1970 Monaco Grand Prix

Championship standings

Stewart leads the championship after winning Spain and finishing third at South Africa.

Previous race

Stewart won in Spain ahead of Bruce McLaren and Mario Andretti — Andretti’s first Formula One podium. The race was marred at the very start when Jackie Oliver and Jacky Ickx collided, engulfing both cars in flames. Ickx was slightly burned after his overalls became soaked in burning fuel, but has recovered sufficiently to compete here.

The qualifying dispute at Jarama was not resolved in the teams’ favour: the CSI intervened on race morning to force the six slowest Saturday qualifiers off the grid even after the organisers had initially agreed to reinstate them.

Entrants

Ronnie Peterson makes his Formula One debut in a non-works March. The Lotus team has chosen to run the older 49C chassis rather than the new 72, despite testing the new car at a non-championship race at Silverstone a few weeks ago.

Practice

Heavy rain fell during the practice sessions.

Qualifying

Stewart is on pole for the Tyrrell entry, with Chris Amon alongside on the front row. Denny Hulme’s McLaren is third, Jack Brabham’s car fourth, and Jacky Ickx’s Ferrari fifth. Jochen Rindt qualifies eighth.