The 1971 Argentine Grand Prix was a motor race consisting of a Formula One class and a Formula 5000 class, held at the Buenos Aires circuit in Buenos Aires on 24 January 1971. The Formula One class was not part of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
This event was held because at that time the FIA regulations required a demonstration race to be held as a quality check, before a Grand Prix could be admitted as part of the World Championship. The race was run over two heats of 50 laps each, the final results being an aggregate of the two.
Scuderia Ferrari had entered three cars for this event, but they were withdrawn after the fatal accident suffered by Ignazio Giunti in a sports car race two weeks previously. Jean-Pierre Beltoise was also involved in that accident, and as a consequence had his international license suspended, and was unable to compete.
Qualifying Note: a blue background indicates a Formula 5000 entrant. Pos No. Driver Constructor Lap Gap 1 18 Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Cosworth 1:15.85 — 2 8 Chris Amon Matra 1:15.88 +0.03 3 4 Reine Wisell Lotus-Cosworth 1:16.03 +0.18 4 2 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 1:16.28 +0.43 5 16 Carlos Reutemann McLaren-Cosworth 1:16.49 +0.64 6 12 Jo Siffert March-Cosworth 1:16.61 +0.76 7 14 Henri Pescarolo March-Cosworth 1:16.80 +0.95 8 10 Derek Bell March-Cosworth 1:17.23 +1.38 9 6 Wilson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 1:17.90 +2.05 10 20 Silvio Moser Bellasi-Cosworth 1:19.01 +3.16 11 22 David Prophet McLaren-Chevrolet 1:20.58 +4.73 12 26 Jo Bonnier Lola-Chevrolet 1:21.96 +6.11 13 24 Gordon Spice McLaren-Chevrolet 1:23.45 +7.60 14 30 Nestor García-Veiga Surtees-Chevrolet 1:26.26 +10.41 15 28 Carlos Marincovich McLaren-Chevrolet 2:00.06 +44.15
Heat one Rolf Stommelen won the first heat, leading from the start, from Jo Siffert in second place. Siffert had held off the rest of the field, with Chris Amon passing Reine Wisell before duelling with Henri Pescarolo for third place. The Frenchman won this battle to take third at the finish, with Amon, Wisell and Carlos Reutemann rounding out the top six. Emerson Fittipaldi lost a nose fin and had to pit for a new one, losing three laps. He eventually finished 10th. The retirements were all F5000 cars, namely Jo Bonnier's Lola, which pulled off with a flat battery, and Marincovich's McLaren and Garcia-Veiga's Surtees, which both suffered mechanical failures. Wisell posted the fastest lap.
Heat two The grid for heat two was decided by the finishing order from the first heat, with Greg Young taking over Marincovich's car. At the start, Siffert pulled away from Stommelen to take the lead. Amon quickly passed Reutemann and Pescarolo to move into third place, but he caught Stommelen just as the German was trying to pass Siffert. Amon and Stommelen collided and Stommelen's Surtees went off the track, causing gearbox damage which soon proved to be terminal. Shortly afterwards, Amon passed Siffert for the lead. During the next two laps, Siffert was also passed by Pescarolo, Reutemann, Derek Bell's March and Wilson Fittipaldi's Lotus. Wisell pitted with handling problems, and Silvio Moser finally started the race after extensive engine work being performed in the pits, meaning he missed the start. Wilson Fittipaldi then retired on lap 21 with engine failure, and Wisell and Moser also retired. Bell passed Reutemann but retired after that with another engine failure. Siffert had also retired his March with broken suspension. Amon won the heat by 22 seconds from Pescarolo, and this margin gave him the overall victory, his only win of the season. He also posted the fastest lap of the heat, which was the overall fastest lap.
Classification Note: the classification was determined using the sum of the times obtained in the two heats.
Pos No. Driver Entrant Constructor Laps Time/Retired 1st / 2nd heat 1 8 Chris Amon Equipe Matra Elf Matra 100 2:08:19.29 4th / 1st 2 14 Henri Pescarolo Frank Williams Racing Cars March-Cosworth 100 + 21.86 s 3rd / 2nd 3 16 Carlos Reutemann Ecurie Bonnier McLaren-Cosworth 100 + 53.31 s 6th / 3rd 4 22 David Prophet David Prophet Racing McLaren-Chevrolet 96 + 4 Laps 9th / 4th Ret 10 Derek Bell Tom Wheatcroft Racing March-Cosworth 88 Engine 7th / Ret Ret 12 Jo Siffert Siffert Racing Team March-Cosworth 86 Suspension 2nd / Ret Ret 4 Reine Wisell Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus-Cosworth 84 Accident 5th / Ret NC 24 Gordon Spice Gordon Spice McLaren-Chevrolet 84 12th / 5th Ret 6 Wilson Fittipaldi Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus-Cosworth 71 Engine 8th / Ret NC 26 Jo Bonnier Ecurie Bonnier Lola-Chevrolet 68 Battery Ret / 7th Ret 20 Silvio Moser Jolly Club Switzerland Bellasi-Cosworth 66 Engine 11th / Ret Ret 18 Rolf Stommelen Team Surtees Surtees-Cosworth 60 Gearbox 1st / Ret NC 28 Carlos Marincovich Greg Young Luigi Chinetti McLaren-Chevrolet 59 Fuel injection Ret / 6th Ret 2 Emerson Fittipaldi Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus-Cosworth 48 Oil pressure 10th / Ret Ret 30 Nestor García-Veiga Luigi Chinetti Surtees-Chevrolet 11 Oil leak Ret / DNS WD Mario Andretti Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari WD Jacky Ickx Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari WD Clay Regazzoni Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari WD Ignazio Giunti Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari WD Jean-Pierre Beltoise Equipe Matra Elf Matra WD Chris Craft Alain de Cadenet Brabham-Cosworth WD Ronnie Peterson March Racing Team March-Cosworth
References