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1971 French Grand Prix
1971 French Grand Prix
Race details
Date	4 July 1971
Location	Circuit Paul Ricard; Le Castellet, Var, France
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.809 km (3.610 miles)
Distance	55 laps, 319.495 km (198.525 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Jackie Stewart;
Time	1:50.71
Fastest lap
Driver	Jackie Stewart
Time	1:54.09 on lap 2
Podium
First	Jackie Stewart;
Second	François Cevert;
Third	Emerson Fittipaldi;
	Lap leaders ;

The 1971 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit Paul Ricard on 4 July 1971. It was race 5 of 11 in both the 1971 World Championship of Drivers and the 1971 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 55-lap race was won by Tyrrell driver Jackie Stewart after he started from pole position. His teammate François Cevert finished second and Lotus driver Emerson Fittipaldi came in third.

Race report

This was the first French Grand Prix to be held at the new Circuit Paul Ricard near Marseille. The Tyrrell team had new front bodywork for Jackie Stewart's car, and the Briton gained pole position with this revised car – also helped by extensive tyre testing in the weeks before – from Clay Regazzoni, Jacky Ickx and Graham Hill. Stewart led away from Regazzoni, Pedro Rodríguez and Jean-Pierre Beltoise, whilst Ickx was jostled through the first chicane and dropped back. Stewart streaked ahead, setting fastest lap on lap 2 and pulling out a 10-second lead by lap 7. His only real challenger, Regazzoni, hit a patch of oil and sailed into the guardrail, breaking a wheel on lap 20. On lap 28 Rodríguez dropped out with a faulty coil, leaving the Tyrrells in 1–2 formation, with François Cevert proving his worth on his home ground. Hill dropped out of fifth place with a broken oil pipe, having previously hit the guardrail whilst avoiding Regazzoni.

This left Jo Siffert in third place, holding off Emerson Fittipaldi, who was in pain and heavily bandaged after a road accident. Despite this, the Brazilian took 3rd on lap 39. Siffert retook this briefly, but Fittipaldi held on for the final podium place from the Swiss. Chris Amon took 5th in an unconvincing performance by home team Matra, duelling with Tim Schenken until Schenken ran out of oil 6 laps from the end.

It was a 1–2 success for the Tyrrells on a tricky circuit, the Cosworth DFV engine providing extra power down the very long Mistral straight.

This was to be Pedro Rodríguez's last Formula One race. He was killed a week later while driving a privately entered Ferrari 512 at an Interserie sports car race at the Norisring in Germany.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	11	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	1:50.71	—
2	5	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1:51.53	+0.82
3	4	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1:51.88	+1.17
4	7	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	1:52.32	+1.61
5	15	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	1:52.46	+1.75
6	14	Jo Siffert	BRM	1:52.50	+1.79
7	12	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	1:52.69	+1.98
8	21	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	1:52.92	+2.21
9	20	Chris Amon	Matra	1:52.94	+2.23
10	24	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	1:53.10	+2.39
11	9	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1:53.24	+2.53
12	17	Ronnie Peterson	March-Alfa Romeo	1:53.36	+2.65
13	22	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	1:53.57	+2.86
14	8	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Ford	1:53.58	+2.87
15	2	Reine Wisell	Lotus-Ford	1:53.75	+3.04
16	16	Howden Ganley	BRM	1:53.77	+3.06
17	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	1:54.22	+3.51
18	27	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	1:54.27	+3.56
19	10	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Ford	1:54.90	+4.19
20	33	Nanni Galli	March-Ford	1:55.52	+4.81
21	19	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	1:56.17	+5.46
22	18	Alex Soler-Roig	March-Ford	1:57.07	+6.36
23	28	Max Jean	March-Ford	1:59.79	+9.08
24	34	François Mazet	March-Ford	2:00.51	+9.80
Source:^[1]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Ford	55	1:46:42.3	1	9
2	12	François Cevert	Tyrrell-Ford	55	+ 28.12	7	6
3	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	55	+ 34.07	17	4
4	14	Jo Siffert	BRM	55	+ 37.17	6	3
5	20	Chris Amon	Matra	55	+ 41.08	9	2
6	2	Reine Wisell	Lotus-Ford	55	+ 1:16.02	15	1
7	21	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	55	+ 1:16.93	8
8	22	John Surtees	Surtees-Ford	55	+ 1:24.91	13
9	10	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Ford	54	+ 1 Lap	19
10	16	Howden Ganley	BRM	54	+ 1 Lap	16
11	24	Rolf Stommelen	Surtees-Ford	53	+ 2 Laps	10
12	8	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Ford	50	Oil Pressure	14
13	34	François Mazet	March-Ford	50	+ 5 Laps	23
NC	28	Max Jean	March-Ford	46	+ 9 Laps	22
Ret	27	Henri Pescarolo	March-Ford	45	Gearbox	18
Ret	7	Graham Hill	Brabham-Ford	34	Oil Pipe	4
Ret	19	Andrea de Adamich	March-Alfa Romeo	31	Engine	20
Ret	15	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	27	Ignition	5
Ret	5	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	20	Accident	2
Ret	17	Ronnie Peterson	March-Alfa Romeo	19	Engine	12
Ret	9	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	16	Ignition	11
Ret	4	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	4	Engine	3
Ret	18	Alex Soler-Roig	March-Ford	4	Fuel Pump	21
DNS	33	Nanni Galli	March-Ford		Engine
Source:^[2]

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut for French drivers Max Jean and François Mazet.
This race saw the 25th Grand Slam set by a British driver.
This race marked the 5th podium finish for British constructor Tyrrell.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Jackie Stewart	33
	2	Jacky Ickx	19
	3	Mario Andretti	9
	4	Pedro Rodríguez	9
	5	Ronnie Peterson	9
Source:^[3]

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
1	1	Tyrrell-Ford	33
1	2	Ferrari	28
	3	BRM	12
	4	March-Ford	9
2	5	Lotus-Ford	9
Source:^[3]

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

References

^ Pritchard, Anthony (1972). The Motor Racing Year No3. ISBN 0393085023.
^ "1971 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
^ ^a ^b "France 1971 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.

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