and the event was promptly cancelled.[1] And the Mexican Grand Prix was originally supposed to be the last race of the year, but the FIA cancelled the race because of the previous year's events, where a gigantic crowd turned up to see the race and they were situated in front of the barriers during the race.
This was the first season where at least 22 cars started every race, except the Monaco Grand Prix, where 18 cars started.
Season review
Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1971 FIA World Championship.
1971 Drivers Championship final standings
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1971 Constructors Championship final standings
Points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the first six finishers at each round, however only the best placed car from each manufacturer was eligible to score points. The best five results from the first six rounds and the best four results from the last five rounds were retained.
Pos. | Manufacturer | RSA |
ESP |
MON |
NED |
FRA |
GBR |
GER |
AUT |
ITA |
CAN |
USA |
Pts.[3] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tyrrell-Ford | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Ret | 3 | 1 | 1 | 73 |
2 | BRM | Ret | 4 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 36 |
3 | Ferrari | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | Ret | Ret | 3 | Ret | Ret | 8 | 6 | 33 |
4 | March-Ford | 10 | Ret | 2 | 4 | 13 | 2 | 5 | (6) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 33 (34) |
5 | Lotus-Ford | 4 | NC | 5 | DSQ | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 5 | NC | 21 | |
6 | McLaren-Ford | 6 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 9 | Ret | Ret | 9 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 10 |
7 | Matra | 5 | 3 | Ret | 9 | 5 | 7 | Ret | 6 | 10 | 8 | 9 | |
8 | Surtees-Ford | 7 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 8 |
9 | Brabham-Ford | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 3 | Ret | Ret | 7 | 5 |
— | Lotus-Pratt & Whitney | Ret | NC | 8 | 0 | ||||||||
— | March-Alfa Romeo | 13 | Ret | NC | 12 | 12 | Ret | 11 | 0 | ||||
— | Bellasi-Ford | Ret | 0 | ||||||||||
Pos. | Manufacturer | RSA |
ESP |
MON |
NED |
FRA |
GBR |
GER |
AUT |
ITA |
CAN |
USA |
Pts. |
- Bold results counted to championship totals.
Non-Championship race results
Other Formula One races were also held in 1971, which did not count towards the World Championship.
Race Name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Constructor | Report |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
XIV Argentine Grand Prix | Buenos Aires | 24 January | Chris Amon | Matra | Report |
VI Race of Champions | Brands Hatch | 21 March | Clay Regazzoni | Ferrari | Report |
Questor Grand Prix | Ontario Motor Speedway | 28 March | Mario Andretti | Ferrari | Report |
XII Spring Trophy | Oulton Park | 9 April | Pedro Rodriguez | BRM | Report |
XXIII BRDC International Trophy | Silverstone | 8 May | Graham Hill | Brabham-Cosworth | Report |
VI Rhein-Pokalrennen | Hockenheim | 13 June | Jacky Ickx | Ferrari | Report |
XVIII International Gold Cup | Oulton Park | 22 August | John Surtees | Surtees-Cosworth | Report |
I World Championship Victory Race | Brands Hatch | 24 October | Peter Gethin | BRM | Report |
Notes
- ↑ "Dutch GP, 1971 Race Report - GP Encyclopedia - F1 History on". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ↑ Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top six finishers in each race.
- ↑ Only the best 5 results from the first 6 rounds and the best 4 results from the last 5 rounds counted towards the Championship. Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.