1970 Monaco Grand Prix

43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E

1970 Monaco Grand Prix
Race details
Date	10 May 1970
Official name	XXVIII Grand Prix de Monaco
Location	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.145 km (1.954 miles)
Distance	80 laps, 251.600 km (156.337 miles)
Weather	Sunny and warm
Pole position
Driver	Jackie Stewart	March-Ford
Time	1:24.0
Fastest lap
Driver	Jochen Rindt	Lotus-Ford
Time	1:23.2 on lap 80
Podium
First	Jochen Rindt	Lotus-Ford
Second	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Ford
Third	Henri Pescarolo	Matra
Lap leaders

The 1970 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Monaco on 10 May 1970. It was race 3 of 13 in both the 1970 World Championship of Drivers and the 1970 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. Jochen Rindt scored the last victory for the famous Lotus 49.

This was Bruce McLaren's final Formula One race - as he was killed 5 days before the next race at Belgium - and Ronnie Peterson's first.

Report

There were no significant changes in the drivers' lineup for Monaco, and the only new driver was Ronnie Peterson, entering in a non-works March. The Lotus team decided to bring the old 49C chassis instead of the new 72, despite testing the new car in a non-championship race at Silverstone a couple of weeks earlier.^[1] In qualifying March swept the front row, with Jackie Stewart on pole (for the Tyrrell team) and Chris Amon alongside him. Third was Denny Hulme's McLaren, and fourth the Brabham of Jack Brabham; behind them was the Ferrari of Jacky Ickx. The first Lotus driver was Jochen Rindt, qualifying in eighth place.^[2]

Despite heavy rain during the practice laps, the drivers raced in clear conditions and on a dry track. Stewart led the field with Amon, Brabham, Ickx and Jean-Pierre Beltoise behind him; Hulme got a poor start and was way down the order after the first corner. On the second lap, Beltoise passed Ickx, who retired on lap 12 with a driveshaft failure. On lap 22 Beltoise, now in fourth, retired with transmission problems; on the same lap Brabham passed Amon to take second place. Stewart remained the race leader until his car began misfiring on lap 27. After a long pit stop, Stewart returned to the race only to eventually retire. This left Brabham in the lead, with Amon, Hulme and Rindt following. The engine failed on Jackie Oliver's BRM, who retired due to quickly falling oil pressure.^[2] At around the same time, Hulme developed problems with the gearing of his McLaren and so dropped back behind Rindt and Henri Pescarolo.^[2]

On lap 62 Amon's suspension failed; he was forced to retire, leaving Rindt in second place nine seconds behind Brabham. Rindt increased his pace, able to close the gap to Brabham. On the final corner of the last lap, however, Brabham defended the inside line to prevent Rindt from passing. There was less traction on the dusty surface off the racing line, and Brabham locked the wheels under braking and the car skidded across the track towards the barriers. Rindt passed behind him and won the race. Brabham quickly reversed and finished the race in second position. Third was Pescarolo in a Matra, while the remaining points positions were rounded out by Hulme, Graham Hill (who worked his way up from the last spot on the grid) and Pedro Rodríguez.^[2]

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Pos.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Grid
1	Jackie Stewart	March-Ford	1:24.0	1
2	Chris Amon	March-Ford	1:24.6	2
3	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	1:25.1	3
4	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Ford	1:25.4	4
5	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	1:25.5	5
6	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	1:25.6	6
7	Henri Pescarolo	Matra	1:25.7	7
8	Jochen Rindt	Lotus-Ford	1:25.9	8
9	Piers Courage	De Tomaso-Ford	1:26.1	9
10	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	1:26.1	10
11	Jo Siffert	March-Ford	1:26.2	11
DNQ	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Ford	1:26.3	—
DNQ	Andrea de Adamich	McLaren-Alfa Romeo	1:26.3	—
14	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford	1:26.8	16
15	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1:26.8	12
DNQ	George Eaton	BRM	1:27.0	—
17	John Surtees	McLaren-Ford	1:27.4	13
DNQ	John Miles	Lotus-Ford	1:27.4	—
19	Jackie Oliver	BRM	1:27.5	14
DNQ	Johnny Servoz-Gavin	March-Ford	1:28.1	—
21	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	1:28.8	15
Source:[3]

Race

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Jochen Rindt	Lotus-Ford	80	1:54:37.4	8	9
2	5	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Ford	80	+ 23.1	4	6
3	9	Henri Pescarolo	Matra	80	+ 51.4	7	4
4	11	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Ford	80	+ 1:28.3	3	3
5	1	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	16	2
6	17	Pedro Rodríguez	BRM	78	+ 2 Laps	15	1
7	23	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	12
8	19	Jo Siffert	March-Ford	76	Out of Fuel	11
Ret	28	Chris Amon	March-Ford	60	Suspension	2
NC	24	Piers Courage	De Tomaso-Ford	58	+ 22 Laps	9
Ret	21	Jackie Stewart	March-Ford	57	Engine	1
Ret	16	Jackie Oliver	BRM	42	Engine	14
Ret	8	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra	21	Differential	6
Ret	12	Bruce McLaren	McLaren-Ford	19	Suspension	10
Ret	14	John Surtees	McLaren-Ford	14	Oil Pressure	13
Ret	26	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	11	Halfshaft	5
DNQ	10	Andrea de Adamich	McLaren-Alfa Romeo
DNQ	6	Rolf Stommelen	Brabham-Ford
DNQ	15	George Eaton	BRM
DNQ	2	John Miles	Lotus-Ford
DNQ	20	Johnny Servoz-Gavin	March-Ford
Source:[4]

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Swedish driver and future Grand Prix winner Ronnie Peterson.
• This was the 5th win of a Monaco Grand Prix by Lotus. It broke the old record set by BRM at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Jack Brabham 15 1 2 Jackie Stewart 13 13 3 Jochen Rindt 9 1 4 Denny Hulme 9 1 5 Bruce McLaren 6 Source: [5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 2 1 Brabham-Ford 15 2 McLaren-Ford 15 1 3 Lotus-Ford 14 3 4 March-Ford 13 5 Matra 7 Source: [5]

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

References

1. "1970 International Trophy | Motorsport Database".
2. Jenkinson, Denis (June 1970). "The 28th Monaco Grand Prix: The Best-Laid Plans". Motor Sport. p. 25. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
3. "Monaco 1970 - Qualifications • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
4. "1970 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
5. "Monaco 1970 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

Further reading

• Lang, Mike (1982). Grand Prix! Vol 2. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 119–121. ISBN 0-85429-321-3.

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