| 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 | 42ºGran Premio d'Italia[1] | ||
| 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 | Matra | ||
| Time | 1:22.4 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Henri Pescarolo | March-Ford | |
| Time | 1:23.8 on lap 9 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | BRM | ||
| Second | March-Ford | ||
| Third | Tyrrell-Ford | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1971 Italian Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held atMonza on 5 September 1971. It was race 9 of 11 in both the1971 World Championship of Drivers and the1971 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.[2]
This race featured the closest finish in Formula One history, asPeter Gethin beatRonnie Peterson by 0.01 seconds.[3] The top five were covered by just 0.61 seconds, withFrançois Cevert finishing third,Mike Hailwood fourth andHowden 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 the2003 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.[4]
Furthermore, it would turn out to be Gethin's only Grand Prix victory before retiring from Formula One in 1974.
The historical Monza National Autodrome, located just north of the northern Italian city ofMilan, in 1971 became the fastest circuit used by Formula One after the BelgianSpa-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 afour-wheel driveLotus 56B powered by agas turbine, the only time he would race in a Formula One World Championship race in a car not powered by aFord CosworthDFV engine. Due to ongoing legal issues between Team Lotus and the Italian authorities followingJochen Rindt's death theprevious year, the car was entered under the name "World Wide Racing".[5]
With the championship settled, this was an opportunity for new drivers to prove themselves.Chris Amon in theMatra 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 forSurtees—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 fromJo Siffert and Stewart until lap 3, whenRonnie Peterson took the lead. On lap 7, Stewart took the lead. By lap 16, Stewart andJacky 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 andJackie 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.[6]
| 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:[7] | |||||
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| Previous race: 1971 Austrian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1971 season | Next race: 1971 Canadian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1970 Italian Grand Prix | Italian Grand Prix | Next race: 1972 Italian Grand Prix |
