1971 South African Grand Prix

 1971 South African Grand Prix

Racing data
1st of 11 races of the 1971 automobile world championship
Surname:	South African Grand Prix
Date:	March 6, 1971
Place:	Midrand
Course:	Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit
Length:	324.216 km in 79 laps of 4.104 km
Weather:	sunny and hot
Spectator:	~ 100,000
Pole position
Driver:	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell
Time:	1: 17.8 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Mario Andretti	Ferrari
Time:	1: 20.3 min
Podium
First:	Mario Andretti	Ferrari
Second:	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell
Third:	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari

The 1971 South African Grand Prix took place on March 6 at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and was the first race of the 1971 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

Towards the end of the 1970 season, the then new Tyrrell racing cars and the Ferrari 312B had proven to be the best cars in the field. Ken Tyrrell kept his regular driver duo Jackie Stewart and François Cevert for the 1971 season. Even Ferrari continued to appear with the regular drivers Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni on. Ignazio Giunti died on January 10th in the 1000-kilometer race in Buenos Aires and was replaced by Mario Andretti in his role as the third Ferrari factory driver .

At Lotus , a further developed version of the Type 72 was used, which was driven by regular drivers Emerson Fittipaldi and Reine Wisell . In the McLaren team , Denis Hulme and Peter Gethin also retained their positions as works drivers.

Rob Walker decided against another season with his private team for financial reasons and instead took an indirect part with sponsorship money in the Surtees team , where Rolf Stommelen, who was poached by Brabham , became the second regular driver alongside the founder John Surtees . Graham Hill , who was not very happy about Rob Walker's withdrawal, switched to the Brabham team, which after Jack Brabham 's retirement was now headed by Ron Tauranac alone.

The March cockpits were filled due to the departure of both previous year's factory drivers, with Ronnie Peterson taking on the role of regular driver, initially at the side of Andrea de Adamich and Àlex Soler-Roig , with de Adamich continuing his use of Alfa Romeo engines, which he started at McLaren the previous year.

One of the drivers who had been under contract with March last year was Jo Siffert , who now formed the regular driver duo at BRM together with Formula 1 newcomer Howden Ganley , while Pedro Rodríguez continued to drive for this team.

Chris Amon started a promising season on January 24th with a win at the non-World Championship Grand Prix of Argentina as a new Matra factory driver, in contrast to his teammate Jean-Pierre Beltoise , who was fatal due to his involvement with Ignazio Giuntis Accident two weeks earlier, the racing license had been revoked at the same location. Because of this, he was not allowed to compete in South Africa.

training

Jackie Stewart, whose team had switched from Dunlop to Goodyear tires due to the exit from Formula 1 , achieved the fastest training time with a lead of more than half a second and started from the front row alongside Amon and Regazzoni. The second row was formed by Andretti and Fittipaldi, while Surtees, Hulme and Ickx shared the third row. Thus, as expected, all three Ferraris were within the first three rows.

Guest starter Dave Charlton caused a surprise, qualifying in twelfth place and leaving some experienced regular drivers behind.

After three unsuccessful attempts in the previous year, Àlex Soler-Roig was able to qualify for a Grand Prix for the first time.

run

Race course

With Stewart off to a bad start, Regazzoni took the lead ahead of Fittipaldi, Ickx and Hulme, while Stewart dropped to seventh. Surtees and Amon got off to a worse start and found themselves in 11th and 14th place respectively.

Hulme was initially the fastest driver in the field and fought his way to the top on lap 17. He stayed there until lap 76 when he had to make a pit stop due to a suspension failure. Andretti, who in the meantime had worked his way up to second, took the lead from now on and converted it into his first Grand Prix victory. Stewart was able to take second place in front of Regazzoni and thus prevent a Ferrari double victory.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Gold Leaf Team Lotus	2	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus 72C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
	3	Pure Wisell
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	4th	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari 312B	Ferrari 001 3.0 F12	F.
	5	Clay Regazzoni
	6th	Mario Andretti
STP March Racing Team	7th	Ronnie Peterson	March 711	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
	26th	Àlex Soler-Roig
	8th	Andrea de Adamich		Alfa Romeo T33 3.0 V8
Eleven Team Tyrrell	9	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell 001	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	10	François Cevert	Tyrrell 002
Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	11	Denis Hulme	McLaren M19A		G
	12	Peter Gethin	McLaren M14A
Motor Racing Developments	14th	Graham Hill	Brabham BT33		G
	15th	Dave Charlton
Yardley Team BRM	16	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM P160	BRM P142 3.0 V12	F.
	16T 1		BRM P153
	17th	Jo Siffert
	27	Howden Ganley
Equipe Matra Sports	19th	Chris Amon	Matra MS120B	Matra MS71 3.0 V12	G
Team Surtees	20th	John Surtees	Surtees TS9	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	F.
	20T 1		Surtees TS7
	21st	Rolf Stommelen
	28	Brian Redman
Frank Williams Racing Cars	22nd	Henri Pescarolo	March 701		G
Ecurie Bonnier	23	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren M7C		G
Team Gunston	24	John Love	March 701		F.
	25th	Jackie Pretorius	Brabham BT26A

¹ The cars marked with a "T" after the start number were available to their respective drivers as T- cars , but were not used.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 17.8	189.902 km / h	01
02	Chris Amon	Matra	1: 18.4	188.449 km / h	02
03	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 18.7	187.731 km / h	03
04th	Mario Andretti	Ferrari	1: 19.0	187.018 km / h	04th
05	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	1: 19.1	186.781 km / h	05
06th	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	1: 19.1	186.781 km / h	06th
07th	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1: 19.1	186.781 km / h	07th
08th	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1: 19.2	186.545 km / h	08th
09	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 19.2	186.545 km / h	09
10	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	1: 19.3	186.310 km / h	10
11	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Ford	1: 19.6	185.608 km / h	11
12	Dave Charlton	Brabham-Ford	1: 19.8	185.143 km / h	12
13	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1: 19.9	184.911 km / h	13
14th	Pure Wisell	Lotus Ford	1: 19.9	184.911 km / h	14th
15th	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	1: 20.1	184.449 km / h	15th
16	Jo Siffert	BRM	1: 20.2	184.219 km / h	16
17th	Brian Redman	Surtees-Ford	1: 20.2	184.219 km / h	17th
18th	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	1: 20.2	184.219 km / h	18th
19th	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	1: 20.5	183.533 km / h	19th
20th	Jackie Pretorius	Brabham-Ford	1: 21.7	180.837 km / h	20th
21st	John Love	March-Ford	1: 21.9	180.396 km / h	21st
22nd	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	1: 22.2	179.737 km / h	22nd
23	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren-Ford	1: 22.3	179.519 km / h	23
24	Howden Ganley	BRM	1: 23.7	176.516 km / h	24
25th	Àlex Soler-Roig	March-Ford	1: 25.8	172.196 km / h	25th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Mario Andretti	Ferrari	79	0	1: 47: 35.5	04th	1: 20.3
02	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	79	0	+ 20.9	01	1: 21.0
03	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	79	0	+ 31.4	03	1: 21.2
04th	Pure Wisell	Lotus Ford	79	0	+1: 09.4	14th	1: 21.1
05	Chris Amon	Matra	78	0	+ 1 lap	02	1: 21.5
06th	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Ford	78	1	+ 1 lap	07th	1: 20.8
07th	Brian Redman	Surtees-Ford	78	0	+ 1 lap	17th	1: 22.0
08th	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	78	1	+ 1 lap	08th	1: 21.2
09	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	77	0	+ 2 rounds	19th	1: 21.6
10	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	77	1	+ 2 rounds	13	1: 21.6
11	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	77	0	+ 2 rounds	18th	1: 23.2
12	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	77	0	+ 2 rounds	15th	1: 22.9
13	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	75	0	+ 4 rounds	22nd	1: 25.1
-	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus Ford	58	0	DNF	05	1: 20.8	Engine failure
-	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	56	0	DNF	06th	1: 21.1	Gearbox damage
-	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	45	0	DNF	09	1: 21.6	accident
-	Howden Ganley	BRM	42	0	DNF	24	1: 22.9	Motor overheated
-	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	33	0	DNF	10	1: 21.5	Motor overheated
-	Dave Charlton	Brabham-Ford	31	0	DNF	16	1: 22.5	Engine failure
-	Jo Siffert	BRM	31	0	DNF	12	1: 21.1	Motor overheated
-	John Love	March-Ford	30th	0	DNF	21st	1: 21.5	Differential damage
-	Jackie Pretorius	Brabham-Ford	22nd	0	DNF	20th	1: 23.4	Valve damage
-	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Ford	07th	0	DNF	11	1: 23.0	broken fuel line
-	Joakim Bonnier	McLaren-Ford	05	1	DNF	23	1: 23.8	Suspension damage
-	Àlex Soler-Roig	March-Ford	05	0	DNF	25th	1: 25.2	Engine failure

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  Mario Andretti Ferrari 9 02  Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 6th 03  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 4th 04th  Pure Wisell lotus 3 05  Chris Amon Matra 2 06th  Denis Hulme McLaren 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 9 02  Tyrrell 6th 03  lotus 3 04th  Matra 2 05  McLaren 1

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Background" (accessed June 29, 2011)
2. ↑ "Training"  ( 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)  
3. ^ "Report" (accessed June 29, 2011)
4. ^ "World Championship stands" ( Memento from September 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on June 4, 2011)