Report
It was expected the 12-cylinder cars would be dominant over the V8 Ford Cosworths – Ferrari had won four out of the last five Grands Prix in 1970, and with a strong line-up of Mario Andretti, Clay Regazzoni and Jacky Ickx seemed a certain bet for the title.
Jackie Stewart took pole in the Tyrrell with a superb lap time to join Chris Amon and Regazzoni on the front row. Denny Hulme was suffering with a new suspension that was behaving very strangely.
At the start, Regazzoni led the field away at the start – both Stewart and Amon suffering slow starts. Emerson Fittipaldi managed to hold off Hulme until lap three when he dived through to chase the Ferraris. On lap 17, he squeezed through dramatically under braking and the orange McLaren once again led a race. Pedro Rodríguez was forced to retire from fourth place when his bodywork started to melt and the hot air began burning his feet. The heat also took its toll on Jo Siffert, whose engine overheated and Howden Ganley who was taken ill with heat exhaustion. On lap 37, John Surtees who had steadily been moving up the field, managed to pass Regazzoni. Surtees however, suffered a gearbox failure on lap 57. Andretti took his first career victory, driving a Ferrari; his teammate Regazzoni finished in third place behind Stewart.
Read more about this topic: 1971 South African Grand Prix
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