The 1971 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 15 August 1971. It was race 8 of 11 in both the 1971 World Championship of Drivers and the 1971 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 54-lap race was won by BRM driver Jo Siffert after he started from pole position. Emerson Fittipaldi finished second for the Lotus team and Brabham driver Tim Schenken came in third, which turned out to be the first and only podium finish in his Formula One career. This was the debut race of the future world champion Niki Lauda. It was Siffert's last pole position and victory before he died during a non-championship race at Brands Hatch.
As Jacky Ickx retired on lap 32 with an engine failure and Ronnie Peterson could only muster an 8th place finish, Jackie Stewart was consequently crowned World Champion for the second time in his career, despite retiring with a halfshaft issue four laps later. Stewart maintained a 32-point-lead over second-placed Ickx with three rounds to go, which was enough to retain his crown after two years.
Race report
Jo Siffert in a BRM P160 took a surprise pole position from Jackie Stewart and led away at the start from Clay Regazzoni and Jacky Ickx. The front two drew away from the pack, where Regazzoni was duelling with François Cevert and Ickx was dropping back with mechanical problems. On lap 21, Stewart with a poorly handling car allowed Cevert through so he could chase Siffert. Further down the field, there were two Brabham-Lotus battles, with Tim Schenken duelling with Emerson Fittipaldi and Reine Wisell trading places with Graham Hill. By lap 32, Ickx had retired with a spark plug problem, Regazzoni had an engine blow up and Fittipaldi had passed Schenken and set about catching Stewart.
On lap 36, Stewart's race ended with a violent accident - his left rear driveshaft broke and the wheel was torn off. He emerged unhurt to be greeted as World Champion following Ickx's retirement. Cevert was chasing down Siffert, but with 12 laps to go his gearbox exploded.
Fittipaldi was now carving chunks out the BRM's lead, due to a left-rear puncture for the Swiss. However he managed to nurse the ailing car home for a popular victory by 4 seconds. Schenken was 3rd, with Wisell pipping Hill for 4th place - the Englishman was another to suffer a puncture in the dying stages and Henri Pescarolo finished 6th in his March. Stewart won the Drivers' Championship with 3 races left to go.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 14 Jo Siffert BRM 1:37.44 — 2 11 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:37.65 +0.21 3 12 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 1:37.86 +0.42 4 5 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:37.90 +0.46 5 2 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 1:37.90 +0.46 6 4 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:38.27 +0.83 7 8 Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 1:38.64 +1.20 8 7 Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 1:38.70 +1.26 9 9 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:38.80 +1.36 10 3 Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 1:38.95 +1.51 11 17 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:39.01 +1.57 12 24 Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Ford 1:39.08 +1.64 13 25 Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 1:39.09 +1.65 14 15 Howden Ganley BRM 1:39.46 +2.02 15 19 Nanni Galli March-Alfa Romeo 1:39.54 +2.10 16 23 Peter Gethin BRM 1:39.67 +2.23 17 16 Helmut Marko BRM 1:39.80 +2.36 18 22 John Surtees Surtees-Ford 1:40.37 +2.93 19 27 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 1:41.46 +4.02 20 28 Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 1:41.66 +4.22 21 26 Niki Lauda March-Ford 1:43.68 +6.24 22 10 Jackie Oliver McLaren-Ford 1:44.22 +6.78 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 14 Jo Siffert BRM 54 1:30:23.91 1 9 2 2 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 54 + 4.12 5 6 3 8 Tim Schenken Brabham-Ford 54 + 19.77 7 4 4 3 Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 54 + 31.87 10 3 5 7 Graham Hill Brabham-Ford 54 + 48.43 8 2 6 25 Henri Pescarolo March-Ford 54 + 1:24.51 13 1 7 24 Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Ford 54 + 1:37.42 12 8 17 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 53 + 1 lap 11 9 10 Jackie Oliver McLaren-Ford 53 + 1 lap 22 10 23 Peter Gethin BRM 52 + 2 laps 16 11 16 Helmut Marko BRM 52 + 2 laps 17 12 19 Nanni Galli March-Alfa Romeo 51 + 3 laps 15 27 Mike Beuttler March-Ford 47 + 7 laps 19 12 François Cevert Tyrrell-Ford 42 Engine 3 11 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 35 Halfshaft 2 4 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 31 Engine 6 26 Niki Lauda March-Ford 20 Handling 21 22 John Surtees Surtees-Ford 12 Engine 18 5 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 8 Engine 4 15 Howden Ganley BRM 5 Ignition 14 9 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 4 Engine 9 28 Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 0 Fuel leak 20
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for future World Champion and Austrian driver Niki Lauda. This race saw the first Grand Slam for a Swiss driver. This was the 10th pole position for a BRM and for a BRM-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jackie Stewart 51 2 Jacky Ickx 19 3 Ronnie Peterson 17 3 4 Emerson Fittipaldi 16 7 5 Jo Siffert 13Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford* 51 2 Ferrari* 32 2 3 BRM 21 4 Lotus-Ford 19 2 5 March-Ford 18Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Bold text indicates the 1971 World Drivers' Champion. Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References