Canadian GP 1971

Canadian GP, 1971

Two weeks after Peter Gethin's amazing victory at Monza, the F1 field gathered in Canada. BRM fielded five cars for the occasion Gethin being joined by regulars Jo Siffert, Howden Ganley, Helmut Marko and Canadian George Eaton. Ferrari was up to three cars again with Mario Andretti joining Jackie Ickx and Clay Regazzoni. McLaren replaced Jack Oliver with US star Mark Donohue (although the second McLaren was owned by Roger Penske and entered in American racing dark blue). There were a variety of extra privateers including Skip Barber's Gene Mason-entered March, Alain de Cadenet's Brabham for Chris Craft and Peter Lovely in an old Lotus.

Qualifying resulted in World Champion Jackie Stewart putting his Tyrrell on pole position ahead of Jo Siffert's BRM and the second Tyrrell of Francois Cevert. Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus) and Chris Amon shared the second row, while Ronnie Peterson (March), Reine Wisell (Lotus) and Donohue (McLaren) were on the third row. The Ferraris were not competitive with Ickx 12th, Andretti 13th and Regazzoni 18th.

There was a fatal accident in the Formula Ford race and the Grand Prix was delayed, and by the time the race started it was pouring with rain. Howden Ganley demolished his BRM in the warm-up period before the race and so could not make the start. At the start Stewart went into the lead with Peterson second, chased by Beltoise, Donohue, Fittipaldi, Cevert and the rest. On the third lap Graham Hill crashed his Brabham and five laps later Regazzoni did the same in his Ferrari and lucky to emerge unscathed when the car caught fire.

Stewart had a firm grip on the race while Peterson had to fight for second with Beltoise until the Frenchman crashed on lap 16. At the same time Donohue pitted for new goggles but did not lose a place. This left a huge gap between the first two and the rest. Peterson took the lead on lap 18 but on lap 31 Stewart took the lead back while they were going through backmarkers. A few moments later Peterson ran into Eaton's BRM and damaged the front of his car. This upset the balance of the car and Peterson was unable to match Stewart's pace and so the Tyrrell edged away to win by nearly 40 seconds. Donohue finished third on his F1 debut.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 11 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Cosworth 003 64 1h55m12.900s  1 
2 17 Ronnie Peterson March-Cosworth 711 64 1h55m51.200s  6 
3 10 Mark Donohue McLaren-Cosworth M19A 64 1h56m48.700s  8 
4 9 Denny Hulme McLaren-Cosworth M19A 63  10 
5 3 Reine Wisell Lotus-Cosworth 72D 63  7 
6 12 Francois Cevert Tyrrell-Cosworth 002 62  3 
7 2 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Cosworth 72D 62  4 
8 4 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 312B2 62  12 
9 14 Jo Siffert BRM P160 61  2 
10 20 Chris Amon Matra Simca-Matra MS120B 61  5 
11 22 John Surtees Surtees-Cosworth TS9 60  14 
12 31 Helmut Marko BRM P153 60  19 
13 6 Mario Andretti Ferrari 312B2 60  13 
14 15 Peter Gethin BRM P160 59  16 
15 28 George Eaton BRM P160 59  21 
16 18 Giovanni Galli March-Cosworth 711 57  20 
nc 19 Mike Beuttler March-Cosworth 711 56  22 
nc 35 Peter Lovely Lotus-Cosworth 69 55  25 
r 24 Rolf Stommelen Surtees-Cosworth TS9 26 Engine 23 
r 21 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra Simca-Matra MS120B 15 Accident 11 
r 33 Skip Barber March-Cosworth 711 13 Engine 24 
r 5 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 312B2 7 Accident 18 
r 37 Graham Hill Brabham-Cosworth BT34 2 Accident 15 
r 8 Tim Schenken Brabham-Cosworth BT33 1 Ignition 17 
ns 16 Howden Ganley BRM P160  Accident (familiarisation Laps) 9 
ns 26 Chris Craft Brabham-Cosworth BT33  Engine 26 
ns 27 Henri Pescarolo March-Cosworth 711  Accident/ Injury 27