Jackie Stewart (on right) won his 2nd driver's championship, driving for Tyrrell
The 1971 Formula One season included the 22nd FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on March 6, 1971, and ended on October 3 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 June 6 (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]
Season review[edit]
Teams and drivers[edit]
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1971 FIA World Championship.
| Entrant |
Constructor |
Chassis |
Engine |
Tyre |
Driver |
Rounds |
Gold Leaf Team Lotus
World Wide Racing |
Lotus-Ford |
72C
72D |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
Emerson Fittipaldi |
1-3, 5-8, 10-11 |
Reine Wisell |
1-5, 7-8, 10-11 |
Dave Charlton |
6 |
| Lotus-Pratt & Whitney |
56B |
Pratt & Whitney STN76 tbn |
Emerson Fittipaldi |
9 |
Reine Wisell |
6 |
David Walker |
4 |
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC |
Ferrari |
312B
312B2 |
Ferrari 001 3.0 F12
Ferrari 001/1 3.0 F12 |
F |
Jacky Ickx |
All |
Clay Regazzoni |
All |
Mario Andretti |
1-4, 7, 10-11 |
STP March Racing Team |
March-Ford |
711 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
Ronnie Peterson |
1-4, 6-11 |
Alex Soler-Roig |
1-5 |
Nanni Galli |
5-6, 9-11 |
Niki Lauda |
8 |
Mike Beuttler |
10 |
| March-Alfa Romeo |
711 |
Alfa Romeo T33 3.0 V8 |
Andrea de Adamich |
1-2, 5-7, 9, 11 |
Nanni Galli |
3-4, 7-8 |
Ronnie Peterson |
5 |
Elf Team Tyrrell |
Tyrrell-Ford |
001
002
003 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
G |
Jackie Stewart |
All |
François Cevert |
All |
Peter Revson |
11 |
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing |
McLaren-Ford |
M19A
M14A |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
G |
Denny Hulme |
1-8, 10-11 |
Peter Gethin |
1-7 |
Jackie Oliver |
6, 8-9 |
Motor Racing Developments Ltd |
Brabham-Ford |
BT33
BT34 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
G |
Graham Hill |
All |
Dave Charlton |
1 |
Tim Schenken |
2-11 |
Yardley Team BRM |
BRM |
P160
P153 |
BRM P142 3.0 V12 |
F |
Pedro Rodríguez |
1-5 |
Jo Siffert |
All |
Howden Ganley |
All |
Vic Elford |
7 |
Helmut Marko |
8-11 |
Peter Gethin |
8-11 |
George Eaton |
10 |
John Cannon |
11 |
Equipe Matra Sports |
Matra |
MS120B |
Matra MS71 3.0 V12 |
G |
Chris Amon |
1-7, 9-11 |
Jean-Pierre Beltoise |
2-6, 10-11 |
Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees
Auto Motor und Sport Team Surtees
Team Surtees |
Surtees-Ford |
TS9
TS7 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
John Surtees |
All |
Rolf Stommelen |
1-10 |
Brian Redman |
1 |
Derek Bell |
6 |
Mike Hailwood |
9, 11 |
Sam Posey |
11 |
Gijs van Lennep |
11 |
Frank Williams Racing Cars |
March-Ford |
701
711 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
Henri Pescarolo |
All |
Max Jean |
5 |
Ecurie Bonnier |
McLaren-Ford |
M7C |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
G |
Joakim Bonnier |
1, 7-9, 11 |
Helmut Marko |
7 |
Team Gunston |
March-Ford |
701 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
G |
John Love |
1 |
| Brabham-Ford |
BT26A |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
Jackie Pretorius |
1 |
Gene Mason Racing |
March-Ford |
711 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
Skip Barber |
3-4, 10-11 |
Stichting Autoraces Nederland |
Surtees-Ford |
TS7 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
Gijs van Lennep |
4 |
Jo Siffert Automobiles |
March-Ford |
701 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
François Mazet |
5 |
Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing |
March-Ford |
701
711 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
Mike Beuttler |
6-9 |
Shell Arnold Team |
March-Ford |
701 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
Jean-Pierre Jarier |
9 |
Jolly Club of Switzerland |
Bellasi-Ford |
F1 70 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
G |
Silvio Moser |
9 |
Penske-White Racing |
McLaren-Ford |
M19A |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
G |
Mark Donohue |
10-11 |
David Hobbs |
11 |
Ecurie Evergreen |
Brabham-Ford |
BT33 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
G |
Chris Craft |
10-11 |
Pete Lovely Volkswagen Inc. |
Lotus-Ford |
69 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 |
F |
Pete Lovely |
10-11 |
1971 Drivers Championship final standings[edit]
|
|
Key
| Colour |
Result |
| Gold |
Winner |
| Silver |
2nd place |
| Bronze |
3rd place |
| Green |
Points finish |
| Blue |
Non-points finish |
| Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple |
Did not finish (Ret) |
| Red |
Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black |
Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White |
Did not start (DNS) |
| Race cancelled (C) |
| Light blue |
Practiced only (PO) |
Friday test driver (TD)
(from 2003 onwards) |
| Blank |
Did not practice (DNP) |
| Excluded (EX) |
| Did not arrive (DNA) |
|
1971 Constructors Championship final standings[edit]
Lotus-Ford placed 5th in the 1971 Constructors title
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.
- Bold results counted to championship totals.
Non-Championship race results[edit]
Other Formula One races were also held in 1971, which did not count towards the World Championship.
- ^ "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.