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1971 Italian Grand Prix
The close finish of the race, with five drivers crossing the finish line within a second
Race details
Date	5 September 1971
Official name	42º Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Monza, Lombardy, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.750 km (3.573 miles)
Distance	55 laps, 316.25 km (196.515 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Chris Amon	Matra
Time	1:22.4
Fastest lap
Driver	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford
Time	1:23.8 on lap 9
Podium
First	Peter Gethin	BRM
Second	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford
Third	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1971 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 5 September 1971. It was race 9 of 11 in both the 1971 World Championship of Drivers and the 1971 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

This race featured the closest finish in Formula One history, as Peter Gethin beat Ronnie Peterson by 0.01 seconds. The top five were covered by just 0.61 seconds, with François Cevert finishing third, Mike Hailwood fourth and Howden Ganley fifth. With an average speed of 242.615 km/h (150.754 mph), this race stood as the fastest-ever Formula One race for 32 years, until the 2003 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Race report

The historical Monza National Autodrome, located just north of the northern Italian city of Milan, in 1971 became the fastest circuit used by Formula One after the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps circuit was removed from the calendar. However, this was the last year in which the circuit was used with this configuration: considering the enormous speed that the cars reached in this edition, two chicanes were introduced the following year in the two most dangerous curves of the track.

Emerson Fittipaldi drove a four-wheel drive Lotus 56B powered by a gas turbine, the only time he would race in a Formula One World Championship race in a car not powered by a Ford Cosworth DFV engine. Due to ongoing legal issues between Team Lotus and the Italian authorities following Jochen Rindt's death the previous year, the car was entered under the name "World Wide Racing".

With the championship settled, this was an opportunity for new drivers to prove themselves. Chris Amon in the Matra proved an embarrassment to Ferrari by seizing pole at their home track with the fastest lap of all time in a Formula One championship race, lapping at 251 km/h (156 mph), with the BRMs on the second row, whilst champion Stewart was in 6th after suffering gearbox problems. Mike Hailwood was making his debut for Surtees—an inspired choice as he held both the Formula 5000 and motorbike lap records for Monza. Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari thrilled the crowd by surging forward from the fourth row to lead from Jo Siffert and Stewart until lap 3, when Ronnie Peterson took the lead. On lap 7, Stewart took the lead. By lap 16, Stewart and Jacky Ickx retired with engine problems, followed two laps later by Clay Regazzoni. The race began to break into high-speed packs—the leading one containing Hailwood (leading on his debut), François Cevert, Peterson, Siffert, Howden Ganley, Chris Amon, Peter Gethin and Jackie Oliver. Gethin, Peterson, Cevert, Hailwood and Ganley (who fell back slightly) battled right down to the line and the top 4 finished within two-tenths of a second of each other, with Ganley a further four-tenths back in fifth. Polesitter Amon took the last point in sixth, nearly half a minute behind Ganley. Siffert dropped back after problems with a gearbox that would only select fourth gear. Tyrrell-Ford won their first Constructors' Championship with two races remaining.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	12	Chris Amon	Matra	1:22.40	—
2	3	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1:22.82	+0.42
3	20	Jo Siffert	BRM	1:23.03	+0.63
4	19	Howden Ganley	BRM	1:23.15	+0.75
5	2	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	1:23.41	+1.01
6	25	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1:23.46	+1.06
7	30	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	1:23.49	+1.09
8	4	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1:23.69	+1.29
9	11	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Ford	1:23.73	+1.33
10	16	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	1:23.77	+1.37
11	18	Peter Gethin	BRM	1:23.88	+1.48
12	21	Helmut Marko	BRM	1:23.96	+1.56
13	14	Jackie Oliver	McLaren-Ford	1:24.09	+1.69
14	10	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	1:24.27	+1.87
15	7	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	1:24.45	+2.05
16	24	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	1:25.01	+2.61
17	9	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	1:25.17	+2.77
18	5	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Pratt & Whitney	1:25.18	+2.78
19	22	Nanni Galli	March-Ford	1:25.19	+2.79
20	23	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	1:25.73	+3.33
21	28	Jo Bonnier	McLaren-Ford	1:26.14	+3.74
22	27	Silvio Moser	Bellasi-Ford	1:26.54	+4.14
23	8	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	1:27.92	+5.52
24	26	Jean-Pierre Jarier	March-Ford	1:28.19	+5.89
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	18	Peter Gethin	BRM	55	1:18:12.60	11	9
2	25	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	55	+ 0.01	6	6
3	2	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	55	+ 0.09	5	4
4	9	Mike Hailwood	Surtees-Ford	55	+ 0.18	17	3
5	19	Howden Ganley	BRM	55	+ 0.61	4	2
6	12	Chris Amon	Matra	55	+ 32.36	1	1
7	14	Jackie Oliver	McLaren-Ford	55	+ 1:24.83	13
8	5	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Pratt & Whitney	54	+ 1 Lap	18
9	20	Jo Siffert	BRM	53	+ 2 Laps	3
10	28	Jo Bonnier	McLaren-Ford	51	+ 4 Laps	21
Ret	10	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	47	Gearbox	14
NC	26	Jean-Pierre Jarier	March-Ford	47	+ 8 Laps	24
Ret	24	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	41	Engine	16
Ret	16	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	40	Suspension	10
Ret	23	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	33	Engine	20
Ret	4	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	17	Engine	8
Ret	3	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	15	Engine	2
Ret	30	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	15	Engine	7
Ret	22	Nanni Galli	March-Ford	11	Electrical	19
Ret	11	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Ford	5	Suspension	9
Ret	27	Silvio Moser	Bellasi-Ford	5	Suspension	22
Ret	21	Helmut Marko	BRM	3	Engine	12
Ret	7	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	3	Engine	15
DNS	8	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	0	Accident	23
WD	6	Herbert Müller	Lotus-Ford
WD	15	Carlos Pace	March-Ford
WD	29	François Mazet	March-Ford
Source:

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French driver Jean-Pierre Jarier.
• This race saw the 5th podium finish for a Swedish driver.
• This race marked the 1st pole position for a Matra-powered car.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jackie Stewart 51 1 2 Ronnie Peterson 23 1 3 Jacky Ickx 19 4 4 François Cevert 16 1 5 Emerson Fittipaldi 16 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford 55 2 Ferrari 32 3 BRM 30 1 4 March-Ford 24 1 5 Lotus-Ford 19 Source:

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

References

1. "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1971". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
2. "1971 Italian Grand Prix Entry list".
3. All-Time F1 Records Times in this race were only measured to the nearest hundredth of a second (0.01 seconds), so the finish may or may not have been closer than that of the 2002 United States Grand Prix, where Rubens Barrichello beat Michael Schumacher by 0.011 seconds.
4. Schaefer, Michael; Diepraam, Mattijs (14 September 2003). "Fastest races and laps ever". Autosport. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
5. "Grand Prix results: Italian GP, 1971". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
6. F1's Closest Race Finish - Full Story of the 1971 Italian Grand Prix. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via www.youtube.com.
7. Pritchard, Anthony (1972). The Motor Racing Year No3. ISBN 0393085023.
8. "1971 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
9. ^ "Italy 1971 - Championship". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

External links

• "1971 Italian Grand Prix (full race)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 27 August 2015.

• 1971 Formula One races
• Italian Grand Prix
• 1971 in Italian motorsport
• September 1971 sports events in Europe