The Closest Finish in F1 History; Monza 1971

In the 9th round of 11 of the 1971 F1 season, F1 headed to the ‘temple of speed’ for arguably one of the greatest races in F1 history. In a track full of bunched slipstreams at top speeds of around 242.615 km/h, the finish of the 1971 Italian GP was a matter of 0.01s. A race has never been so close until Ruben Barrichello beat Michael Schumacher by 0.011s to the finish line at the 2002 US Grand Prix.

the battle to the finish line was not only between the front two but the top 5. The top 3 being separated by 0.09s, the first four separated by 0.18s and the top 5 by 0.61s.

Jackie Steward, driving for Tyrell, had dominated the 1971 season, and has already clenched the season title with five out if nine wins. While it was Steward to lead the championship it was Chris Amon who took pole at Monza. Amon finishing 0.42s ahead of Ferrari of Jackie Ickx. The BRM’s of Jo Siffert and Howden Ganley locked out the second row.

At the start Ickx’s teammate Clay Regazonni made an excellent move from P8 into P1, meanwhile, the race leader made the opposite move from P1 to P8. It wasn’t long until Regazonni was passed by many drivers, with Ronnie Peterson holding on to the lead in multiple stages of the race, Stewart, François, Cevert, Stiffert, Ganley and Ickx all in close proximity. The leader of the race constantly changing , including unlikely candidates such as Surtees in a thrilling fight to the chequered flag.

Steward was one of four drivers to face bad luck in the race, when his engine blue pulling him out of the race. Stiffert was another to retire when his car got stuck in fourth gear. Both Ferrari’s were the final drivers to struggle in the race with engine problems.

On Lap 37, Amon made his way back into the lead and beginning to build a gap when 10 laps in he accidentally ripped of his visor when intending to remove a visor tear off. A costly mistake that allowed Gethin to temporarily hold the lead before he fell into fourth as he started the final lap. Gethin with a better exit at the Parabolica gained better traction to take back the lead of Peterson and Cevert, both drivers braking late.

As they crossed the line five passed in a blur, but it was Gethin to win the 1971 Italian GP.