The 1971 United States Grand Prix, after the cancellation of the Mexican Grand Prix, was the final race of the season. With the large prize fund, the race attracted a very strong entry. Since the 1970 race, the circuit had undergone a major rebuilding. The track had been resurfaced and widened to a uniform 36 feet (11m) all around, and guard rail now lined the entire track. The pits (along with the start/finish line) had been moved, and more than doubled in size, with a four hundred foot long garage immediately behind. There was a new press building, new grandstands and a new section of track to the southwest, adding almost a mile to the length. Many were now describing the track as the finest road circuit in North America.
In the race itself, Tyrrell driver François Cevert scored his first (and, tragically, his only) Formula One victory.
Background[]
- Brabham: For this race only, Chris Craft's car was entered with the factory team. Otherwise there were no changes.
- BRM: The team had five entries again. Canadian John Cannon was supposed to rent a March to drive, but when the car was unavailable, he cut a deal for BRM's P153, and Helmut Marko got one of the P160s. All of the P160s except for Howden Ganley's car had Mark II cylinder heads.
- Ferrari: The team had brought one of the 1970 312Bs as a spare, and Jacky Ickx used it in the race. Mario Andretti had a problem in that the USAC race at Trenton, NJ had been rained out the previous week, and was now scheduled to be held on the same day as the Grand Prix.
- Lotus: Nothing changed since Mosport.
- March: After skipping Mosport, Autodelta was back in support of Andrea de Adamich.
- Matra: Nothing changed since Mosport.
- McLaren: Nothing changed since Mosport, including the questions about the team's future.
- The Roger Penske-entered car also had an issue, as Mark Donohue was supposed to drive in the same USAC race as Andretti. In case Donohue would be unable to drive at Watkins Glen, David Hobbs was selected as an alternate.
- Surtees: Rolf Stommelen's frustrating season with Surtees ended a race early, when he contracted a tooth infection, and would not be able to drive. Mike Hailwood was already signed to drive the third car, so John Surtees had a competition during practice between Gijs van Lennep and Sam Posey for Stommelen's car. It was not until after practice that Surtees decided to let Posey drive. Surtees himself was driving the full-width nose and side radiator car that first appeared at Monza, and would be called a TS9B next season.
- Tyrrell: For this race the team entered the original 001 chassis with new Can-Am Champion Peter Revson.
Entry list[]
The full entry list for the 1971 United States Grand Prix is outlined below:
Practice Overview[]
Qualifying[]
Qualifying Results[]
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Saturday | |||||
| 1 | 8 |  Jackie Stewart
|
Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth | 1:42.844 | 1:42.642 | — |
| 2 | 2 |  Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Lotus-Ford Cosworth | 1:43.873 | 1:42.659 | +0.017s |
| 3 | 7 |  Denny Hulme
|
McLaren-Ford Cosworth | 1:44.544 | 1:42.925 | +0.283s |
| 4 | 5 |  Clay Regazzoni
|
Ferrari | 1:43.227 | 1:43.002 | +0.360s |
| 5 | 9 |  François Cevert
|
Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth | 1:44.336 | 1:43.152 | +0.510s |
| 6* | 6 |  Mario Andretti
|
Ferrari | 1:44.151 | 1:43.195 | +0.553s |
| 7 | 14 | Jo Siffert
|
BRM | 1:45.217 | 1:43.468 | +0.826s |
| 8† | 4 |  Jacky Ickx
|
Ferrari | 1:45.210 | 1:43.843 | +1.201s |
| 9 | 11 | Chris Amon
|
Matra | 1:46.440 | 1:43.970 | +1.328s |
| 10 | 3 |  Reine Wisell
|
Lotus-Ford Cosworth | 1:46.202 | 1:44.024 | +1.382s |
| 11 | 12 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise
|
Matra | 1:44.752 | 1:44.067 | +1.425s |
| 12 | 25 | Ronnie Peterson
|
March-Ford Cosworth | 1:47.816 | 1:44.193 | +1.551s |
| 13 | 16 | Howden Ganley
|
BRM | 1:44.638 | 1:44.430 | +1.788s |
| 14 | 18 | John Surtees
|
Surtees-Ford Cosworth | 1:44.908 | 1:45.223 | +2.266s |
| 15 | 20 | Mike Hailwood
|
Surtees-Ford Cosworth | 1:45.801 | 1:45.094 | +2.452s |
| 16 | 23 |  Tim Schenken
|
Brabham-Ford Cosworth | 1:45.110 | 1:46.702 | +2.468s |
| 17 | 17 |  Helmut Marko
|
BRM | 1:48.143 | 1:45.204 | +2.562s |
| 18 | 19 | Sam Posey
|
Surtees-Ford Cosworth | No Time | 1:45.267 | +2.625s |
| 19* | 31 | Mark Donohue
|
McLaren-Ford Cosworth | No Time | 1:45.378 | +2.736s |
| 20 | 22 | Graham Hill
|
Brabham-Ford Cosworth | 1:47.480 | 1:45.448 | +2.806s |
| 21 | 10 | Peter Revson
|
Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth | 1:45.681 | 1:45.515 | +2.873s |
| 22 | 21 | Henri Pescarolo
|
March-Ford Cosworth | 1:45.568 | 1:45.857 | +2.926s |
| 23 | 15 | Peter Gethin
|
BRM | 1:45.568 | 1:45.857 | +3.087s |
| 24 | 31 | David Hobbs
|
McLaren-Ford Cosworth | 1:48.497 | 1:46.270 | +3.628s |
| 25 | 26 |  Nanni Galli
|
March-Ford Cosworth | 1:48.261 | 1:46.608 | +3.966s |
| 26 | 28 |  John Cannon
|
BRM | 1:49.927 | 1:47.741 | +4.829s |
| 27 | 33 | Skip Barber
|
March-Ford Cosworth | 1:49.910 | 1:47.673 | +5.031s |
| 28 | 27 | Andrea de Adamich
|
March-Alfa Romeo | 1:48.009 | 1:47.952 | +5.310s |
| 29* | 19 |  Gijs van Lennep
|
Surtees-Ford Cosworth | 1:50.158 | 1:48.029 | +5.387s |
| 30 | 24 | Chris Craft
|
Brabham-Ford Cosworth | 1:49.421 | 1:48.698 | +6.056s |
| 31 | 29 | Jo Bonnier
|
McLaren-Ford Cosworth | 1:51.212 | 1:49.391 | +6.749s |
| 32 | 30 | Pete Lovely
|
Lotus-Ford Cosworth | 1:52.628 | 1:52.140 | +9.498s |
- * Andretti, Donohue, and Van Lennep were not able to take the start of the race.
- † Ickx would be able to drive car #32 in the race.
Grid[]
| Pos | Pos | Pos | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | Driver | |||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 1 | ||||
| ______________ | 2 | Jackie Stewart | |||
| 3 | Emerson Fittipaldi | ||||
| Denny Hulme | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 4 | ||||
| 5 | Clay Regazzoni | ||||
| François Cevert | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 6 | ||||
| ______________ | 7 | Jo Siffert | |||
| 8 | Jacky Ickx | ||||
| Chris Amon | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 9 | ||||
| 10 | Reine Wisell | ||||
| Jean-Pierre Beltoise | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 11 | ||||
| ______________ | 12 | Ronnie Peterson | |||
| 13 | Howden Ganley | ||||
| John Surtees | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 14 | ||||
| 15 | Mike Hailwood | ||||
| Tim Schenken | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 16 | ||||
| ______________ | 17 | Helmut Marko | |||
| 18 | Sam Posey | ||||
| Graham Hill | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 19 | ||||
| 20 | Peter Revson | ||||
| Henri Pescarolo | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 21 | ||||
| ______________ | 22 | Peter Gethin | |||
| 23 | David Hobbs | ||||
| Nanni Galli | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 24 | ||||
| 25 | John Cannon | ||||
| Skip Barber | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 26 | ||||
| ______________ | 27 | Andrea de Adamich | |||
| 28 | Chris Craft | ||||
| Jo Bonnier | |||||
| ______________ | |||||
| ______________ | 29 | ||||
| 30 | Pete Lovely | ||||
|
| |||||
Race[]
Report[]
Results[]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | François Cevert
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
59 | 1:43:51.991 | 5 | 9 |
| 2 | 14 | Jo Siffert
|
BRM
|
59 | +40.062 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | 25 | Ronnie Peterson
|
March-Ford
|
59 | +44.070 | 11 | 4 |
| 4 | 16 | Howden Ganley
|
BRM
|
59 | +56.749 | 12 | 3 |
| 5 | 8 | Jackie Stewart
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
59 | +1:00.003 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 5 | Clay Regazzoni
|
Ferrari
|
59 | +1:16.426 | 4 | 1 |
| 7 | 22 | Graham Hill
|
Brabham-Ford
|
58 | +1 Lap | 18 | |
| 8 | 12 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise
|
Matra
|
58 | +1 Lap | 10 | |
| 9 | 15 | Peter Gethin
|
BRM
|
58 | +1 Lap | 21 | |
| 10 | 31 | David Hobbs
|
McLaren-Ford
|
58 | +1 Lap | 22 | |
| 11 | 27 | Andrea de Adamich
|
March-Alfa Romeo
|
57 | +2 Laps | 26 | |
| 12 | 11 | Chris Amon
|
Matra
|
57 | +2 Laps | 8 | |
| 13 | 17 | Helmut Marko
|
BRM
|
57 | +2 Laps | 16 | |
| 14 | 28 | John Cannon
|
BRM
|
56 | +3 Laps | 24 | |
| 15 | 20 | Mike Hailwood
|
Surtees-Ford
|
54 | Accident | 14 | |
| 16 | 29 | Jo Bonnier
|
McLaren-Ford
|
54 | Out of fuel | 28 | |
| 17 | 18 | John Surtees
|
Surtees-Ford
|
54 | +5 Laps | 13 | |
| NC | 33 | Skip Barber
|
March-Ford
|
52 | +7 Laps | 25 | |
| Ret | 4 | Jacky Ickx
|
Ferrari
|
49 | Alternator | 7 | |
| NC | 2 |  Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Lotus-Ford
|
49 | +10 Laps | 2 | |
| NC | 30 | Pete Lovely
|
Lotus-Ford
|
49 | +10 Laps | 29 | |
| Ret | 7 | Denny Hulme
|
McLaren-Ford
|
47 | Accident | 3 | |
| Ret | 23 | Tim Schenken
|
Brabham-Ford
|
41 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 24 | Chris Craft
|
Brabham-Ford
|
30 | Suspension | 27 | |
| Ret | 21 | Henri Pescarolo
|
March-Ford
|
23 | Engine | 20 | |
| Ret | 19 | Sam Posey
|
Surtees-Ford
|
15 | Engine | 17 | |
| Ret | 26 | Nanni Galli
|
March-Ford
|
11 | Accident damage | 23 | |
| Ret | 3 | Reine Wisell
|
Lotus-Ford
|
5 | Brakes/accident | 9 | |
| Ret | 10 | Peter Revson
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
1 | Clutch | 19 | |
| DNS | 6 | Mario Andretti
|
Ferrari
|
6* | |||
| DNS | 31 | Mark Donohue
|
McLaren-Ford
|
19* | |||
| DNS | 19 | Gijs van Lennep
|
Surtees-Ford
|
29* |
* = Position of driver among all 32 entrants.
Milestones[]
- First championship Grand Prix race to time to thousandths of a second.
- First race for Sam Posey.
- Only victory for François Cevert, as he would be killed at this track two years later.
- Final race for Jo Siffert, who would be killed three weeks later at the non-championship Rothmans World Championship.
- Final race for Jo Bonnier, who would be killed at the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Standings after race[]
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References[]
- Pritchard, Anthony (1972). The Motor Racing Year No3. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.. pp. 108-115. ISBN 0-393-08502-3.
- http://racing-reference.info/race/1971_United_States_Grand_Prix/F
| V T E | United States Grand Prix
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Circuits | Sebring (1959), Riverside (1960), Watkins Glen (1961–1980), Phoenix (1989–1991), Indianapolis (2000–2007), Austin (2012–present) |  |
| Formula One Races | 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981–1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992–1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008–2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • | |
| Non-F1 races | 1908 • 1909 • 1910 • 1911 • 1912 • 1913 • 1914 • 1915 • 1916 • 1917–1957 • 1958 | |
| See also | Miami Grand Prix • Las Vegas Grand Prix • United States Grand Prix West • Indianapolis 500 • Detroit Grand Prix • Caesars Palace Grand Prix • Dallas Grand Prix • Questor Grand Prix |
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