1971 French Grand Prix

  1971 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 5 of 11 in the 1971 Formula One season
Date	July 4, 1971
Location	Paul Ricard Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.809 km (3.61 mi)
Distance	55 laps, 319.495 km (198.55 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford
Time	1:50.71
Fastest lap
Driver	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford
Time	1:54.09 on lap 2
Podium
First	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford
Second	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford
Third	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1971 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit Paul Ricard on 4 July 1971. It was the fifth race of the 1971 Formula One season. The 55-lap race was won by Tyrrell driver Jackie Stewart after he started from pole position. His teammate François_Cevert finished second and Lotus driver Emerson Fittipaldi came in third.

Race report

The race was taking place for the first time at the brand new Paul Ricard circuit in the mountains outside Marseille. Jackie Stewart gained pole position - helped by extensive tyre testing in the weeks before - from Clay Regazzoni, Jacky Ickx and Graham Hill. Stewart led away from Regazzoni, Pedro Rodríguez and Jean-Pierre Beltoise, whilst Ickx was jostled through the first chicane and dropped back. Stewart streaked ahead, setting fastest lap on lap 2 and pulling out a 10-second lead by lap 7. His only real challenger, Regazzoni, hit a patch of oil and sailed into the guardrail, breaking a wheel on lap 20. On lap 28 Rodríguez dropped out with a faulty coil, leaving the Tyrrells in 1-2 formation, with François Cevert proving his worth on his home ground. Hill dropped out of fifth place with a broken oil pipe, having previously hit the guardrail whilst avoiding Regazzoni.

This left Jo Siffert in third place, holding off Emerson Fittipaldi, who was in pain and heavily bandaged after a road accident. Despite this, the Brazilian took 3rd on lap 39. Siffert retook this briefly, but Fittipaldi held on for the final podium place from the Swiss. Chris Amon took 5th in an unconvincing performance by home team Matra, duelling with Tim Schenken until Schenken ran out of oil 6 laps from the end.

It was a 1-2 success for the Tyrrells on a tricky circuit, the Ford engine providing extra power down the very long Mistral straight.

This was to be Pedro Rodríguez's last Formula One race. He was killed a week later while driving a privately entered Ferrari 512 at an Interserie sportscar race at the Norisring in Germany.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	11	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	1:50.71	—
2	5	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1:51.53	+0.82
3	4	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1:51.88	+1.17
4	7	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	1:52.32	+1.61
5	15	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	1:52.46	+1.75
6	14	Jo Siffert	BRM	1:52.50	+1.79
7	12	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	1:52.69	+1.98
8	21	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	1:52.92	+2.21
9	20	Chris Amon	Matra	1:52.94	+2.23
10	24	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	1:53.10	+2.39
11	9	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1:53.24	+2.53
12	17	Ronnie Peterson	March-Alfa Romeo	1:53.36	+2.65
13	22	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	1:53.57	+2.86
14	8	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Ford	1:53.58	+2.87
15	2	Reine Wisell	Lotus-Ford	1:53.75	+3.04
16	16	Howden Ganley	BRM	1:53.77	+3.06
17	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	1:54.22	+3.51
18	27	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	1:54.27	+3.56
19	10	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Ford	1:54.90	+4.19
20	19	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	1:56.17	+5.46
21	18	Alex Soler-Roig	March-Ford	1:57.07	+6.36
22	28	Max Jean	March-Ford	1:59.79	+9.08
23	34	François Mazet	March-Ford	2:00.51	+9.80
Source:[1]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	55	1:46:42.3	1	9
2	12	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	55	+ 28.12	7	6
3	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	55	+ 34.07	17	4
4	14	Jo Siffert	BRM	55	+ 37.17	6	3
5	20	Chris Amon	Matra	55	+ 41.08	9	2
6	2	Reine Wisell	Lotus-Ford	55	+ 1:16.02	15	1
7	21	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	55	+ 1:16.93	8
8	22	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	55	+ 1:24.91	13
9	10	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Ford	54	+ 1 Lap	19
10	16	Howden Ganley	BRM	54	+ 1 Lap	16
11	24	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	53	+ 2 Laps	10
12	8	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Ford	50	Oil Pressure	14
13	34	François Mazet	March-Ford	50	+ 5 Laps	23
NC	28	Max Jean	March-Ford	46	Not Classified	22
Ret	27	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	45	Gearbox	18
Ret	7	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	34	Oil Pipe	4
Ret	19	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	31	Engine	20
Ret	15	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	27	Ignition	5
Ret	5	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	20	Accident	2
Ret	17	Ronnie Peterson	March-Alfa Romeo	19	Engine	12
Ret	9	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	16	Ignition	11
Ret	4	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	4	Engine	3
Ret	18	Alex Soler-Roig	March-Ford	4	Fuel Pump	21
Source:[2]

Notes

• Last Race: Pedro Rodríguez

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jackie Stewart 33 2 Jacky Ickx 19 3 Mario Andretti 9 4 Pedro Rodríguez 9 5 Ronnie Peterson 9

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 Tyrrell-Ford 33 1 2 Ferrari 28 3 BRM 12 4 March-Ford 9 2 5 Lotus-Ford 9

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

References