.jpg)
The1970 Formula One season was the 24th season of theFédération Internationale de l'Automobile'sFormula One motor racing. It featured the 21stWorld Championship of Drivers, the 13thInternational Cup for F1 Manufacturers and three non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over thirteen races between 7 March and 25 October.
Jochen Rindt, driving forLotus, won his first Drivers' Championship, although he died four races before the end of the season.[1] He had earned enough championship points that no other driver managed to surpass his total. It is the only season to date in which the Drivers' Championship has been awarded posthumously.Jacky Ickx, driving forFerrari, finished the season strongly but ended up five points short. The Manufacturers' Cup was won by Lotus, seven points ahead of Ferrari.[2]
Bruce McLaren, founder and owner of the famousMcLaren team, died on 2 June while testing hisMcLaren M8DCan-Am car atGoodwood Circuit.Piers Courage, driver forFrank Williams's team, was killed during theDutch Grand Prix on 21 June.
Three-time World ChampionJack Brabham retired at the end of the year.
The followingteams anddrivers competed in the 1970World Championship.
The starting order of the race would usually be decided by the drivers' fastest time during any of the practice sessions. However, in some cases, only ten "chosen" drivers would be guaranteed a place on the grid, in the order of their best time. The remaining drivers had to earn their entry in a 30-minute qualifying session: the fastest drivers in that session would be allowed to start the race and would be placed on the grid in the order of their original best practice time. This resulted in drivers not qualifying for a race despite going faster in practice than others who did qualify.[9][10][11] This system was introduced shortly before thesecond race of the season, leading to protests among teams and drivers.[12]
Drivers would have to complete at least five laps in practice to be allowed to race.[13][b]
TheFIA published some considerations on circuit design and announced that all circuits would have to pass their inspections:[6][7]
As it had been since1967, the championship commenced inSouth Africa. Reigning championJackie Stewart, driving a privatisedMarch 701 forTyrrell Racing, set the fastest lap, beforeChris Amon, driving the same car but for theMarchworks team, set the exact same time, a 1:19.3. Three-time World ChampionJack Brabham joined them on the first row. At the start, Stewart and Brabham had the best initial start, untilJochen Rindt, who started in fourth, made a charge round the outside of the first corner. But he hit the front of Amon's car and then crashed into Brabham. Stewart was the only frontrunner unharmed and was now leadingJacky Ickx andJackie Oliver, who started fifth and twelfth, respectively. By lap 6, however, Brabham was back into second place, and theMcLarens ofDenny Hulme andBruce McLaren were third and fourth. Brabham took the lead on lap 20, Hulme went past Stewart on lap 38 into second, and it was only thanks to Bruce McLaren's engine failure that theScot finished on the podium.[14]
During the weekend of theSpanish Grand Prix, the organisers of the event, backed by the Commission Sportive Internationale (currently known as theFIA), had a falling out with a large number of teams and drivers, represented by the F1CA (later known asFOCA). The organisers had suddenly decided to allow just 16 starters for the race, and, only after allpractice andqualifying sessions were run, decided to discount any lap time set on Friday. Under pressure of the protesting teams, they reverted their decision on the morning of the race and all 22 entered cars were rolled onto the grid, until the CSI forced them to uphold it and saw to it that the six slowest qualifiers, based on the Saturday qualifying times alone, were removed. The first row on the grid was filled by Jack Brabham (Brabham), Denny Hulme (McLaren) and Jackie Stewart (March). At the start, Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver came together and both cars were engulfed in flames. Another nine drivers retired during the race with mechanical issues, which meant only five were left at the finish. Stewart won ahead of Bruce McLaren andMario Andretti, theAmerican's first podium. Stewart's victory would be the last for any "private" (non-works) team.[12]
InMonaco, the same qualifying rules were implemented, resulting in six cars not qualifying for the race, although none of them were slowest in practice. Championship leader Stewart started onpole position, with Amon next to him. Hulme and Brabham started on the second row. Bruce McLaren retired on lap 19, when he hit the wall going through the fast chicane after the tunnel. On lap 22, Brabham finally managed to pass Amon, and when Stewart'sCosworthengine startedmisfiring badly, he acquired the lead of the race. With three quarters of the race, Amon crashed out with a broken rearsuspension and Hulme fell back withgearbox issues. This gave Jochen Rindt a surprising chance for a podium finish and the inspiredAustrian actually came within a few car lengths of Brabham. On the last corner of the last lap, theAustralian took a different line than usual to prevent any chance of an overtake, but he locked his wheels and slid straight on into the barrier. Rindt swooped by, setting a new lap record and taking the victory for the second time in his career. Brabham dragged his damaged car over the line, ahead ofHenri Pescarolo in theMatra, scoring his first podium.[9]
After the death of founder and ownerBruce McLaren, theMcLaren team withdrew their cars for theBelgian Grand Prix. TheCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps had received an upgrade in safety measures:Armco barriers lined around the track and a slow chicane at Malmedy. Unlike in the last two races, practice times were used to determine the order of the grid and it was Stewart again on pole, with Rindt and Amon next to him. Rindt was first at the start, but it was Stewart and Amon fighting for the lead during the opening laps.Pedro Rodríguez started sixth but had passed everyone in front of him by lap 5, theBRMV12 engine reaching nearly 300 km/h (190 mph) on the straights, but Amon kept the pressure on him, setting a new lap record, even with the added chicane. Half-way through the race, Stewart's engine let go, before Hill and Brabham suffered mechanical issues as well. Rodríguez his second career win, just over a second clear of Amon.Jean-Pierre Beltoise finished third, and with two other V12-powered cars in the points, theBelgian high-speed roads had brought a stop to the V8 monopoly.[13]
Lotus introduced their wedge-shapedLotus 72 for theDutch Grand Prix, incorporating revolutionarybrake andsuspension design. It provided better vision and ventilation to the driver besides the overall advancement ingrip andride. Rindt comfortably qualified on pole position, with Stewart and Ickx next to him. TheBelgian driver forced hisFerrari into the lead ahead of Rindt, while Stewart fell to fourth. Going into lap 3, however, Rindt passed Ickx with ease, going round the outside at Tarzan corner. TheAustrian would finish 30 seconds ahead of Stewart and a lap ahead of Ickx in third place.[10] The race was marred by the fatal accident ofPiers Courage.[15]
In the Drivers' Championship,Jackie Stewart led with 19 points, ahead ofJochen Rindt with 18 andJack Brabham with 15. Their respective constructors filled the Manufacturers' Cup standings in the same order:March led with 25 points, ahead ofLotus with 23 andBrabham with 17.
Jochen Rindt in his newLotus 72 was favourite for theFrench Grand Prix, but he was suffering from astomach ulcer and the twisty nature of the track brought on heavy sickness. To add to the misery, in practice, a stone was thrown up by a car in front, hitting his face and cutting his right cheek deeply. After qualifying, it seemed that, like inSpa, theV12-powered cars would be dominant:Jacky Ickx put hisFerrari onpole position, ahead ofJean-Pierre Beltoise in theMatra. And in the opening laps, only championship leaderJackie Stewart was able to keep up with those two. On lap 16, however, Ickx's engine was misfiring and he had to retire. When Stewart pitted with engine issues as well, Rindt was in second place and promptly set a new fastest lap. When Beltoise suffered a slow rearpuncture, hopes of an all-French win in France were shattered and Rindt took the win, ahead ofChris Amon andJack Brabham, and took the lead in the Drivers' standings.[16]
For theBritish Grand Prix, Rindt was again favourite, but hisFirestone tyres were not working perfectly in the high summer temperatures. Brabham, usingGoodyear tyres, managed to equal Rindt's time inpractice. Ickx completed the front row. Stewart started down in eighth, hisMarch not liking the bumpy off-camber track ofBrands Hatch. At the start, Brabham took the lead but was quickly passed by Ickx. The Ferrari was quick until itsdifferential broke on lap 7. Ickx slowed down, Brabham's entry to Paddock Bend was hampered and Rindt seized the chance to pass them both. Rindt and Brabham were inseparable for the next 60 laps, until theAustrian missed a gear and theAustralian outbraked him into South Bank corner. Brabham led away, growing his advantage to 13 seconds in the last lap, but then dramatically running out of fuel. Rindt crossed the line first, extending his lead in the championship, and Brabham coasted home in second.Denny Hulme was third forMcLaren. After the race, Rindt was disqualified for running an illegally high rear wing, but team bossColin Chapman successfully appealed and the decision was reverted.[17]
TheGerman Grand Prix was planned to be held at theNürburgring Nordschleife, but in light of the deaths ofBruce McLaren andPiers Courage, the drivers asked theFIA to find a safer circuit. This led to the first Grand Prix at theHockenheimring, which had already been fitted withArmco barriers all around. The track's whose long straights gave the advantage to theV12-powered cars, whereas theCosworthV8s suffered from attrition. Jacky Ickx started on pole in his Ferrari, with championship leader Jochen Rindt and teammateClay Regazzoni next to him. Rindt's main rivalJack Brabham could only manage a twelfth starting position and when his engine suffered an oil leak, he was already out of the race after four laps. Ickx and Rindt engaged in a race-long battle, theAustrian eventually taking his fourth win in a row. Denny Hulme was third, again, while Jackie Stewart retired with engine troubles before the half-way point.[18]
Ferrari's hopes for a resurgence came true during theAustrian Grand Prix. The first race at the newÖsterreichring saw Jochen Rindt take pole position, but he was closely followed by both Regazzoni and Ickx.Ignazio Giunti in the third Ferrari started fifth. Brabham had another miserable qualifying: he started in eighth. Rindt lost out at the start, dropping to third, and Ickx was waved through by his teammate in a tactical play.François Cevert'sTyrrell lost oil and in the melee, Rindt dropped to seventh place. He tried to fight back, but on lap 21, his Cosworth engine broke and all danger to Ferrari was over. The pair in red finished the race in formation and lapped the whole field except third-placedRolf Stommelen.[19]
In the Drivers' Championship,Jochen Rindt's retirement had not made a big dent in his lead, yet. He stood on 45 points, ahead ofJack Brabham with 25 andDenny Hulme with 20. In the battle for the Manufacturers' Cup,Lotus, unsurprisingly, was in the lead with 50 points, ahead ofMarch andBrabham with 33.
With theScuderia Ferrari coming off a dominant victory inAustria, thetifosi were praying for a repeat during theItalian Grand Prix. Main rivalsMarch andLotus had prepared their cars for the long straights ofMonza by stripping them from any spoilers and such. It allowed them to reach top speeds of over 300 km/h (190 mph) but made them quite unstable in the corners, whichEmerson Fittipaldi found out duringpractice: he crashed going into the Parabolica, escaped unhurt, but gave his Lotus mechanics a big repair job. Championship leaderJochen Rindt crashed at the same place on Saturday and theAustrian was killed: he was only wearing aseat belt around his waist and, in the impact, slid underneath it, all the way down until the belt slit his throat.[20][21] Upon hearing the news, the Lotus team packed up their operations and withdrew from the race. With the wreck cleared, normal proceedings resumed, albeit in a very different atmosphere.Jacky Ickxqualified onpole position for Ferrari, ahead ofPedro Rodríguez (British Racing Motors|BRM),Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) andJackie Stewart (Tyrrell-March). Ickx fell back to seventh place, but the other three put up a brilliant fight for the lead, switching positions almost every lap. Rodríguez retired when hisengine exploded, but his teammateJackie Oliver joined the battle. Spurred on by the promise that a part of the prize money would be awarded to the driver in the lead at laps 17, 34 and 51, several drivers joined the tactical slipstreaming fight. In the end, Regazzoni managed to win the race, ahead of a group of four drivers finishing within three quarters of a second. Jackie Stewart andJean-Pierre Beltoise completed the podium.François Cevert, the only other driver to not get lapped, encountered a sea of fans on the track when he finished a minute later.[11]
The championship concluded with three races inNorth America, starting with theCanadian Grand Prix at the spectacularCircuit Mont-Tremblant. The Lotus team had decided not to participate, while Tyrrell revealed their first self-designed chassis: the001. Jackie Stewart immediately snatched pole position, going four tenths faster than in hisMarch, ahead of the Ferrari pair of Ickx and Regazzoni. In the race, Stewart established a comfortable lead, until on lap 32, his left frontsuspension collapsed and he retired. Ickx and Regazzoni moved up to take a 1-2 finish, ahead ofChris Amon in theMarch.[22]
For theUnited States Grand Prix, Ickx qualified on pole position, ahead of Stewart and Fittipaldi, the leading Lotus driver after Rindt's demise. Ickx needed to win the two remaining races to stand a chance of overtaking Rindt's points total, but at the start, he fell back to third. On lap 16, he overtook Rodríguez for second, but around half distance, had to make apit stop to repair a fuel leak. Stewart then retired with an oil leak, and Rodríguez had to pit for extra fuel. This left the Lotus pair of Fittipaldi andWisell in the lead. Rodríguez eventually recovered to second, while Ickx could manage more than fourth place. Jochen Rindt was awarded the Drivers' Championship posthumously.[23]
For theMexican Grand Prix, Clay Regazzoni qualified on pole, ahead of the three "Jacks": Stewart, Ickx and Brabham. The race was delayed over an hour, because over 200,000 supporters had turned up and were lined up right along the track to get the best view. The drivers pleaded with the crowd to move back and eventually agreed to start the race. When they got underway, Ickx quickly seized the lead. Stewart had to pit due to a loosesteering column but he was fighting back to the front until, on lap 33, he hit a stray dog and heavily damaged his front suspension. Ferrari scored their third 1-2 finish, ahead ofDenny Hulme in theMcLaren.[24]
Jochen Rindt was awarded the Drivers' Championship posthumously, the only time this has ever happened, with 45 points, ahead of theFerrari driversJacky Ickx (40) andClay Regazzoni (33).Lotus were awarded the Manufacturers' Cup with 59 points, ahead of Ferrari (52) andMarch (48).
Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race. For both the Championship and the Cup, the best six results from rounds 1–7 and the best five results from rounds 8–13 were counted.
Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Source:[25] | ||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
† Jochen Rindt suffered a fatal accident in practice before the Italian Grand Prix.
‡ Piers Courage suffered a fatal accident during the Dutch Grand Prix.
| Pos. | Manufacturer | RSA | ESP | MON | BEL | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | Pts.[27] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lotus-Ford | 5 | 4 | 1 | Ret | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 | DNS | NC | 1 | NC | 59 | |
| 2 | Ferrari | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4 | 3 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | (4) | 1 | 52 (55) | |
| 3 | March-Ford | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 48 | |
| 4 | Brabham-Ford | 1 | Ret | 2 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Ret | 10 | Ret | 35 | |
| 5 | McLaren-Ford | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 35 | ||
| 6 | BRM | 9 | Ret | 6 | 1 | 10 | 12 | Ret | Ret | 4 | Ret | 4 | 2 | 6 | 23 | |
| 7 | Matra | 4 | Ret | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | Ret | 6 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 23 | |
| 8 | Surtees-Ford | Ret | 9 | Ret | Ret | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3 | |||||||
| — | McLaren-Alfa Romeo | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | NC | DNS | DNQ | 12 | 8 | Ret | DNQ | 0 | ||||
| — | De Tomaso-Ford | Ret | DNS | NC | Ret | Ret | DNS | DNQ | Ret | Ret | NC | Ret | 0 | |||
| — | Tyrrell-Ford | DNS | Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 | ||||||||||
| — |  Bellasi-Ford | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Pos. | Manufacturer | RSA | ESP | MON | BEL | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | Pts. |
Other Formula One races held in 1970, which did not count towards the World Championship. The International Trophy and Gold Cup were held concurrently withFormula 5000 cars.
| Race name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Constructor | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VRace of Champions | Brands Hatch | 22 March | Jackie Stewart | March-Cosworth | Report |
| XXIIBRDC International Trophy | Silverstone | 26 April |  Chris Amon | March-Cosworth | Report |
| XVIIInternational Gold Cup | Oulton Park | 22 August | John Surtees | Surtees-Cosworth | Report |
