1970 Dutch Grand Prix

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1970 Dutch Grand Prix
Zandvoort original layout
Zandvoort original layout
Race details
Date June 21, 1970
Official name XVIII Grote Prijs van Nederland
Location Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.193 km (2.605 miles)
Distance 90 laps, 377.370 km (234.487 miles)
Weather Cloudy
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Ford
Time 1:18.5
Fastest lap
Driver Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari
Time 1:19.23
Podium
First Lotus-Ford
Second March-Ford
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1970 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zandvoort on June 21, 1970. It was race 5 of 13 in both the 1970 World Championship of Drivers and the 1970 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. This race was held the same day as the 1970 FIFA World Cup Final in Mexico City, Mexico, but that event took place later in the day from this Grand Prix.

The race was won by Lotus-Ford driver Jochen Rindt in his new monocoque-chassis Type 72, a radical wedge shape first used on the 1968 Indianapolis Lotus, with inboard braking and torsion bar suspension, it represented a major technical advance, giving the driver superior ride and vision in a better ventilated seat. Rindt had only raced the car twice before (but in a different spec) and had preferred his old Lotus 49 in the preceding Monaco and Belgian rounds of the World Championship. Three years earlier the 72's predecessor; DFV-debutant Type 49 won in 1967 won first time out at exactly the same track with Jim Clark driving. Rindt racing the 72 without the complex anti-squat and anti-dive features, which the Austrian had never believed in, effortlessly dominated the practice and race putting little pressure on the car and not even having to use the maximum road width or line. The race also saw the debut of Clay Regazzoni with Ferrari, who finished fourth.

Report

Jochen Rindt ahead of Jacky Ickx at the race start

Jacky Ickx led Jochen Rindt off the line. On lap 2, Rindt running on full tanks, with 50–55 gallons of petrol on board, put in his fastest lap of the race[1] and outbraked Ickx into the Tarzan hairpin, on the inside in a classic passing manoeuvre, at the start of lap 3. Colin Chapman had persisted with anti-squat and dive on John Miles' Lotus 72 which was fifth on the first lap and proved difficult to pass. This assisted Team Lotus as it was much easier for Rindt to thread past the four car duel for fifth on lap 29–32 than for Ickx or Jackie Stewart who spent 7 laps getting past Jack Brabham, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, John Surtees and Miles[2] Miles in the second 72 was finally being passed by Beltoise on lap 49, when a large wave over the coast dunes saw Miles lose adhesion and Surtees did finally claim the 6th place and the final point by passing John Miles' Lotus, which was brakeless by then, 4 laps from the flag. However the race was marred by the violent fatal accident of British driver Piers Courage driving the Frank Williams-entered De Tomaso-Ford on lap 22, at Tunnel Oost, when his car's suspension was damaged after hitting a curb, and the car went straight up a grass embankment. It then somersaulted and exploded, and Courage had died instantly after being hit on the head by one of the car's front wheels. The flames were so intense, that trees surrounding the accident site, were lit up as a result. A similar accident occurred at the 1973 race, which claimed the life of Roger Williamson.[3]

Courage's fatal accident

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Pos. Driver Constructor Time Grid
1 Austria Jochen Rindt Lotus-Ford 1:18.50 1
2 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart March-Ford 1:18.73 2
3 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:18.93 3
4 New Zealand Chris Amon March-Ford 1:19.25 4
5 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver BRM 1:19.30 5
6 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 1:19.48 6
7 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:20.07 7
8 United Kingdom John Miles Lotus-Ford 1:20.24 8
9 United Kingdom Piers Courage De Tomaso-Ford 1:20.32 9
10 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 1:20.38 10
11 United Kingdom Peter Gethin McLaren-Ford 1:20.41 11
12 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 1:20.76 12
13 France Henri Pescarolo Matra 1:20.89 13
14 United Kingdom John Surtees McLaren-Ford 1:21.18 14
15 France François Cevert March-Ford 1:21.18 15
16 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 1:21.24 16
17 Switzerland Jo Siffert March-Ford 1:21.27 17
18 Canada George Eaton BRM 1:21.35 18
19 United States Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 1:21.36 19
DNQ Italy Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo 1:21.36
21 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:21.75 20
DNQ Germany Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Ford 1:22.34
DNQ United States Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 1:23.37
DNQ Switzerland Silvio Moser Bellasi-Ford 1:24.29
Source: [4][5]

Race

Classification

Jochen Rindt took the maiden victory for the revolutionary Lotus 72.
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 10 Austria Jochen Rindt Lotus-Ford 80 1:50:43.41 1 9
2 5 United Kingdom Jackie Stewart March-Ford 80 + 30.00 2 6
3 25 Belgium Jacky Ickx Ferrari 79 + 1 Lap 3 4
4 26 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 79 + 1 Lap 6 3
5 23 France Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 79 + 1 Lap 10 2
6 16 United Kingdom John Surtees McLaren-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 14 1
7 12 United Kingdom John Miles Lotus-Ford 78 + 2 Laps 8  
8 24 France Henri Pescarolo Matra 78 + 2 Laps 13  
9 22 Sweden Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 78 + 2 Laps 16  
10 1 Mexico Pedro Rodríguez BRM 77 + 3 Laps 7  
11 18 Australia Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 76 + 4 laps 12  
NC 15 United Kingdom Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 71 Not Classified 20  
Ret 6 France François Cevert March-Ford 31 Engine 15  
Ret 3 Canada George Eaton BRM 26 Oil Leak 18  
Ret 2 United Kingdom Jackie Oliver BRM 23 Engine 5  
Ret 4 United Kingdom Piers Courage De Tomaso-Ford 22 Fatal Accident 9  
Ret 9 Switzerland Jo Siffert March-Ford 22 Engine 17  
Ret 20 United Kingdom Peter Gethin McLaren-Ford 18 Accident 11  
Ret 32 United States Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 2 Engine 19  
Ret 8 New Zealand Chris Amon March-Ford 1 Clutch 4  
DNQ 21 Italy Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo    
DNQ 19 Germany Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Ford    
DNQ 31 United States Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford    
DNQ 29 Switzerland Silvio Moser Bellasi-Ford        
Source:[6]

Notes

  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver and future Grand Prix winner Peter Gethin and for Swiss driver and future Grand Prix winner Clay Regazzoni.
  • This was the first win for the Lotus 72.
  • This race marked the 10th podium finish for an Austrian driver.
  • This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Swiss constructor Bellasi.
  • For the first time since the 1968 French Grand Prix, a Ford-powered car did not set the fastest lap during the race. This ended a record streak of 21 consecutive fastest laps set by a Ford-powered car.

Championship standings after the race

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

References

  1. ^ D. S. Jenkinson. 'The Dutch GP . A Tech Advance' in Motorsport August 1970. Retrieved 31/3/2019.
  2. ^ Dutch GP. Motorsport August 1970. Retrieved 31/3/2019
  3. ^ "The Dutch Grand Prix". Motor Sport: 44. August 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
  4. ^ "Netherlands 1970 - Qualification • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  5. ^ "1970 Dutch Grand Prix - QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  6. ^ "1970 Dutch Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Netherlands 1970 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.


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1970 Belgian Grand Prix
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