Canadian GP 1970

Canadian GP, 1970

It was only three weeks since Jochen Rindt's death at Monza and Team Lotus had decided not to send cars to Canada. Rob Walker was there with a new Lotus 72 which had yet to be raced in a World Championship event as it had not been ready for Austria and had been withdrawn at Monza after Rindt's death. The field was little changed otherwise with Ronnie Peterson back in action in his Antique Automobiles March.

The Ferraris had been the dominant force in the recent races but it was Jackie Stewart in the new Tyrrell who set the pace, beating Jacky Ickx's Ferrari to pole position by a tenth of a second. Regazzoni was third fastest while Stewart's Tyrrell team mate Francois Cevert was fourth fastest in his March. Also showing well was John Surtees, fifth on the grid in his Surtees, ahead of Chris Amon's factory March.

Stewart took the lead at the start with Ickx chasing while Pedro Rodriguez burst through from seventh on the grid to take third place ahead of Surtees, Cevert and Regazzoni. Stewart began to build a lead, demonstrating that the new Tyrrell was going to be a very competitive car but on lap 32 he suffered a stub axle failure. This left Ickx with a lead of nearly half a minute over Regazzoni who had passed Cevert and Rodriguez after Surtees was slowed with a misfire which forced him to pit. Amon had moved up to third ahead of Cevert and the order remained the same until the closing laps when Cevert suffered a rear damper failure and had to pit.

Ferrari had scored another dominant 1-2 and while Ickx had moved to second in the World Championship. He had only only 28 points. Rindt had scored 45 before his death and with two races to go Ickx needed to win both to snatch the title.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 18 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 312B 90 2h21m18.400s  2 
2 19 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B 90 2h21m33.200s  3 
3 20 Chris Amon March-Cosworth 701 90 2h22m16.300s  6 
4 14 Pedro Rodriguez BRM P153 89  7 
5 4 John Surtees Surtees-Cosworth TS7 89  5 
6 6 Peter Gethin McLaren-Cosworth M14A 88  11 
7 24 Henri Pescarolo Matra Simca-Matra MS120 87  8 
8 23 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra Simca-Matra MS120 85  13 
9 2 Francois Cevert March-Cosworth 701 85  4 
10 16 George Eaton BRM P153 85  9 
nc 10 Tim Schenken De Tomaso-Cosworth 505 79  17 
nc 9 Graham Hill Lotus-Cosworth 72C 77  20 
r 8 Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo M14D 69 Engine 12 
nc 26 Ronnie Peterson March-Cosworth 701 65  16 
r 5 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M14A 59 Flywheel 15 
r 11 Jack Brabham Brabham-Cosworth BT33 57 Mechanical 19 
nc 15 Jackie Oliver BRM P153 52  10 
r 3 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Cosworth 001 31 Mechanical 1 
r 12 Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Cosworth BT33 23 Steering 18 
r 21 Jo Siffert March-Cosworth 701 22 Engine 14