1971 United States Grand Prix

January 2021 F1 United States United States Watkins Glen International Track Map-1970-1980.svg XIV United States Grand Prix 1971 10 3 1971 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race CourseWatkins Glen, New York Permanent road course 3.377 5.435 59 199.24 320.67 Dry GBR Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:42.642 BEL Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:43.474 43 FRA François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford CHE Jo Siffert BRM SWE Ronnie Peterson March-Ford USA The 1971 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 3, 1971, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 11 of 11 in both the 1971 World Championship of Drivers and the 1971 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.http://www.racingsportscars.com/covers/_Watkins_Glen-1971-10-03e.jpg 1971 United States Grand Prix Entry list The 59-lap race was won by Tyrrell driver François Cevert after he started from fifth position. Jo Siffert finished second for the BRM team and March driver Ronnie Peterson came in third. Summary Jackie Stewart's domination in 1971 clinched his second Driver's Championship with three races remaining, but the final round belonged to his Tyrrell teammate, François Cevert. The Frenchman took the lead from Stewart on lap 14 and went on to claim his only career win, the first GP victory for a French driver since Maurice Trintignant in 1958. As usual, the American race attracted a large field of entrants, despite it being the last race of the year and both Championships having long been wrapped up. It seemed nearly every spare works F1 car and quite a few independents, as well, were present to try for a share of the $267,000 in prize money, easily the richest purse in F1. Unfortunately, the two most popular American drivers, Mario Andretti and Mark Donohue, who was fresh from a stunning third-place finish in Canada in his Formula One debut in a Penske-White Racing entered McLaren were committed to drive on Sunday in a USAC race which had been rescheduled to the GP weekend after it had been called off on the previous weekend because of extremely heavy rain. The two drivers qualified, Andretti in a Ferrari and Donohue in a Penske-White Racing entered McLaren shared with David Hobbs, hoping for more rain in New Jersey and the chance to return for the race on Sunday. Since the previous year's race, the course had been resurfaced, widened and, most significantly, lengthened by a mile to 3.377 miles with an entirely new section at the southwest corner called the "Boot" or "Anvil". The pits were also moved from the north end straight back before the right angle turn known as "The 90," which now became Turn One. Friday was sunny and hot (105 F C on), and Stewart jumped immediately to the top of the charts with a time of 1:42.844, as the times were recorded to a thousandth of a second for the first time. On Saturday, with the temperature now 110° and both Goodyear's and Firestone's qualifying tires breaking down after a few laps, Emerson Fittipaldi pipped Stewart's time from the day before, but the Scot returned to the track and grabbed the pole by .017 of a second. Denny Hulme joined them on the front row in his McLaren, followed by Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari, Cevert and the soon-to-be-absent Andretti. American Peter Revson qualified nineteenth in the third Tyrrell. It was his only race for Tyrrell and his first Grand Prix since 1964. Race Sunday was dry in both upstate New York and Trenton, New Jersey, and word came that the USAC race would go on meaning that both Andretti and Donohue would be unable to start the race with Hobbs substituting for Donohue in the Penske-White Racing entered McLaren dismaying both the crowd and the organizers, who were robbed of seeing two of the country's best road racers. At the start, Denny Hulme jumped into the lead, ahead of Cevert and Stewart, but by the end of the first lap, Stewart led Hulme, Cevert, Regazzoni, Jo Siffert, Jacky Ickx, Chris Amon and Fittipaldi. At first, Stewart was able to open a gap back to the following group, now headed by his teammate, but after ten laps, his tires began to go off and the gap closed. The Scot realized that Cevert's Goodyears were holding up much better in the heat, and when Cevert closed up right behind him, he waved him by on lap 14. Hulme was now struggling with a terrible vibration in his tires and was passed, first by Ickx, then Regazzoni and Siffert. On lap 15, American Sam Posey, in his first Grand Prix, retired from a fine run with a blown piston in his Surtees. By the time Ickx could get around Stewart on lap 17, Cevert's lead was 5.7 seconds. At about half-distance, Cevert finally began to struggle with the same understeer that had plagued Stewart much earlier. Ickx was closing, and his Firestones were getting better as the race went on. On lap 43, the Belgian set the fastest lap of the race, and the gap was down to 2.2 seconds. Then, on lap 49, the Ferrari's alternator fell off, punching a hole in the gearbox and spilling oil all over the track! Hulme hit the oil and spun into the barrier, bending his front suspension. He was standing beside the track when Cevert came by and also hit the barrier, but kept going, now 29 seconds in the lead! Jo Siffert was now in second place and 33 seconds clear of Ronnie Peterson. With four laps to go, however, Siffert began to run low on fuel. The Swede took huge chunks off the gap as Siffert jerked the BRM from side to side, trying to use every remaining drop of fuel. Cevert coasted home, taking both hands off the wheel to wave as he crossed the line, and Siffert weaved his way around to hold second place by four seconds over Peterson's March. After taking the checkered flag, Cevert gave a nod to his teammate. "I feel pretty good with a $50,000 win. I followed Stewart in the beginning and was flagged on ahead. Jackie Stewart is a very sensible driver and a very good teacher. He let me go through." While it was the first race on the expanded Watkins Glen track, it was the third year in a row that The Glen had rewarded a driver with his first career victory. This was Cevert's only victory in Formula One. Qualifying Qualifying classification Pos.No.DriverConstructorTimeGrid18GBR Jackie StewartTyrrell-Ford1:42.642122BRA Emerson FittipaldiLotus-Ford1:42.659237NZL Denny HulmeMcLaren-Ford1:42.925345CHE Clay RegazzoniFerrari1:43.002459FRA François CevertTyrrell-Ford1:43.152566USA Mario AndrettiFerrari1:43.195DNS Did not start714CHE Jo SiffertBRM1:43.4686832BEL Jacky IckxFerrari1:43.8437911NZL Chris AmonMatra1:43.9708103SWE Reine WisellLotus-Ford1:44.02491112FRA Jean-Pierre BeltoiseMatra1:44.067101225SWE Ronnie PetersonMarch-Ford1:44.193111316NZL Howden GanleyBRM1:44.430121418GBR John SurteesSurtees-Ford1:44.908131520GBR Mike HailwoodSurtees-Ford1:45.094141623AUS Tim SchenkenBrabham-Ford1:45.110151717AUT Helmut MarkoBRM1:45.204161819USA Sam PoseySurtees-Ford1:45.267171931USA Mark DonohueMcLaren-Ford1:45.378DNS Did not start2022GBR Graham HillBrabham-Ford1:45.448182110USA Peter RevsonTyrrell-Ford1:45.515192221FRA Henri PescaroloMarch-Ford1:45.568202315GBR Peter GethinBRM1:45.729212431GBR David HobbsMcLaren-Ford1:46.270222526ITA Nanni GalliMarch-Ford1:46.608232628CAN John CannonBRM1:47.471242733USA Skip BarberMarch-Ford1:47.673252827ITA Andrea de AdamichMarch-Alfa Romeo1:47.952262919NED Gijs van LennepSurtees-Ford1:48.029DNS Did not start3024GBR Chris CraftBrabham-Ford1:48.698273129SWE Jo BonnierMcLaren-Ford1:49.391283230USA Pete LovelyLotus-Ford1:52.14029 Race Classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 9 FRA François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 59 1:43:51.991 5 9 2 14 CHE Jo Siffert BRM 59 + 40.062 6 6 3 25 SWE Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 59 + 44.070 11 4 4 16 NZL Howden Ganley BRM 59 + 56.749 12 3 5 8 GBR Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 59 + 1:00.003 1 2 6 5 CHE Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 59 + 1:16.426 4 1 7 22 GBR Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 58 + 1 lap 18   8 12 FRA Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 58 + 1 lap 10   9 15 GBR Peter Gethin BRM 58 + 1 lap 21   10 31 GBR David Hobbs McLaren-Ford 58 + 1 lap 22   11 27 ITA Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 57 + 2 laps 26   12 11 NZL Chris Amon Matra 57 + 2 laps 8   13 17 AUT Helmut Marko BRM 57 + 2 laps 16   14 28 CAN John Cannon BRM 56 + 3 laps 24   15 20 GBR Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 54 Accident 14   16 29 SWE Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 54 Out of fuel 28   17 18 GBR John Surtees Surtees-Ford 54 + 5 laps 13   NC Not classified 33 USA Skip Barber March-Ford 52 + 7 laps 25   NC Not classified 2 BRA Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 49 + 10 laps 2   NC Not classified 30 USA Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 49 + 10 laps 29   Ret Retired 32 BEL Jacky Ickx Ferrari 49 Alternator 7   Ret Retired 7 NZL Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 47 Accident 3   Ret Retired 23 AUS Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 41 Engine 15   Ret Retired 24 GBR Chris Craft Brabham-Ford 30 Suspension 27   Ret Retired 19 USA Sam Posey Surtees-Ford 15 Piston 17   Ret Retired 21 FRA Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 23 Engine 20   Ret Retired 26 ITA Nanni Galli March-Ford 11 Wheel 23   Ret Retired 3 SWE Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 5 Brakes 9   Ret Retired 10 USA Peter Revson Tyrrell-Ford 1 Clutch 19   DNS Did not start 6 USA Mario Andretti Ferrari   Non-starter     DNS Did not start 19 NED Gijs van Lennep Surtees-Ford   Driven by Posey     DNS Did not start 31 USA Mark Donohue McLaren-Ford   Driven by Hobbs    Source:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1971/523/ 1971 United States Grand Prix formula1.com December 22, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20131017004639/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1971/523/ October 17, 2013 Notes This was the Formula One World Championship debut for American driver Sam Posey and Canadian driver John Cannon. This was the final Grand Prix for former GP winner Joakim Bonnier. This was the 100th Grand Prix start for Brabham. This was the 5th win of a United States Grand Prix by a Ford-powered car. It broke the old record set by Coventry Climax at the 1962 United States Grand Prix. Final Championship standings Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 GBR Jackie Stewart 62 10px 2 SWE Ronnie Peterson 33 10px 1 3 FRA François Cevert 26 10px 1 4 BEL Jacky Ickx 19 10px 1 5 CHE Jo Siffert 19Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1971/etats-unis/championnat.aspx United States 1971 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com March 21, 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 GBR Tyrrell-Ford 73 10px 1 2 GBR BRM 36 10px 1 3 ITA Ferrari 33 10px 4 GBR March-Ford 33 (34) 10px 5 GBR Lotus-Ford 21Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. 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. Bold text indicates the 1971 World Champions. References 30em Further reading Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. 0-7134-1263-1 Rob Walker (January 1972). "13th U.S. Grand Prix: A First For Number Two". Road & Track, 39–43. United States Grand Prix 1971 1971 Canadian Grand Prix 1972 Argentine Grand Prix 1970 United States Grand Prix 1972 United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix Category:United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix