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1971 British Grand Prix

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1971 British Grand Prix
Race 6 of 11 in the 1971 Formula One season
The Silverstone Circuit (1952–1974)
The Silverstone Circuit (1952–1974)
Race details
Date 17 July 1971
Official name XXIV The Woolmark British Grand Prix[1]
Location Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.711 km (2.927 miles)
Distance 68 laps, 320.348 km (199.036 miles)
Weather Overcast, dry
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:18.1
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford
Time 1:19.9
Podium
First Tyrrell-Ford
Second March-Ford
Third Lotus-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1971 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 17 July 1971. It was race 6 of 11 in both the 1971 World Championship of Drivers and the 1971 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 68-lap race was won by Tyrrell driver Jackie Stewart after he started from second position. Ronnie Peterson finished second for the March team and Lotus driver Emerson Fittipaldi came in third.

Race report

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On one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, horsepower counted for everything. Clay Regazzoni, driving for Ferrari, gained pole with a scorching lap of 1 min 18.1 secs, beating Jackie Stewart in a Tyrrell and Jo Siffert in a BRM by just a couple of hundredths of a second. BRM were mourning the loss of Pedro Rodríguez in a sports car race a few days earlier.

The start itself was a shambles, with a bungled flag drop causing a collision between Jackie Oliver and Graham Hill, for which Oliver was fined £50. Regazzoni led away from Jacky Ickx and Stewart, but after just one lap Stewart had passed Ickx, with Siffert following him. On lap 4, Stewart passed Regazzoni and disappeared into the distance. By lap 10 he was over 3 seconds ahead. In the points positions, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson and Tim Schenken were having a memorable tussle. Regazzoni repassed Siffert who was suffering from vibration problems on lap 15, but the BRM driver managed to hang on to the back of the Ferrari for several more laps. Stewart increased his lead to 14 seconds and by lap 20 he was ahead by 18 seconds. Ickx dropped out of fourth place with rubber breaking off from his front left tyre, and Siffert dropped way down with a broken coil bracket. The battle between Peterson, Schenken and Fittipaldi moved up into 3rd, 4th and 5th places.

On lap 48, tyre problems struck Regazzoni and further problems ensued when he tried to leave the pits after his tyre change to find his engine had no oil pressure. Schenken too dropped down the field with gearbox problems and retired completely when it jammed for good 4 laps from home.

Henri Pescarolo and Rolf Stommelen thus moved up into the battle for 4th and 5th, duelling right to the line, with Pescarolo winning out by just 0.5 seconds. John Surtees gained 6th place.

Stewart took a commanding home win and extended his lead in the Championship to 23 points.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 5 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:18.1
2 12 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:18.1 +0.0
3 16 Switzerland Jo Siffert BRM 1:18.2 +0.1
4 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 1:18.3 +0.2
5 18 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:19.0 +0.9
6 4 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:19.5 +1.4
7 8 Australia Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 1:19.5 +1.4
8 9 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:19.6 +1.5
9 21 New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 1:19.7 +1.6
10 14 France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.8 +1.7
11 17 New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 1:19.84 +1.74
12 24 Germany Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Ford 1:19.88 +1.78
13 2 South Africa Dave Charlton Lotus-Ford 1:20.05 +1.95
14 10 United Kingdom Peter Gethin McLaren-Ford 1:20.1 +2.0
15 22 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:20.2 +2.1
16 7 United Kingdom Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 1:20.3 +2.2
17 26 France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 1:20.5 +2.4
18 23 United Kingdom John Surtees Surtees-Ford 1:20.6 +2.5
19 3 Sweden Reine Wisell Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 1:20.66 +2.56
20 6 United Kingdom Mike Beuttler March-Ford 1:20.7 +2.6
21 20 Italy Nanni Galli March-Ford 1:20.9 +2.8
22 11 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver McLaren-Ford 1:21.0 +2.9
23 25 United Kingdom Derek Bell Surtees-Ford 1:22.3 +4.2
24 19 Italy Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 1:23.2 +5.1
Source:[2]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 68 1:31:31.5 2 9
2 18 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 68 + 36.1 5 6
3 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 68 + 50.5 4 4
4 26 France Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 67 + 1 Lap 17 3
5 24 Germany Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Ford 67 + 1 Lap 12 2
6 23 United Kingdom John Surtees Surtees-Ford 67 + 1 Lap 18 1
7 22 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 66 + 2 Laps 15  
8 17 New Zealand Howden Ganley BRM 66 + 2 Laps 11  
9 16 Switzerland Jo Siffert BRM 66 + 2 laps 3  
10 14 France François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 65 + 3 Laps 10  
11 20 Italy Nanni Galli March-Ford 65 + 3 Laps 21  
12 8 Australia Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 63 Gearbox 7  
NC 3 Sweden Reine Wisell Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 57 Not classified 19  
NC 19 Italy Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 56 Not classified 24  
Ret 10 United Kingdom Peter Gethin McLaren-Ford 53 Engine 14  
Ret 4 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 51 Engine 6  
Ret 5 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 48 Oil pressure 1  
Ret 21 New Zealand Chris Amon Matra 35 Engine 9  
Ret 9 New Zealand Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 32 Engine 8  
Ret 25 United Kingdom Derek Bell Surtees-Ford 23 Suspension 23  
Ret 6 United Kingdom Mike Beuttler March-Ford 21 Oil pressure 20  
Ret 2 South Africa Dave Charlton Lotus-Ford 1 Engine 13  
Ret 7 United Kingdom Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 0 Accident 22  
Ret 11 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver McLaren-Ford 0 Accident 16  
Source:[3]

Notes

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  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver Mike Beuttler.
  • This race saw the 10th podium finish for a March.

Championship standings after the race

[edit]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ "1971 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  2. ^ Pritchard, Anthony (1972). The Motor Racing Year No3. ISBN 0393085023.
  3. ^ "1971 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Britain 1971 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.


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1971 French Grand Prix
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