1970 United States Grand Prix

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1970 United States Grand Prix
Watkins Glen International Track Map-1960-1970.svg
Race details
DateOctober 4, 1970
Official name XIII United States Grand Prix
Location Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Watkins Glen, New York
Course Permanent road course
Course length 3.78 km (2.35 miles)
Distance 108 laps, 408.2 km (253.8 miles)
Weather Cloudy and dry with temperatures reaching up to 10 °C (50 °F);
Wind speeds up to 29.5 km/h (18.3 mph) [1]
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:03.07
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Jacky Ickx Ferrari
Time 1:02.74 on lap 105
Podium
First Lotus-Ford
Second BRM
Third Lotus-Ford
Lap leaders
  • 1970 United States Grand Prix

The 1970 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 4, 1970 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 12 of 13 in both the 1970 World Championship of Drivers and the 1970 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. [2]

Contents

The 108-lap race was won by Emerson Fittipaldi, driving a Lotus-Ford, after he started from third position. Fittipaldi achieved his first Formula One victory, and the first for a Brazilian driver, in only his fourth Grand Prix start. Mexican driver Pedro Rodríguez finished second in a BRM, having led before a late pit stop for fuel, while Fittipaldi's Swedish team-mate Reine Wisell, making his F1 debut, finished third, which would turn out to be his only podium finish.

Belgian driver Jacky Ickx finished fourth in his Ferrari, having started from pole position before pitting to repair a broken fuel line. This result meant that Jochen Rindt became the first and, to date, only posthumous Formula One World Champion.

This would be the final Grand Prix for the circuit in this original fast configuration. 1971 would see a new longer layout presenting more of a challenge.

Report

The Ferrari of Jacky Ickx was fastest in the initial practice session on Friday with a time of 1:03.07, but expectations were high for the Tyrrell 001 of Jackie Stewart, which had led the first 31 laps in its first outing in the previous race in Canada until axle failure ended its charge. The final session on Saturday was marred by a downpour that left only fifteen minutes of dry track time, and it was not enough for Stewart to knock Ickx off the pole. Emerson Fittipaldi, who spent the first half of the season in European Formula Two, was just five hundredths behind Stewart in third.

On Sunday, with a crowd exceeding 100,000 for the second straight year,[ citation needed ] black clouds and a shower 20 minutes prior to the race caused a lot of excitement among the crews on the grid, as many teams changed to rain tires and back again.[ citation needed ] By the start, however, all but Clay Regazzoni and Derek Bell had reverted to slicks. Stewart took the lead off the grid, ahead of Pedro Rodríguez, as Fittipaldi dropped to eighth behind Ickx, Regazzoni, Chris Amon, John Surtees and Jackie Oliver.

By lap 17, the Ferraris of Ickx and Regazzoni had passed Rodríguez, but by that time, Stewart's lead was nearly twenty seconds. Graham Hill, in a privately entered Lotus 72, came into the pits on lap 30 with fuel leaking into the cockpit,[ citation needed ] as a fitting had come loose under the seat. The team took 10 minutes to fix the leak, threw some water on Hill, whose overalls were soaked in fuel, and sent him back out. Several laps later, Hill returned to request they find him some dry overalls, as the gasoline was burning his skin. When he stopped again to change clothes, the team said they had not been able to locate any new ones. Hill, however, saw John Surtees, who had retired on the seventh lap, sitting on the wall, and borrowed his overalls and undergarments. The two former World Champions were naked in the pits as Hill was doused with water before donning Surtees' clean clothes and returning to the track,[ citation needed ] only to retire on lap 72 with a broken clutch.

At half-distance, Stewart was nearly half a lap ahead of Ickx, with Rodríguez in third and Fittipaldi about to be lapped in fourth. Ickx suddenly pitted on lap 57 to repair a broken fuel line, and he rejoined in twelfth place. He fought his way back up to fourth, setting the race's fastest lap three laps from the finish. Ickx had needed to win to have a chance of overtaking Jochen Rindt in the Championship; his fourth-place finish meant that Rindt became the first posthumous Formula One World Champion.

On lap 76, with a one-minute cushion, Stewart's Tyrrell began trailing smoke from its left-hand exhaust pipe. The smoke slowly grew worse, and Rodríguez tore into Stewart's lead, taking off five seconds a lap, while the Lotus teammates unlapped themselves. On lap 83, with its oil gone, the Cosworth engine in the Tyrrell seized, leaving Rodríguez with an 18.8 second lead over Fittipaldi, who led team-mate Reine Wisell by another 46 seconds.

At the end of the 100th lap, Rodríguez coasted into the pit lane having run out of fuel. BRM refueled the car, but Rodríguez had lost 38 seconds to Fittipaldi, who took the lead. Rodríguez rejoined ahead of the second Lotus of Wisell.

Fittipaldi recalled later, "I took the lead and, going over the finish line, I saw for the first time Colin [Chapman] jumping and throwing his hat, something I'd seen him do for Jim Clark and Graham Hill and Jochen, and I kept saying to myself, 'He's doing that for me. I won the race. I won the US Grand Prix!' It was unbelievable."

His victory was the seventh American win for Lotus, and it clinched the Drivers' Championship for the team's dead leader, Jochen Rindt, and the Constructors' Championship for Lotus and Colin Chapman. [3]

This was the final Grand Prix to be held on the 2.35-mile (3.78 km) layout of the track, in use since 1956. Watkins Glen underwent extensive renovation over the course of 1971, including the lengthening of the track to 3.377 miles (5.435 km) in time for that year's Grand Prix, with an interim layout adopted for the Six Hours sports car race beforehand.

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGapGrid
13 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:03.071
21 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 1:03.62+0.552
324 Flag of Brazil.svg Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 1:03.67+0.603
419 Flag of Mexico.svg Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:04.18+1.114
512 Flag of New Zealand.svg Chris Amon March-Ford 1:04.23+1.165
64 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:04.30+1.236
720 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jackie Oliver BRM 1:04.37+1.307
817 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Surtees Surtees-Ford 1:04.52+1.458
923 Flag of Sweden.svg Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 1:04.79+1.729
1014 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:04.81+1.7410
118 Flag of New Zealand.svg Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 1:04.84+1.7711
127 Flag of France.svg Henri Pescarolo Matra 1:05.00+1.9312
1318 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Bell Surtees-Ford 1:05.00+1.9313
1421 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg George Eaton BRM 1:05.14+2.0714
1529 Flag of Sweden.svg Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:05.18+2.1115
1615 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 1:05.29+2.2216
172 Flag of France.svg François Cevert March-Ford 1:05.30+2.2317
186 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:05.44+2.3718
1916 Flag of Germany.svg Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Ford 1:05.77+2.7019
2030 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tim Schenken De Tomaso-Ford 1:06.08+3.0120
219 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Peter Gethin McLaren-Ford 1:06.12+3.0521
2231 Flag of the United States.svg Gus Hutchison Brabham-Ford 1:06.22+3.1522
2311 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Jo Siffert March-Ford 1:06.23+3.1623
2427 Flag of Sweden.svg Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 1:06.46+3.3924
DNQ32 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Peter Westbury BRM 1:07.20+4.13
DNQ28 Flag of the United States.svg Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 1:07.45+4.38
DNQ10 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo 1:12.24+9.17
Source: [4]

Race

Classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
124 Flag of Brazil.svg Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 1081:57:32.7939
219 Flag of Mexico.svg Pedro Rodríguez BRM 108+ 36.3946
323 Flag of Sweden.svg Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 108+ 45.1794
43 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Jacky Ickx Ferrari 107+ 1 Lap13
512 Flag of New Zealand.svg Chris Amon March-Ford 107+ 1 Lap52
618 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Bell Surtees-Ford 107+ 1 Lap131
78 Flag of New Zealand.svg Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 106+ 2 Laps11 
87 Flag of France.svg Henri Pescarolo Matra 105+ 3 Laps12 
911 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Jo Siffert March-Ford 105+ 3 Laps23 
1015 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 105+ 3 Laps16 
1129 Flag of Sweden.svg Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 104+ 4 Laps15 
1216 Flag of Germany.svg Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Ford 104+ 4 Laps19 
134 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 101+ 7 Laps6 
149 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Peter Gethin McLaren-Ford 100+ 8 Laps21 
Ret1 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 82Oil Leak2 
Ret14 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 72Clutch10 
Ret2 Flag of France.svg François Cevert March-Ford 62Wheel17 [5]  
Ret30 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tim Schenken De Tomaso-Ford 61Suspension20 
Ret27 Flag of Sweden.svg Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 50Water Pipe24 
Ret6 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 27Handling18 
Ret31 Flag of the United States.svg Gus Hutchison Brabham-Ford 21Fuel Leak22 
Ret20 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jackie Oliver BRM 14Engine7 
Ret21 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg George Eaton BRM 10Engine14 
Ret17 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Surtees Surtees-Ford 6Engine8 
DNQ32 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Peter Westbury BRM     
DNQ28 Flag of the United States.svg Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford     
DNQ10 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo     
Source: [6]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. "Weather information for the 1970 United States Grand Prix". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  2. "1970 United States Grand Prix Entry list".
  3. "USA 1970". StatsF1. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  4. "USA 1970 - Qualification • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  5. Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 137. ISBN   0-85429-321-3.
  6. "1970 United States Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  7. "United States 1970 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved March 21, 2019.

Further reading

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1970 Canadian Grand Prix
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