1971 United States Grand Prix

1971 United States Grand Prix
Race details
Date October 3, 1971 (1971-10-03)
Official name XIV United States Grand Prix
Location Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Watkins Glen, New York
Course Permanent road course
Course length 5.435 km (3.377 miles)
Distance 59 laps, 320.67 km (199.24 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:42.642
Fastest lap
Driver Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari
Time 1:43.474 on lap 43
Podium
First Tyrrell-Ford
Second BRM
Third March-Ford
Lap leaders

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.[1] 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

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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 (41 °C)), 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

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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

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Qualifying classification

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Grid
1 8 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:42.642 1
2 2 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 1:42.659 2
3 7 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:42.925 3
4 5 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:43.002 4
5 9 France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 1:43.152 5
6 6 United States Mario Andretti Ferrari 1:43.195 DNS
7 14 Switzerland Jo Siffert BRM 1:43.468 6
8 32 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:43.843 7
9 11 New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 1:43.970 8
10 3 Sweden Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 1:44.024 9
11 12 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:44.067 10
12 25 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:44.193 11
13 16 New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 1:44.430 12
14 18 United Kingdom John Surtees Surtees-Ford 1:44.908 13
15 20 United Kingdom Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 1:45.094 14
16 23 Australia Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 1:45.110 15
17 17 Austria Helmut Marko BRM 1:45.204 16
18 19 United States Sam Posey Surtees-Ford 1:45.267 17
19 31 United States Mark Donohue McLaren-Ford 1:45.378 DNS
20 22 United Kingdom Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 1:45.448 18
21 10 United States Peter Revson Tyrrell-Ford 1:45.515 19
22 21 France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 1:45.568 20
23 15 United Kingdom Peter Gethin BRM 1:45.729 21
24 31 United Kingdom David Hobbs McLaren-Ford 1:46.270 22
25 26 Italy Nanni Galli March-Ford 1:46.608 23
26 28 Canada John Cannon BRM 1:47.471 24
27 33 United States Skip Barber March-Ford 1:47.673 25
28 27 Italy Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 1:47.952 26
29 19 Netherlands Gijs van Lennep Surtees-Ford 1:48.029 DNS
30 24 United Kingdom Chris Craft Brabham-Ford 1:48.698 27
31 29 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 1:49.391 28
32 30 United States Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 1:52.140 29

Race

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Classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 9 France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 59 1:43:51.991 5 9
2 14 Switzerland Jo Siffert BRM 59 + 40.062 6 6
3 25 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 59 + 44.070 11 4
4 16 New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 59 + 56.749 12 3
5 8 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 59 + 1:00.003 1 2
6 5 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 59 + 1:16.426 4 1
7 22 United Kingdom Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 18  
8 12 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 58 + 1 Lap 10  
9 15 United Kingdom Peter Gethin BRM 58 + 1 Lap 21  
10 31 United Kingdom David Hobbs McLaren-Ford 58 + 1 Lap 22  
11 27 Italy Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 57 + 2 Laps 26  
12 11 New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 57 + 2 Laps 8  
13 17 Austria Helmut Marko BRM 57 + 2 Laps 16  
14 28 Canada John Cannon BRM 56 + 3 Laps 24  
15 20 United Kingdom Mike Hailwood Surtees-Ford 54 Accident 14  
16 29 Sweden Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 54 Out of fuel 28  
17 18 United Kingdom John Surtees Surtees-Ford 54 + 5 Laps 13  
NC 33 United States Skip Barber March-Ford 52 Not classified 25  
NC 2 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 49 Not classified 2  
NC 30 United States Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 49 Not classified 29  
Ret 32 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 49 Alternator 7  
Ret 7 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 47 Accident 3  
Ret 23 Australia Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 41 Engine 15  
Ret 24 United Kingdom Chris Craft Brabham-Ford 30 Suspension 27  
Ret 19 United States Sam Posey Surtees-Ford 15 Piston 17  
Ret 21 France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 23 Engine 20  
Ret 26 Italy Nanni Galli March-Ford 11 Wheel 23  
Ret 3 Sweden Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 5 Brakes 9  
Ret 10 United States Peter Revson Tyrrell-Ford 1 Clutch 19  
DNS 6 United States Mario Andretti Ferrari   Non-starter    
DNS 19 Netherlands Gijs van Lennep Surtees-Ford   Driven by Posey    
DNS 31 United States Mark Donohue McLaren-Ford   Driven by Hobbs    
Source:[2]

Notes

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Championship standings after the race

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  • 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.

References

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  1. ^ "1971 United States Grand Prix Entry list".
  2. ^ "1971 United States Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "United States 1971 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved March 21, 2019.

Further reading

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  • Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-1263-1
  • Rob Walker (January 1972). "13th U.S. Grand Prix: A First For Number Two". Road & Track, 39–43.


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