The 1970 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 4, 1970 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was race 12 of 13 in both the 1970 World Championship of Drivers and the 1970 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The 108-lap race was won by Emerson Fittipaldi, driving a Lotus-Ford, after he started from third position. Fittipaldi achieved his first Formula One victory, and the first for a Brazilian driver, in only his fourth Grand Prix start. Mexican driver Pedro Rodríguez finished second in a BRM, having led before a late pit stop for fuel, while Fittipaldi's Swedish team-mate Reine Wisell, making his F1 debut, finished third, which would turn out to be his only podium finish.
Belgian driver Jacky Ickx finished fourth in his Ferrari, having started from pole position before pitting to repair a broken fuel line. This result meant that Jochen Rindt became the first and, to date, only posthumous Formula One World Champion.
This would be the final Grand Prix for the circuit in this original fast configuration. 1971 would see a new longer layout presenting more of a challenge.
Qualifying report The Ferrari of Jacky Ickx was fastest in the initial practice session on Friday with a time of 1:03.07, but expectations were high for the Tyrrell 001 of Jackie Stewart, which had led the first 31 laps in its first outing in the previous race in Canada until axle failure ended its charge. The final session on Saturday was marred by a downpour that left only fifteen minutes of dry track time, and it was not enough for Stewart to knock Ickx off the pole. Emerson Fittipaldi, who spent the first half of the season in European Formula Two, was just five hundredths behind Stewart in third.
Qualifying classification PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGapGrid13 Jacky IckxFerrari1:03.07 —121 Jackie StewartTyrrell-Ford1:03.62 +0.552324 Emerson FittipaldiLotus-Ford1:03.67 +0.603419 Pedro RodríguezBRM1:04.18 +1.114512 Chris AmonMarch-Ford1:04.23 +1.16564 Clay RegazzoniFerrari1:04.30 +1.236720 Jackie OliverBRM1:04.37 +1.307817 John SurteesSurtees-Ford1:04.52 +1.458923 Reine WisellLotus-Ford1:04.79 +1.7291014 Graham HillLotus-Ford1:04.81 +1.7410118 Denny HulmeMcLaren-Ford1:04.84 +1.7711127 Henri PescaroloMatra1:05.00 +1.93121318 Derek BellSurtees-Ford1:05.00 +1.93131421 George EatonBRM1:05.14 +2.07141529 Ronnie PetersonMarch-Ford1:05.18 +2.11151615 Jack BrabhamBrabham-Ford1:05.29 +2.2216172 François CevertMarch-Ford1:05.30 +2.2317186 Jean-Pierre BeltoiseMatra1:05.44 +2.37181916 Rolf StommelenBrabham-Ford1:05.77 +2.70192030 Tim SchenkenDe Tomaso-Ford1:06.08 +3.0120219 Peter GethinMcLaren-Ford1:06.12 +3.05212231 Gus HutchisonBrabham-Ford1:06.22 +3.15222311 Jo SiffertMarch-Ford1:06.23 +3.16232427 Jo BonnierMcLaren-Ford1:06.46 +3.392432 Peter WestburyBRM1:07.20 +4.13—28 Pete LovelyLotus-Ford1:07.45 +4.38—10 Andrea de AdamichMcLaren-Alfa Romeo1:12.24 +9.17—Source:
Race report On Sunday, with a crowd exceeding 100,000 for the second straight year, black clouds and a shower 20 minutes prior to the race caused a lot of excitement among the crews on the grid, as many teams changed to rain tires and back again. By the start, however, all but Clay Regazzoni and Derek Bell had reverted to slicks. Stewart took the lead off the grid, ahead of Pedro Rodríguez, as Fittipaldi dropped to eighth behind Ickx, Regazzoni, Chris Amon, John Surtees and Jackie Oliver.
By lap 17, the Ferraris of Ickx and Regazzoni had passed Rodríguez, but by that time, Stewart's lead was nearly twenty seconds. Graham Hill, in a privately entered Lotus 72, came into the pits on lap 30 with fuel leaking into the cockpit, as a fitting had come loose under the seat. The team took 10 minutes to fix the leak, threw some water on Hill, whose overalls were soaked in fuel, and sent him back out. Several laps later, Hill returned to request they find him some dry overalls, as the gasoline was burning his skin. When he stopped again to change clothes, the team said they had not been able to locate any new ones. Hill, however, saw John Surtees, who had retired on the seventh lap, sitting on the wall, and borrowed his overalls and undergarments. The two former World Champions were naked in the pits as Hill was doused with water before donning Surtees' clean clothes and returning to the track, only to retire on lap 72 with a broken clutch.
At half-distance, Stewart was nearly half a lap ahead of Ickx, with Rodríguez in third and Fittipaldi about to be lapped in fourth. Ickx suddenly pitted on lap 57 to repair a broken fuel line, and he rejoined in twelfth place. He fought his way back up to fourth, setting the race's fastest lap three laps from the finish. Ickx had needed to win to have a chance of overtaking Jochen Rindt in the Championship; his fourth-place finish would mean that Rindt would become the first posthumous Formula One World Champion.
On lap 76, with a one-minute cushion, Stewart's Tyrrell began trailing smoke from its left-hand exhaust pipe. The smoke slowly grew worse, and Rodríguez tore into Stewart's lead, taking off five seconds a lap, while the Lotus teammates unlapped themselves. On lap 83, with its oil gone, the Cosworth engine in the Tyrrell seized, leaving Rodríguez with an 18.8 second lead over Fittipaldi, who led team-mate Reine Wisell by another 46 seconds.
At the end of the 100th lap, Rodríguez coasted into the pit lane having run out of fuel. BRM refueled the car, but Rodríguez had lost 38 seconds to Fittipaldi, who took the lead. Rodríguez rejoined ahead of the second Lotus of Wisell.
Fittipaldi recalled later, "I took the lead and, going over the finish line, I saw for the first time Colin [Chapman] jumping and throwing his hat, something I'd seen him do for Jim Clark and Graham Hill and Jochen, and I kept saying to myself, 'He's doing that for me. I won the race. I won the US Grand Prix!' It was unbelievable."
His victory was the seventh American win for Lotus. It clinched the Drivers' Championship for the team's dead leader, Jochen Rindt, and the Constructors' Championship for Lotus and Colin Chapman.
This was the final Grand Prix to be held on the layout of the track, in use since 1956. Watkins Glen underwent extensive renovation over the course of 1971, including the lengthening of the track to in time for that year's Grand Prix, with an interim layout adopted for the Six Hours sports car race beforehand.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 24 Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford 108 1:57:32.79 3 9 2 19 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 108 + 36.39 4 6 3 23 Reine Wisell Lotus-Ford 108 + 45.17 9 4 4 3 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 107 + 1 Lap 1 3 5 12 Chris Amon March-Ford 107 + 1 Lap 5 2 6 18 Derek Bell Surtees-Ford 107 + 1 Lap 13 1 7 8 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 106 + 2 Laps 11 8 7 Henri Pescarolo Matra 105 + 3 Laps 12 9 11 Jo Siffert March-Ford 105 + 3 Laps 23 10 15 Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 105 + 3 Laps 16 11 29 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 104 + 4 Laps 15 12 16 Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Ford 104 + 4 Laps 19 13 4 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 101 + 7 Laps 6 14 9 Peter Gethin McLaren-Ford 100 + 8 Laps 21 1 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell-Ford 82 Oil Leak 2 14 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 72 Clutch 10 2 François Cevert March-Ford 62 Wheel 17 30 Tim Schenken De Tomaso-Ford 61 Suspension 20 27 Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 50 Water Pipe 24 6 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 27 Handling 18 31 Gus Hutchison Brabham-Ford 21 Fuel Leak 22 20 Jackie Oliver BRM 14 Engine 7 21 George Eaton BRM 10 Engine 14 17 John Surtees Surtees-Ford 6 Engine 8 32 Peter Westbury BRM 28 Pete Lovely Lotus-Ford 10 Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Swedish driver Reine Wisell and for American driver Gus Hutchison. This was the first Grand Prix win and podium finish for future World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi and for a Brazilian driver.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jochen Rindt 45 2 Jacky Ickx 31 3 Clay Regazzoni 27 4 Jackie Stewart 25 5 Jack Brabham 25Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 59 2 Ferrari 46 3 March-Ford 45 4 Brabham-Ford 35 5 McLaren-Ford 31Source:
References
Further reading Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. Rob Walker (January, 1971). "U.S. Grand Prix". Road & Track, 84-88. Gordon Kirby (October, 1995). "Emerson Who?". RACER, 70-72.