1971 Season

The season

The 1971 season is the 25th of Formula One racing and the 22nd World Championship of Drivers. Eleven championship races are scheduled between 6 March and 3 October. The defending Drivers’ champion is Jochen Rindt — awarded the title posthumously in 1970 after his fatal accident at Monza. His team, Lotus, enters the new season in disarray. Tyrrell take the lead as the team to beat, with Jackie Stewart returning as world champion from 1969 in a purpose-built Tyrrell chassis for the first time.

Driver changes

Ferrari lost their third driver before the season began: Ignazio Giunti was killed in January during the Buenos Aires 1000 km sports car race, struck by Jean-Pierre Beltoise’s Matra as Giunti’s Ferrari attempted to lap it. Mario Andretti, who had been driving for Ferrari in long-distance races over the past two years, was hired on a part-time basis as the team’s third driver alongside Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni.

March arrive with an entirely new driver line-up. Ronnie Peterson, previously in a privateer March, leads the factory effort. Andrea de Adamich moves across from McLaren with the Alfa Romeo engine project, becoming Peterson’s teammate in the March 711. Alex Soler-Roig takes a seat for his first full-time drive.

Jo Siffert moves from March to BRM, joining regular driver Pedro Rodríguez and debutant Howden Ganley. Jack Brabham has retired from racing; Graham Hill takes his seat, and Tim Schenken replaces Rolf Stommelen in the second Brabham entry. Schenken had previously driven for Frank Williams’ team, which now recruits Henri Pescarolo from Matra and switches from a De Tomaso chassis to a March. Stommelen moves to Surtees.

The Rob Walker private team has wound up operations; Walker transfers his Brooke Bond Oxo sponsorship to Surtees.

Tyrrell retain Jackie Stewart and François Cevert. Two purpose-built cars are ready: the Tyrrell 003 for the shorter Stewart and the 002, with a longer wheelbase, exclusively for Cevert.

Team changes

Brabham is in the process of being sold to Bernie Ecclestone, currently being run by Ron Tauranac. Team Lotus are developing the Lotus 56B — a gas turbine, four-wheel-drive car — alongside their conventional entry for Emerson Fittipaldi and Reine Wisell.

Calendar

Eleven championship rounds are scheduled. Several circuits rotate or return:

• The Spanish Grand Prix moves from Jarama to Montjuïc Park in Barcelona, continuing a rotation between the two circuits.
• The British Grand Prix moves from Brands Hatch to Silverstone.
• The Canadian Grand Prix moves from Mont-Tremblant to Mosport Park near Toronto.
• The French Grand Prix moves from the twisty public-road Charade circuit to the brand-new Circuit Paul Ricard near Marseille.
• The German Grand Prix returns to the Nürburgring after a year at Hockenheimring. Major safety work has been carried out: the circuit has been resurfaced, lined with Armco barriers, and the worst bumps smoothed over.
• The Belgian Grand Prix, scheduled for 6 June at Spa-Francorchamps, has been cancelled. The track owners failed to bring the circuit up to mandatory safety standards; Formula One will not return to Spa until 1983.
• The Argentine Grand Prix was listed on the provisional calendar but will not count as a championship round. The FIA required the organisers to first prove the venue with a non-championship race.

Regulation changes

The maximum race distance for championship Grands Prix is reduced from 400 km to 325 km. It is also now mandated that a driver must be able to evacuate himself, or be evacuated, from his cockpit within five seconds.

Points are awarded to the top six finishers. For the title, drivers may count their five best results from rounds 1–6 and their four best results from rounds 7–11.

Pre-season events

A non-championship Argentine Grand Prix was held in Buenos Aires in January — the first Argentine championship-eligible race since 1960, run as a proof-of-concept event in two heats. Chris Amon won in a Matra ahead of Jackie Stewart. The heat proved intense, with temperatures typical of a South American summer.