1971 Argentine Grand Prix

  1971 Argentine Grand Prix

Race details
Non-Championship race in the 1971 Formula One season
Date	24 January 1971
Official name	VIII Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Location	Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	3.41 km (2.12 mi)
Distance	50 x 2 laps, 341.045 km (211.9 mi)
Weather	Fine, cool
Pole position
Driver	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Cosworth
Time	1:15.85
Fastest lap
Driver	Chris Amon	Matra
Time	1:15.05
Podium
First	Chris Amon	Matra
Second	Henri Pescarolo	March-Cosworth
Third	Carlos Reutemann	McLaren-Cosworth

The 1971 Argentine Grand Prix was a motor race consisting of a Formula One class and a Formula 5000 class, held at the Buenos Aires circuit in Buenos Aires on 24 January 1971. The Formula One class was not part of the FIA Formula One World Championship.

This event was held because at that time the FIA regulations required a demonstration race to be held as a quality check, before a Grand Prix could be admitted as part of the World Championship. The race was run over two heats of 50 laps each, the final results being an aggregate of the two.

Scuderia Ferrari had entered three cars for this event, but they were withdrawn after the fatal accident suffered by Ignazio Giunti in a sports car race two weeks previously. Jean-Pierre Beltoise was also involved in that accident, and as a consequence had his international license suspended, and was unable to compete.

Qualifying

Note: a blue background indicates a Formula 5000 entrant.

Pos	No.	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	18	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Cosworth	1:15.85	—
2	8	Chris Amon	Matra	1:15.88	+0.03
3	4	Reine Wisell	Lotus-Cosworth	1:16.03	+0.18
4	2	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Cosworth	1:16.28	+0.43
5	16	Carlos Reutemann	McLaren-Cosworth	1:16.49	+0.64
6	12	Jo Siffert	March-Cosworth	1:16.61	+0.76
7	14	Henri Pescarolo	March-Cosworth	1:16.80	+0.95
8	10	Derek Bell	March-Cosworth	1:17.23	+1.38
9	6	Wilson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Cosworth	1:17.90	+2.05
10	20	Silvio Moser	Bellasi-Cosworth	1:19.01	+3.16
11	22	David Prophet	McLaren-Chevrolet	1:20.58	+4.73
12	26	Jo Bonnier	Lola-Chevrolet	1:21.96	+6.11
13	24	Gordon Spice	McLaren-Chevrolet	1:23.45	+7.60
14	30	Nestor García-Veiga	Surtees-Chevrolet	1:26.26	+10.41
15	28	Carlos Marincovich	McLaren-Chevrolet	2:00.06	+44.15

Heat one

Rolf Stommelen won the first heat, leading from the start, from Jo Siffert in second place. Siffert had held off the rest of the field, with Chris Amon passing Reine Wisell before duelling with Henri Pescarolo for third place. The Frenchman won this battle to take third at the finish, with Amon, Wisell and Carlos Reutemann rounding out the top six. Emerson Fittipaldi lost a nose fin and had to pit for a new one, losing three laps. He eventually finished 10th. The retirements were all F5000 cars, namely Jo Bonnier's Lola, which pulled off with a flat battery, and Marincovich's McLaren and Garcia-Veiga's Surtees, which both suffered mechanical failures. Wisell posted the fastest lap.

Heat two

The grid for heat two was decided by the finishing order from the first heat, with Greg Young taking over Marincovich's car. At the start, Siffert pulled away from Stommelen to take the lead. Amon quickly passed Reutemann and Pescarolo to move into third place, but he caught Stommelen just as the German was trying to pass Siffert. Amon and Stommelen collided and Stommelen's Surtees went off the track, causing gearbox damage which soon proved to be terminal. Shortly afterwards, Amon passed Siffert for the lead. During the next two laps, Siffert was also passed by Pescarolo, Reutemann, Derek Bell's March and Wilson Fittipaldi's Lotus. Wisell pitted with handling problems, and Silvio Moser finally started the race after extensive engine work being performed in the pits, meaning he missed the start. Wilson Fittipaldi then retired on lap 21 with engine failure, and Wisell and Moser also retired. Bell passed Reutemann but retired after that with another engine failure. Siffert had also retired his March with broken suspension. Amon won the heat by 22 seconds from Pescarolo, and this margin gave him the overall victory, his only win of the season. He also posted the fastest lap of the heat, which was the overall fastest lap.

Classification

Note: the classification was determined using the sum of the times obtained in the two heats.

Pos	No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	1st / 2nd heat
1	8	Chris Amon	Equipe Matra Elf	Matra	100	2:08:19.29	4th / 1st
2	14	Henri Pescarolo	Frank Williams Racing Cars	March-Cosworth	100	+ 21.86 s	3rd / 2nd
3	16	Carlos Reutemann	Ecurie Bonnier	McLaren-Cosworth	100	+ 53.31 s	6th / 3rd
4	22	David Prophet	David Prophet Racing	McLaren-Chevrolet	96	+ 4 Laps	9th / 4th
Ret	10	Derek Bell	Tom Wheatcroft Racing	March-Cosworth	88	Engine	7th / Ret
Ret	12	Jo Siffert	Siffert Racing Team	March-Cosworth	86	Suspension	2nd / Ret
Ret	4	Reine Wisell	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	Lotus-Cosworth	84	Accident	5th / Ret
NC	24	Gordon Spice	Gordon Spice	McLaren-Chevrolet	84		12th / 5th
Ret	6	Wilson Fittipaldi	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	Lotus-Cosworth	71	Engine	8th / Ret
NC	26	Jo Bonnier	Ecurie Bonnier	Lola-Chevrolet	68	Battery	Ret / 7th
Ret	20	Silvio Moser	Jolly Club Switzerland	Bellasi-Cosworth	66	Engine	11th / Ret
Ret	18	Rolf Stommelen	Team Surtees	Surtees-Cosworth	60	Gearbox	1st / Ret
NC	28	Carlos Marincovich Greg Young	Luigi Chinetti	McLaren-Chevrolet	59	Fuel injection	Ret / 6th
Ret	2	Emerson Fittipaldi	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	Lotus-Cosworth	48	Oil pressure	10th / Ret
Ret	30	Nestor García-Veiga	Luigi Chinetti	Surtees-Chevrolet	11	Oil leak	Ret / DNS
WD		Mario Andretti	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari
WD		Jacky Ickx	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari
WD		Clay Regazzoni	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari
WD		Ignazio Giunti	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari
WD		Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Equipe Matra Elf	Matra
WD		Chris Craft	Alain de Cadenet	Brabham-Cosworth
WD		Ronnie Peterson	March Racing Team	March-Cosworth

References

• "Stats F1". Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
• "silhouet". Retrieved 2008-11-30. 
• "The Motor Racing Year No. 3", Anthony Pritchard, Pelham Books, 1972.