The 1971 Formula One season was the 25th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 22nd World Championship of Drivers, the 14th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and a number of non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over eleven races between 6 March and 3 October.
Jackie Stewart had an outstanding year, winning his second Drivers' Championship by 29 points driving for Tyrrell Racing. Swede Ronnie Peterson finished a surprising second with March Engineering, the team having only been in its second season in Formula One. Stewart's teammate François Cevert, who took his only win at Watkins Glen that year, finished third, allowing Tyrrell to win the Manufacturers' Cup for the first and only time. Their car was powered by the famous Cosworth DFV V8, while rivals BRM and Ferrari made use of self-designed V12 engines. 1970 champions Team Lotus had a desultory season after the death of their driver and champion Jochen Rindt, experimenting with a gas turbine engine and four-wheel drive, but ending up just fifth in the standings.
Two Formula One drivers lost their lives this year while racing: Pedro Rodríguez crashed his Ferrari 512 in July, at an Interserie race at the Norisring, and Jo Siffert died in October, in a fiery crash during the Victory Race at Brands Hatch.
This was the first season where at least 22 cars started every championship race, except the Monaco Grand Prix, where 18 cars started.
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the championship.
Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Tyre Driver Rounds Gold Leaf Team Lotus World Wide Racing Lotus-Ford 72C72D Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Emerson Fittipaldi 1–3, 5–8, 10–11 Reine Wisell 1–5, 7–8, 10–11 Dave Charlton 4, 6 Lotus-Pratt & Whitney 56B Pratt & Whitney STN76 tbn David Walker 4 Reine Wisell 6 Emerson Fittipaldi 9 Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari 312B312B2 Ferrari 001 3.0 F12Ferrari 001/1 3.0 F12 Jacky Ickx All Clay Regazzoni All Mario Andretti 1–4, 7, 10–11 STP March Racing Team March-Ford 711 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Ronnie Peterson 1–4, 6–11 Alex Soler-Roig 1–5 Nanni Galli 5–6, 9–11 Niki Lauda 8 Mike Beuttler 10 March-Alfa Romeo 711 Alfa Romeo T33 3.0 V8 Andrea de Adamich 1–2, 5–7, 9, 11 Nanni Galli 3–4, 7–8 Ronnie Peterson 5 Elf Team Tyrrell Elf Tyrrell-Ford 001002003 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Jackie Stewart All François Cevert All Peter Revson 11 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren-Ford M19AM14A Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Denny Hulme 1–8, 10–11 Peter Gethin 1–7 Jackie Oliver 6, 8–9 Penske/K.F. White Racing McLaren-Ford M19A Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Mark Donohue10–11 David Hobbs11 Motor Racing Developments Brabham-Ford BT33BT34 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Graham Hill All Tim Schenken 2–11 Ecurie Evergreen Brabham-Ford BT33 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Chris Craft10–11 Scribante Lucky Strike Racing Brabham-Ford BT33 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Dave Charlton 1 Yardley Team BRM BRM P160P153 BRM P142 3.0 V12 Pedro Rodríguez 1–5 Jo Siffert All Howden Ganley All Vic Elford 7 Helmut Marko 8–11 Peter Gethin 8–11 George Eaton 10 John Cannon 11 Équipe Matra Sports Matra MS120B Matra MS71 3.0 V12 Chris Amon 1–7, 9–11 Jean-Pierre Beltoise 2–6, 10–11 Brooke Bond Oxo - Rob Walker Auto Motor und Sport Eifelland Team Surtees Team Surtees Surtees-Ford TS9TS7 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 John Surtees All Rolf Stommelen 1–10 Brian Redman 1 Derek Bell 6 Mike Hailwood 9, 11 Sam Posey 11 Gijs van Lennep 11 Frank Williams Racing Cars March-Ford 701711 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Henri Pescarolo All Max Jean 5 Ecurie Bonnier McLaren-Ford M7C Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Jo Bonnier 1, 7–9, 11 Helmut Marko 7 Team Gunston March-Ford 701 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 John Love 1 Brabham-Ford BT26A Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Jackie Pretorius 1 Gene Mason Racing March-Ford 711 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Skip Barber 3–4, 10–11 Stichting Autoraces Nederland Surtees-Ford TS7 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Gijs van Lennep 4 Jo Siffert Automobiles March-Ford 701 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 François Mazet 5 Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing March-Ford 711 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Mike Beuttler 6–9 Shell Arnold Team March-Ford 701 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Jean-Pierre Jarier 9 Jolly Club of Switzerland Bellasi-Ford F1 70 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Silvio Moser 9 Pete Lovely Volkswagen Inc. Lotus-Ford 69 Special Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Pete Lovely 10–11
Team and driver changes
While Lotus and Tyrrell had kept their line-up from 1970, quite a lot of changes happened further down the field: Ferrari signed Mario Andretti next to their 1970 drivers Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni. March arrived with a brand new line-up of Ronnie Peterson, who previously drove a privately entered March, Alex Soler-Roig, for his first full-time drive, and Andrea de Adamich. The Italian drove an Alfa Romeo powered McLaren in 1970 and moved, together with the Alfa Romeo project, to the March team for this year. Peterson and Soler-Roig, meanwhile, kept using the Cosworth DFV engines. Jo Siffert moved from March to BRM, next to regular driver Pedro Rodríguez and debutant Howden Ganley. Jack Brabham retired from racing and he hired two-time champion Graham Hill to drive for his team. In the second entry, Tim Schenken was hired instead of Rolf Stommelen, who moved to Surtees. Schenken had previously driven for Frank Williams' team, but they attracted Henri Pescarolo from Matra. Williams also switched from a De Tomaso chassis to a March.
Mid-season changes Andrea de Adamich shared the drive of the March-Alfa Romeo with fellow Italian Nanni Galli. Galli also took the place of Alex Soler-Roig when the Spaniard quit the team. At the Austrian Grand Prix, future champion Niki Lauda made his debut. Lotus experimented with a four-wheel drive gas turbine-powered car, the 56B. Although the engine did not deliver concrete success, the excellent chassis and wedge-shaped bodywork would serve as an inspiration to multiple championship winning teams in the years to come. On 11 July, Pedro Rodríguez was killed at the Norisring in Nuremberg, West Germany, driving a Ferrari 512 M in an Interserie sports car race. He was fourth in the Formula One championship at the time. Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Peter Gethin moved from McLaren to BRM. His seat was filled by Jackie Oliver and then Mark Donohue. It seemed a successful move for Gethin as, just a month later, he won the Italian Grand Prix with the highest average speed in Formula One history. It would, however, turn out to be his only podium finish and, ironically, he would never even lead a lap, having jumped from fourth to first in the final lap of that race at Monza.
Calendar Round Grand Prix Circuit Date 1 South African Grand Prix Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, Midrand 6 March 2 Spanish Grand Prix Montjuïc Circuit, Barcelona 18 April 3 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 23 May 4 Dutch Grand Prix Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort 20 June 5 French Grand Prix Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet 4 July 6 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 17 July 7 German Grand Prix Nürburgring, Nürburg 1 August 8 Austrian Grand Prix Österreichring, Spielberg 15 August 9 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 5 September 10 Canadian Grand Prix Mosport Park, Bowmanville 19 September 11 United States Grand Prix Watkins Glen International, New York 3 October
Calendar changes The Spanish Grand Prix was moved from Jarama to Montjuïc, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits. Likewise, the British Grand Prix was moved from Brands Hatch to Silverstone and the Canadian Grand Prix was moved from Mont-Tremblant to Mosport Park. The French Grand Prix was moved from Circuit de Charade to the newly built Circuit Paul Ricard. The German Grand Prix returned to the Nürburgring for 1971 after major safety changes had been made to the circuit. It had been moved to the Hockenheimring in 1970 after drivers refused to race at the Nürburgring in the condition it was in.
Cancelled rounds The Argentine Grand Prix was probably listed in error on the provisional calendar scheduled for 24 January. However the Autódromo de Buenos Aires circuit had to prove itself with a non-F1 event first after a ten year-absence.David Hayhoe, Formula 1: The Knowledge records and trivia since 1950 – 2nd Edition, 2021, page 35. The Belgian Grand Prix was originally scheduled for 6 June, but was cancelled because of the failure of the track owners and authorities to bring Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps up to mandatory safety standards meant that the rural circuit was deemed unsuitable for Formula One cars to race on. The Mexican Grand Prix was originally scheduled for 24 October at Autódromo Magdalena Mixhuca but was cancelled in August due to organisational problems and lack of interest due to the recent death of the Mexican driver Pedro Rodríguez. Further there were major crowd safety concerns that arose from the 1970 Mexican Grand Prix.
Regulation changes
Sporting regulations The maximum race distance for World Championship Grand Prix races was reduced from to .
Safety regulations It was mandated that a driver should be able to evacuate himself or be evacuated from his cockpit within 5 seconds.
Season summary Pre-season report Austrian Jochen Rindt had won the championship posthumously in 1970 for Lotus-Ford; he was killed at Monza during practice for the Italian Grand Prix in September of that year. Although three races remained after Monza, Rindt's points lead after four consecutive Grand Prix victories earlier in the season was enough to secure him the championship. Briton Jackie Stewart, world champion in 1969, had a transitional year in 1970, using a customer March car after Matra refused to allow Stewart's boss Ken Tyrrell to put a Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 in their car in place of Matra's own V12. Tyrrell was designing his own car in secret in England, and the March was an interim solution. The new Tyrrell 001 car was first raced by the Scottish Stewart at the Mont-Tremblant circuit in Quebec, Canada- and was immediately competitive, but he retired due to mechanical failure. The car's competitiveness enabled designer Derek Gardner to produce an even more competitive car for the 1971 season- the Tyrrell 002 and 003. 002 had a longer wheelbase and was exclusively for Stewart's tall French teammate Francois Cevert, and 003 was exclusively for the short Stewart. These 2 cars were mechanically almost identical; the only difference being the longer wheelbase for Cevert's height.