Rounds 1 to 5 As it had been since , the championship commenced in
South Africa. Reigning champion
Jackie Stewart, driving a privatised
March 701 for
Tyrrell Racing, set the fastest lap, before
Chris Amon, driving the same car but for the
March works team, set the exact same time, a 1:19.3. Three-time World Champion
Jack Brabham joined them on the first row. At the start, Stewart and Brabham had the best initial start, until
Jochen Rindt, who started in fourth, made a charge round the outside of the first corner. But he hit the front of Amon's car and then crashed into Brabham. Stewart was the only frontrunner unharmed and was now leading
Jacky Ickx and
Jackie Oliver, who started fifth and twelfth, respectively. By lap 6, however, Brabham was back into second place, and the
McLarens of
Denny Hulme and
Bruce McLaren were third and fourth. Brabham took the lead on lap 20, Hulme went past Stewart on lap 38 into second, and it was only thanks to Bruce McLaren's engine failure that the
Scot finished on the podium. During the weekend of the
Spanish Grand Prix, the organisers of the event, backed by the Commission Sportive Internationale (currently known as the
FIA), had a falling out with a large number of teams and drivers, represented by the F1CA (later known as
FOCA). The organisers had suddenly decided to allow just 16 starters for the race, and, only after all
practice and
qualifying sessions were run, decided to discount any lap time set on Friday. Under pressure of the protesting teams, they reverted their decision on the morning of the race and all 22 entered cars were rolled onto the grid, until the CSI forced them to uphold it and saw to it that the six slowest qualifiers, based on the Saturday qualifying times alone, were removed. The first row on the grid was filled by Jack Brabham (
Brabham), Denny Hulme (McLaren) and Jackie Stewart (March). At the start, Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver came together and both cars were engulfed in flames. Another nine drivers retired during the race with mechanical issues, which meant only five were left at the finish. Stewart won ahead of Bruce McLaren and
Mario Andretti, the
American's first podium. Stewart's victory would be the last for any "private" (non-works) team. In the Drivers' Championship,
Jackie Stewart led with 19 points, ahead of
Jochen Rindt with 18 and
Jack Brabham with 15. Their respective constructors filled the Manufacturers' Cup standings in the same order:
March led with 25 points, ahead of
Lotus with 23 and
Brabham with 17.
Rounds 6 to 9 Jochen Rindt in his new
Lotus 72 was favourite for the
French Grand Prix, but he was suffering from a
stomach ulcer and the twisty nature of the track brought on heavy sickness. To add to the misery, in practice, a stone was thrown up by a car in front, hitting his face and cutting his right cheek deeply. After qualifying, it seemed that, like in
Spa, the
V12-powered cars would be dominant:
Jacky Ickx put his
Ferrari on
pole position, ahead of
Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the
Matra. And in the opening laps, only championship leader
Jackie Stewart was able to keep up with those two. On lap 16, however, Ickx's engine was misfiring and he had to retire. When Stewart pitted with engine issues as well, Rindt was in second place and promptly set a new fastest lap. When Beltoise suffered a slow rear
puncture, hopes of an all-
French win in France were shattered and Rindt took the win, ahead of
Chris Amon and
Jack Brabham, and took the lead in the Drivers' standings. For the
British Grand Prix, Rindt was again favourite, but his
Firestone tyres were not working perfectly in the high summer temperatures. Brabham, using
Goodyear tyres, managed to equal Rindt's time in
practice. Ickx completed the front row. Stewart started down in eighth, his
March not liking the bumpy off-camber track of
Brands Hatch. At the start, Brabham took the lead but was quickly passed by Ickx. The Ferrari was quick until its
differential broke on lap 7. Ickx slowed down, Brabham's entry to Paddock Bend was hampered and Rindt seized the chance to pass them both. Rindt and Brabham were inseparable for the next 60 laps, until the
Austrian missed a gear and the
Australian outbraked him into South Bank corner. Brabham led away, growing his advantage to 13 seconds in the last lap, but then dramatically running out of fuel. Rindt crossed the line first, extending his lead in the championship, and Brabham coasted home in second.
Denny Hulme was third for
McLaren. After the race, Rindt was disqualified for running an illegally high rear wing, but team boss
Colin Chapman successfully appealed and the decision was reverted. The
German Grand Prix was planned to be held at the
Nürburgring Nordschleife, but in light of the deaths of
Bruce McLaren and
Piers Courage, the drivers asked the
FIA to find a safer circuit. This led to the first Grand Prix at the
Hockenheimring, which had already been fitted with
Armco barriers all around. The track's whose long straights gave the advantage to the
V12-powered cars, whereas the
Cosworth V8s suffered from attrition. Jacky Ickx started on pole in his Ferrari, with championship leader Jochen Rindt and teammate
Clay Regazzoni next to him. Rindt's main rival
Jack Brabham could only manage a twelfth starting position and when his engine suffered an oil leak, he was already out of the race after four laps. Ickx and Rindt engaged in a race-long battle, the
Austrian eventually taking his fourth win in a row. Denny Hulme was third, again, while Jackie Stewart retired with engine troubles before the half-way point. Ferrari's hopes for a resurgence came true during the
Austrian Grand Prix. The first race at the new
Österreichring saw Jochen Rindt take pole position, but he was closely followed by both Regazzoni and Ickx.
Ignazio Giunti in the third Ferrari started fifth. Brabham had another miserable qualifying: he started in eighth. Rindt lost out at the start, dropping to third, and Ickx was waved through by his teammate in a tactical play.
François Cevert's
Tyrrell lost oil and in the melee, Rindt dropped to seventh place. He tried to fight back, but on lap 21, his Cosworth engine broke and all danger to Ferrari was over. The pair in red finished the race in formation and lapped the whole field except third-placed
Rolf Stommelen. In the Drivers' Championship,
Jochen Rindt's retirement had not made a big dent in his lead, yet. He stood on 45 points, ahead of
Jack Brabham with 25 and
Denny Hulme with 20. In the battle for the Manufacturers' Cup,
Lotus, unsurprisingly, was in the lead with 50 points, ahead of
March and
Brabham with 33.
Rounds 10 to 13 's
Ferrari in the
pits at
Monza With the
Scuderia Ferrari coming off a dominant victory in
Austria, the
tifosi were praying for a repeat during the
Italian Grand Prix. Main rivals
March and
Lotus had prepared their cars for the long straights of
Monza by stripping them from any spoilers and such. It allowed them to reach top speeds of over but made them quite unstable in the corners, which
Emerson Fittipaldi found out during
practice: he crashed going into the Parabolica, escaped unhurt, but gave his Lotus mechanics a big repair job. Championship leader
Jochen Rindt crashed at the same place on Saturday and the
Austrian was killed: he was only wearing a
seat belt around his waist and, in the impact, slid underneath it, all the way down until the belt slit his throat. Upon hearing the news, the Lotus team packed up their operations and withdrew from the race. With the wreck cleared, normal proceedings resumed, albeit in a very different atmosphere.
Jacky Ickx qualified on
pole position for Ferrari, ahead of
Pedro Rodríguez (British Racing Motors|BRM),
Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) and
Jackie Stewart (
Tyrrell-
March). Ickx fell back to seventh place, but the other three put up a brilliant fight for the lead, switching positions almost every lap. Rodríguez retired when his
engine exploded, but his teammate
Jackie Oliver joined the battle. Spurred on by the promise that a part of the prize money would be awarded to the driver in the lead at laps 17, 34 and 51, several drivers joined the tactical slipstreaming fight. In the end, Regazzoni managed to win the race, ahead of a group of four drivers finishing within three quarters of a second. Jackie Stewart and
Jean-Pierre Beltoise completed the podium.
François Cevert, the only other driver to not get lapped, encountered a sea of fans on the track when he finished a minute later. For the
United States Grand Prix, Ickx qualified on pole position, ahead of Stewart and Fittipaldi, the leading Lotus driver after Rindt's demise. Ickx needed to win the two remaining races to stand a chance of overtaking Rindt's points total, but at the start, he fell back to third. On lap 16, he overtook Rodríguez for second, but around half distance, had to make a
pit stop to repair a fuel leak. Stewart then retired with an oil leak, and Rodríguez had to pit for extra fuel. This left the Lotus pair of Fittipaldi and
Wisell in the lead. Rodríguez eventually recovered to second, while Ickx could manage more than fourth place. Jochen Rindt was awarded the Drivers' Championship posthumously. For the
Mexican Grand Prix, Clay Regazzoni qualified on pole, ahead of the three "Jacks": Stewart, Ickx and Brabham. The race was delayed over an hour, because over 200,000 supporters had turned up and were lined up right along the track to get the best view. The drivers pleaded with the crowd to move back and eventually agreed to start the race. When they got underway, Ickx quickly seized the lead. Stewart had to pit due to a loose
steering column but he was fighting back to the front until, on lap 33, he hit a stray dog and heavily damaged his front suspension. Ferrari scored their third 1-2 finish, ahead of
Denny Hulme in the
McLaren.
Jochen Rindt was awarded the Drivers' Championship posthumously, the only time this has ever happened, with 45 points, ahead of the
Ferrari drivers
Jacky Ickx (40) and
Clay Regazzoni (33).
Lotus were awarded the Manufacturers' Cup with 59 points, ahead of Ferrari (52) and
March (48). ==Results and standings==