1971 Formula 1.5 Season

The 1971 Formula 1.5 Season was the 22nd season of the Formula 1.5 World Championship. Chris Amon would take back to back World Drivers' Championships, securing his second title with 40 points. Amon's new team, Matra, won the World Constructors' Championship for the first time with 50 points. Surtees-Ford would actually tie Matra on points, however Surtees would lose out on countback as they only took two race wins to Matra's three.

Like the previous year, Amon wouldn't take the Drivers' title unchallenged. Heading into the last race of the season at Watkins Glen, it was a three way fight; Amon for Matra, John Surtees piloting his own machine, and Amon's compatriot Denny Hulme driving for McLaren. Chris was best positioned holding a six point lead over Surtees and eight points over Hulme, however with the Matra's reliability being inconsistent (and Amon's luck being notoriously even worse), it was still wide open. Kiwi's locked out the top two spots in qualifying, Hulme ahead of Amon, with Surtees back in fourth behind the other Matra of Beltoise. Hulme made a cracking start, taking the overall lead of the Grand Prix, before the end of the first lap though Jackie Stewart had put an end to that. No matter, Denny still led the F1.5 field with Chris defending his second place. As the race progressed, Hulme pulled away from the pack, setting fastest lap in the process, soon though he'd encounter vibration problems with his tyres, necessitating a drop in pace. He would still maintain the lead, that was until all went wrong on lap forty-nine. The F1 Ferrari of Jacky Ickx, who'd been chasing overall victory, had his alternator fall off and punch a hole in the Ferrari's gearbox, consequently spewing oil all over the circuit. Hulme hit the oil and spun off into the barrier, bending his front suspension and putting him out of the race and the championship hunt. In the end it wouldn't matter, Amon cruised home in fourth place securing enough points for the title, regardless of what Hulme or Surtees did. Speaking of Surtees, John had a poor race finishing seventh and last, four laps behind the eventual winner, Graham Hill.

## Entries

### Excluded teams

* Gold Leaf Team Lotus / World Wide Racing, Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC, STP March Racing Team, Elf Team Tyrrell, and Yardley Team BRM

### Team changes

* Reigning champions March Engineering moved up to F1.
* STP wouldn't enter any cars for Mario Andretti like they had the year before, as Andretti went off to the Ferrari F1 team. STP for 1971 would begin sponsoring the works March squad as they stepped up to F1.
* BRM returned to F1.
* Rob Walker Racing ceased operations and the man himself took to managing Mike Hailwood's career, his Brooke Bond Oxo sponsorship would go to the Surtees team.
* Colin Crabbe Racing, like Rob Walker's outfit, ceased operations at the end of 1970 despite an offer being made to run a private Ferrari 312 chassis for 1971.
* Frank Williams changed constructors, swapping from De Tomaso to the more proven March chassis.
* Perhaps one of the biggest stories of the winter break was McLaren's return to the category. With former F1 world champion Denny Hulme leading the team, much was expected despite the recent and tragic death of team founder and ex two time F1.5 champion, Bruce McLaren.
* Another big name to return to the sport was Motor Racing Developments...aka Brabham. Having made sporadic appearances before, and supplying numerous chassis to privateers in recent years, Brabham, now fully under leadership from the teams long term designer Ron Tauranac, decided to fully commit to F1.5.
* A motorsport giant would start to take its tentative first steps into F1.5 late in the season. Roger Penske would sponsor the second works McLaren in Canada and the U.S. Admittedly it'd be another three years before Penske would show up again in the category, but this is where one of the biggest teams of the mid-70's would begin.

### Driver changes

* Matra for 1971 snapped up reigning drivers' champion Chris Amon and also retained Jean-Pierre Beltoise.
* Brabham upon their return signed Graham Hill, who was out of a drive after Rob Walker shut up shop, and partnering the British veteran was young Australian, Tim Schenken.
* McLaren fielded Denny Hulme as their No.1 and initially had Peter Gethin partnering him. Gethin though would leave the team after the German Grand Prix to drive for BRM in F1. His replacement would be Jackie Oliver, a former BRM pilot. Oliver wouldn't last long in the drive though as for the last two races of the year Roger Penske would sponsor McLaren's second car and give his own man, Mark Donohue, his Grand Prix debut. Donohue wouldn't be able to compete in the U.S GP however as USAC commitments arose and so David Hobbs would fill the seat.
* At Team Surtees, John continued to pilot his own machines, but for this season would be partnered full time by Brabham reject, Rolf Stommelen. At select events a third car would also be entered with several drivers using it throughout the year, most notable among them was Mike Hailwood who'd win the Italian Grand Prix for the team.
* Frank Williams having lost Tim Schenken to Brabham signed Henri Pescarolo, who'd recently been released by Matra.
* Mario Andretti, Ronnie Peterson, Jo Siffert, and Pedro Rodríguez would all leave to go to F1 for 1971. Andretti with Ferrari, Peterson with the main March squad, and both Siffert and Rodríguez with BRM.

## Calendar

### Calendar changes

* The French Grand Prix was moved from Charade to the newly built Paul Ricard Circuit.
* The German Grand Prix returned to the Nürburgring for 1971 after major safety changes had been made to the circuit. The race had been moved to the Hockenheimring in 1970 after drivers refused to race at the Nurburgring in the condition it was in.
* The Belgian Grand Prix was originally scheduled for the 6th of June, but was cancelled because of the failure of the track owners and authorities to bring the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps up to mandatory safety standards.
* The Mexican Grand Prix was originally scheduled for the 24th of October but was cancelled in August due to organisational problems and lack of interest due to the recent death of the Mexican F1 driver Pedro Rodríguez. Furthermore there were major crowd safety concerns that arose during the 1970 Mexican Grand Prix weekend.

Due to event-sharing arrangements, several Grands Prix swapped circuits for 1971:

* The Spanish Grand Prix was moved from Jarama to Montjuïc
* The British Grand Prix was moved from Brands Hatch to Silverstone
* The Canadian Grand Prix was moved from Mont-Tremblant to Mosport Park

## Results & standings

### World Drivers' Championship standings

Points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first six finishers at each race. The best five results from the first six rounds and the best four results from the last five rounds were retained.

Legend: **Bold** = Pole Position; *Italics* = Fastest Lap; (Brackets) = Result/score did not count towards championship total

### International Cup for F1.5 Manufacturers standings

Points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first six finishers at each round, however only the best placed car from each manufacturer was eligible to score points. The best five results from the first six rounds and the best four results from the last five rounds were retained.

Legend: (Brackets) = Result/score did not count towards championship total