1971 USA Grand Prix

 1971 USA Grand Prix

Racing data
11th of 11 races of the 1971 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	United States Grand Prix
Date:	3rd October 1971
Place:	Watkins Glen
Course:	Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Length:	320.37 km in 59 laps of 5.43 km
Weather:	sunny and warm
Pole position
Driver:	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell
Time:	1: 42.642 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari
Time:	1: 43.474 min
Podium
First:	François Cevert	Tyrrell
Second:	Jo Siffert	BRM
Third:	Ronnie Peterson	March

The 1971 US Grand Prix, which took place in Watkins Glen on October 3rd, was the eleventh and final race of the 1971 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

After various renovations, the race track in Watkins Glen presented itself with a new pit system, improved safety measures and an extension to 5.43 kilometers. Back then, the back straight was used without a chicane.

At Surtees , regular driver Rolf Stommelen , who was absent due to illness, was replaced by Gijs van Lennep and Formula 1 newcomer Sam Posey . The two took turns in training in a car, with the faster one ultimately being allowed to take part in the race. Mike Hailwood took part in the race for the second time this season as a guest starter in a third Surtees works car.

For the first time in the season, the Tyrrell team also awarded a cockpit to a guest starter. Peter Revson was allowed to drive the car that Jackie Stewart had mostly served as a T-Car in previous races .

As at the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks earlier, BRM fielded five works cars, with the fifth not being driven by George Eaton this time , but by his compatriot John Cannon , who thus made his first and only Grand Prix outing. Chris Craft , who was unable to compete in Canada due to technical problems, was his only GP participation .

Mark Donohue shared the customer McLaren of the Penske-White team this time with David Hobbs , as he was also registered for a USAC race, which was initially postponed due to rain and will now take place on the same weekend . The same applied to Mario Andretti , who, like Donohue, decided not to start the Grand Prix in favor of the USAC race.

training

As a result of the training, the first row of the grid consisted of three vehicles with V8 engines for the first time this season, namely pole-setter Jackie Stewart as well as Emerson Fittipaldi and Denis Hulme . Behind them, Clay Regazzoni in a Ferrari qualified the best twelve-cylinder driver alongside François Cevert's second Tyrrell .

run

Race course

Stewart took the lead from pole position. Behind them followed Hulme and Cevert, who started well from fifth place. In return, Fittipaldi fell back to eighth place due to a bad start.

On the seventh lap, Cevert was initially able to overtake Hulme and finally take the lead on lap 14, which he no longer relinquished. Stewart had barely offered his team-mate much resistance during the overtaking maneuver, as he was struggling with massive oversteer in his vehicle. In the following laps he fell further back while Jacky Ickx steadily worked his way up to second place.

Ickx was able to keep up with Cevert until the fortieth lap before he had to give up due to a defective alternator. This brought Jo Siffert to second and Ronnie Peterson to third. Howden Ganley also managed to intercept the stumbling Stewart and finished fourth ahead of him.

François Cevert celebrated his first and only Grand Prix victory after 59 laps. It was the first win by a French driver since Maurice Trintignant's success at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix .

Since the Mexican Grand Prix was temporarily no longer held this year due to the events of the previous year, the official part of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1971 was over. It was only followed by a race at Brands Hatch , which was not part of the World Championship , in which Jo Siffert had a fatal accident.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Gold Leaf Team Lotus	2	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus 72 D	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
	3	Pure Wisell
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	4th	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari 312B2	Ferrari 001/1 3.0 F12	F.
			Ferrari 312B 1	Ferrari 001 3.0 F12
	5	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari 312B2	Ferrari 001/1 3.0 F12
	6th	Mario Andretti
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	7th	Denis Hulme	McLaren M19 A	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Eleven Team Tyrrell	8th	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell 003		G
	9	François Cevert	Tyrrell 002
	10	Peter Revson	Tyrrell 001
Equipe Matra Sports	11	Chris Amon	Matra MS120 B	Matra MS71 3.0 V12	G
	12	Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Yardley Team BRM	14th	Jo Siffert	BRM P160	BRM P142 3.0 V12	F.
	15th	Peter Gethin
	16	Howden Ganley
	17th	Helmut Marko
	28	John Cannon	BRM P153
Rob Walker / Team Surtees	18th	John Surtees	Surtees TS9	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
Team Surtees	19th	Sam Posey
		Gijs van Lennep
	20th	Mike Hailwood
Frank Williams Racing Cars	21st	Henri Pescarolo	March 711		G
Motor Racing Developments	22nd	Graham Hill	Brabham BT34		G
	23	Tim donation	Brabham BT33
Ecurie Evergreen	24	Chris Craft			G
STP March Racing Team	25th	Ronnie Peterson	March 711		F.
	26th	Nanni Galli
	27	Andrea de Adamich		Alfa Romeo T33 3.0 V8
Ecurie Bonnier	29	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren M7C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Pete Lovely Volkswagen Inc.	30th	Pete Lovely	Lotus 49		F.
Penske-White Racing	31	Mark Donohue	McLaren M19 A		G
		David Hobbs
Gene Mason Racing	33	Skip Barber	March 711		F.

¹ Jacky Ickx switched from the Ferrari 312B2 to the 312B during practice and also took part in the race with it.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 42.642	190.448 km / h	01
02	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	1: 42.659	190.417 km / h	02
03	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1: 42.925	189.925 km / h	03
04th	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 43.002	189.783 km / h	04th
05	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 43.152	189.507 km / h	05
06th	Mario Andretti	Ferrari	1: 43.195	189.428 km / h	DNS
07th	Jo Siffert	BRM	1: 43.468	188.928 km / h	06th
08th	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1: 43.843	188.246 km / h	07th
09	Chris Amon	Matra	1: 43.970	188.016 km / h	08th
10	Pure Wisell	Lotus Ford	1: 44.024	187.918 km / h	09
11	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	1: 44.067	187.841 km / h	10
12	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1: 44.193	187.613 km / h	11
13	Howden Ganley	BRM	1: 44.430	187.188 km / h	12
14th	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	1: 44.908	186.335 km / h	13
15th	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	1: 45.094	186.005 km / h	14th
16	Tim donation	Brabham-Ford	1: 45.110	185.977 km / h	15th
17th	Helmut Marko	BRM	1: 45.204	185.810 km / h	16
18th	Sam Posey	Surtees-Ford	1: 45.267	185.699 km / h	17th
19th	Mark Donohue	McLaren-Ford	1: 45.378	185.504 km / h	DNS
20th	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	1: 45.448	185.380 km / h	18th
21st	Peter Revson	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 45.515	185.263 km / h	19th
22nd	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	1: 45.568	185.170 km / h	20th
23	Peter Gethin	BRM	1: 45.729	184.888 km / h	21st
24	David Hobbs	McLaren-Ford	1: 46.270	183.947 km / h	22nd
25th	Nanni Galli	March-Ford	1: 46.608	183.363 km / h	23
26th	John Cannon	BRM	1: 47.471	181.891 km / h	24
27	Skip Barber	March-Ford	1: 47.673	181.550 km / h	25th
28	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	1: 47.952	181.080 km / h	26th
29	Gijs van Lennep	Surtees-Ford	1: 48.029	180.951 km / h	DNS
30th	Chris Craft	Brabham-Ford	1: 48.698	179.838 km / h	27
31	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren-Ford	1: 49.391	178.698 km / h	28
32	Pete Lovely	Lotus Ford	1: 52.140	174.318 km / h	29

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	59	0	1: 43: 51.991	05	1: 43.538
02	Jo Siffert	BRM	59	0	+ 40.062	06th	1: 43.766
03	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	59	0	+ 44.070	11	1: 44.095
04th	Howden Ganley	BRM	59	0	+ 56.749	12	1: 44.134
05	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	59	0	+ 1: 00.003	01	1: 45.009
06th	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	59	0	+1: 16.426	04th	1: 44.594
07th	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 45.265
08th	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	58	0	+ 1 lap	10	1: 45.411
09	Peter Gethin	BRM	58	0	+ 1 lap	21st	1: 46.002
10	David Hobbs	McLaren-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	22nd	1: 46.145
11	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	57	0	+ 2 rounds	26th	1: 46.831
12	Chris Amon	Matra	57	1	+ 2 rounds	08th	1: 44.932
13	Helmut Marko	BRM	57	0	+ 2 rounds	16	1: 45.543
14th	John Cannon	BRM	56	0	+ 3 rounds	24	1: 47.536
15th	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	54	0	DNF	14th	1: 45.107	Tire damage
16	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren-Ford	54	0	DNF	28	1: 48.371	Lack of fuel
17th	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	54	0	+ 5 rounds	13	1: 45.094
-	Skip Barber	March-Ford	52	0	NC	25th	1: 47,200	Unrated
-	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	52	0	DNF	07th	1: 43.474	defective alternator
-	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	49	1	NC	02	1: 44.990	Unrated
-	Pete Lovely	Lotus Ford	49	0	NC	29	1: 54.782	Unrated
-	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	47	1	DNF	03	1: 43.888	Driving error
-	Tim donation	Brabham-Ford	41	0	DNF	15th	1: 45.705	Engine failure
-	Chris Craft	Brabham-Ford	30th	0	DNF	27	1: 47.919	Suspension damage
-	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	23	0	DNF	20th	1: 46.755	Engine failure
-	Sam Posey	Surtees-Ford	15th	0	DNF	17th	1: 48.039	Engine failure
-	Nanni Galli	March-Ford	11	0	DNF	23	1: 48.701	overheated engine
-	Pure Wisell	Lotus Ford	05	0	DNF	09	1: 46.878	Brake defect
-	Peter Revson	Tyrrell-Ford	01	0	DNF	19th	2: 38.151	Clutch damage

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 62 02  Ronnie Peterson March 33 03  François Cevert Tyrrell 26th 04th  Jo Siffert BRM 19th 05  Jacky Ickx Ferrari 19th 06th  Emerson Fittipaldi lotus 16 07th  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 13 08th  Mario Andretti Ferrari 12 09  Denis Hulme McLaren 9 10  Pedro Rodríguez BRM 9 11  Peter Gethin BRM 9

Item driver constructor Points 12  Pure Wisell lotus 9 13  Chris Amon Matra 9 14th  Howden Ganley BRM 5 15th  Tim donation Brabham 5 16  Henri Pescarolo March 4th 17th  Mark Donohue McLaren 4th 18th  Rolf Stommelen Surtees 3 19th  John Surtees Surtees 3 20th  Mike Hailwood Surtees 3 21st  Graham Hill Brabham 2 22nd  Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Tyrrell 73 02  BRM 36 03  March 33 04th  Ferrari 33 05  lotus 21st

Item constructor Points 06th  McLaren 10 07th  Matra 9 08th  Surtees 8th 09  Brabham 5

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training" ( Memento of the original from September 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on June 29, 2011)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed June 29, 2011)
3. ↑ Fight at the limit. The Formula 1 Chronicle 1950–2000 , ed. v. Willy Knupp, RTL book edition: Zeitgeist Verlag: Düsseldorf / Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-89748-277-0 , p. 160
4. ↑ "World Cup stands"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on June 29, 2011)