1971 British Grand Prix

1971 British Grand Prix
1971 British Grand Prix
Race 6 of 11 in the 1971 Formula One season
	The Silverstone Circuit (1952–1974)
Race details
Date	17 July 1971
Official name	XXIV The Woolmark British Grand Prix
Location	Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.711 km (2.927 miles)
Distance	68 laps, 320.348 km (199.036 miles)
Weather	Overcast, dry
Pole position
Driver	Clay Regazzoni ;
Time	1:18.1
Fastest lap
Driver	Jackie Stewart
Time	1:19.9
Podium
First	Jackie Stewart ;
Second	Ronnie Peterson ;
Third	Emerson Fittipaldi ;
	Lap leaders ;

Last updated July 03, 2025

The 1971 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 17 July 1971. It was race 6 of 11 in both the 1971 World Championship of Drivers and the 1971 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 68-lap race was won by Tyrrell driver Jackie Stewart after he started from second position. Ronnie Peterson finished second for the March team and Lotus driver Emerson Fittipaldi came in third.

Race report

On one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, horsepower counted for everything. Clay Regazzoni, driving for Ferrari, gained pole with a scorching lap of 1 min 18.1 secs, beating Jackie Stewart in a Tyrrell and Jo Siffert in a BRM by just a couple of hundredths of a second. BRM were mourning the loss of Pedro Rodríguez in a sports car race a few days earlier.

The start itself was a shambles, with a bungled flag drop causing a collision between Jackie Oliver and Graham Hill, for which Oliver was fined £50. Regazzoni led away from Jacky Ickx and Stewart, but after just one lap Stewart had passed Ickx, with Siffert following him. On lap 4, Stewart passed Regazzoni and disappeared into the distance. By lap 10 he was over 3 seconds ahead. In the points positions, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson and Tim Schenken were having a memorable tussle. Regazzoni repassed Siffert who was suffering from vibration problems on lap 15, but the BRM driver managed to hang on to the back of the Ferrari for several more laps. Stewart increased his lead to 14 seconds and by lap 20 he was ahead by 18 seconds. Ickx dropped out of fourth place with rubber breaking off from his front left tyre, and Siffert dropped way down with a broken coil bracket. The battle between Peterson, Schenken and Fittipaldi moved up into 3rd, 4th and 5th places.

On lap 48, tyre problems struck Regazzoni and further problems ensued when he tried to leave the pits after his tyre change to find his engine had no oil pressure. Schenken too dropped down the field with gearbox problems and retired completely when it jammed for good 4 laps from home.

Henri Pescarolo and Rolf Stommelen thus moved up into the battle for 4th and 5th, duelling right to the line, with Pescarolo winning out by just 0.5 seconds. John Surtees gained 6th place.

Stewart took a commanding home win and extended his lead in the Championship to 23 points.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	5	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1:18.1	—
2	12	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	1:18.1	+0.0
3	16	Jo Siffert	BRM	1:18.2	+0.1
4	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	1:18.3	+0.2
5	18	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1:19.0	+0.9
6	4	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1:19.5	+1.4
7	8	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Ford	1:19.5	+1.4
8	9	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1:19.6	+1.5
9	21	Chris Amon	Matra	1:19.7	+1.6
10	14	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	1:19.8	+1.7
11	17	Howden Ganley	BRM	1:19.84	+1.74
12	24	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	1:19.88	+1.78
13	2	Dave Charlton	Lotus-Ford	1:20.05	+1.95
14	10	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Ford	1:20.1	+2.0
15	22	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	1:20.2	+2.1
16	7	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	1:20.3	+2.2
17	26	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	1:20.5	+2.4
18	23	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	1:20.6	+2.5
19	3	Reine Wisell	Lotus-Pratt & Whitney	1:20.66	+2.56
20	6	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	1:20.7	+2.6
21	20	Nanni Galli	March-Ford	1:20.9	+2.8
22	11	Jackie Oliver	McLaren-Ford	1:21.0	+2.9
23	25	Derek Bell	Surtees-Ford	1:22.3	+4.2
24	19	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	1:23.2	+5.1
Source:^[2]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	68	1:31:31.5	2	9
2	18	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	68	+ 36.1	5	6
3	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	68	+ 50.5	4	4
4	26	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	67	+ 1 lap	17	3
5	24	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	67	+ 1 lap	12	2
6	23	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	67	+ 1 lap	18	1
7	22	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	66	+ 2 laps	15
8	17	Howden Ganley	BRM	66	+ 2 laps	11
9	16	Jo Siffert	BRM	66	+ 2 laps	3
10	14	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	65	+ 3 laps	10
11	20	Nanni Galli	March-Ford	65	+ 3 laps	21
12	8	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Ford	63	Gearbox	7
NC	3	Reine Wisell	Lotus-Pratt & Whitney	57	+ 11 laps	19
NC	19	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	56	+ 12 laps	24
Ret	10	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Ford	53	Engine	14
Ret	4	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	51	Engine	6
Ret	5	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	48	Oil pressure	1
Ret	21	Chris Amon	Matra	35	Engine	9
Ret	9	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	32	Engine	8
Ret	25	Derek Bell	Surtees-Ford	23	Suspension	23
Ret	6	Mike Beuttler	March-Ford	21	Oil pressure	20
Ret	2	Dave Charlton	Lotus-Ford	1	Engine	13
Ret	7	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	0	Accident	22
Ret	11	Jackie Oliver	McLaren-Ford	0	Accident	16
Source:^[3]

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver Mike Beuttler.
This race saw the 10th podium finish for a March.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Jackie Stewart	42
	2	Jacky Ickx	19
2	3	Ronnie Peterson	15
5	4	Emerson Fittipaldi	10
2	5	Mario Andretti	9
Source:^[4]

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	Tyrrell-Ford	42
	2	Ferrari	28
1	3	March-Ford	15
1	4	Lotus-Ford	13
2	5	BRM	12
Source:^[4]

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

↑ "1971 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
↑ Pritchard, Anthony (1972). The Motor Racing Year No3. ISBN 0393085023.
↑ "1971 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
1 2 "Britain 1971 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

Previous race: 1971 French Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1971 season	Next race: 1971 German Grand Prix
Previous race: 1970 British Grand Prix	British Grand Prix	Next race: 1972 British Grand Prix

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "1971 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

[2] Pritchard, Anthony (1972). The Motor Racing Year No3. ISBN 0393085023.

[3] "1971 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2015.

[champ-4] 1 2 "Britain 1971 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e « previous Formula One Grands Prix (1970–1979) next »
1970	RSA ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA MEX
1971	RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1972	ARG RSA ESP MON BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1973	ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR NED GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1974	ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
1975	ARG BRA RSA ESP MON BEL SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA
1976	BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN
1977	ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN
1978	ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN
1979	ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA