Spanish GP 1971

Spanish GP, 1971

There were six weeks between the South African and Spanish GPs with the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, the Questor Grand Prix at Ontario in California and a minor event at Oulton Park. At Brands Hatch Emerson Fittipaldi raced the Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 56 gas turbine car. The race was won by Clay Regazzoni in a Ferrari. The Californian race - which was run with F1 cars alongside Formula 5000 machinery - was won by Mario Andretti in a Ferrari, while the race at Oulton had only handful of cars (not including the Ferraris) and was won by Pedro Rodriguez's BRM. The V12 engined machines were very competitive against the Cosworth V8-engined cars.

The same was true at Montjuich Park with Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni on the front row in their Ferraris with Chris Amon's Matra. Jackie Stewart's Tyrrell shared the second row with Pedro Rodriguez's BRM while the third row consisted of Jean-Pierre Beltoise's Matra (who had now got his racing license restored after missing the early races of the year after his license was suspended following the sportscar crash in Buenos Aires which resulted in the death of Ignazio Giunti), Peter Gethin in a McLaren and Mario Andretti's Ferrari. Six of the first eight cars had V12 engines.

The race was a rather different matter. however, as Stewart burst through to second place at the start, chasing Ickx. On lap six he forced his way into the lead. Behind the leaders, Amon overtook Regazzoni for third place on lap three, but then the order settled down. Stewart began to increase his lead over Ickx while Amon ran third. Regazzoni went out on lap 13 with a fuel pump failure which promoted Rodriguez to fourth place with Andretti fifth and Denny Hulme sixth in his McLaren. In the mid-race Andretti disappeared with an engine problem and so Hulme moved to fifth place and Beltoise took sixth. In the closing laps Ickx closed the gap to Stewart but he was still 3.4secs behind at the finish.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
11 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Cosworth 003 75 1h49m03.400s  
Jacky Ickx Ferrari 312B 75 1h49m06.800s  
20 Chris Amon Matra Simca-Matra MS120B 75 1h50m01.500s  
14 Pedro Rodriguez BRM P160 75 1h50m21.300s  
Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M19A 75 1h50m30.400s  
21 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra Simca-Matra MS120B 74  
12 Francois Cevert Tyrrell-Cosworth 002 74  12 
10 Peter Gethin McLaren-Cosworth M14A 73  
Tim Schenken Brabham-Cosworth BT33 72  21 
10 16 Howden Ganley BRM P153 71  17 
11 24 John Surtees Surtees-Cosworth TS9 67  22 
nc Reine Wisell Lotus-Cosworth 72C 58  16 
Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 72C 54 Suspension 14 
27 Henri Pescarolo March-Cosworth 711 53 Engine 11 
Mario Andretti Ferrari 312B 50 Fuel Pump 
19 Alex Soler-Roig March-Cosworth 711 46 Fuel Line 20 
17 Andrea de Adamich March-Alfa Romeo 711 26 Transmission 18 
18 Ronnie Peterson March-Cosworth 711 24 Ignition 13 
Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B 13 Engine 
25 Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Cosworth TS9 Fuel Pressure 19 
Graham Hill Brabham-Cosworth BT34 Steering 15 
15 Jo Siffert BRM P160 Gear Linkage 10