Grand Prix de Belgique den 7 Juni 1970, Spa
Ronnie Peterson kör sin andra F1 tävling på Spa banan i Belgiens GP den 7 juni 1970. Det hade inte körts någon tävling i Belgien 1969 eftersom Spa banans säkerhet var ifrågasatt, men inför årets GP hade ett flertal förbättringar gjorts. När teamen anlände gick diskussionen kring Bruce McLaren som omkommit på tisdagen under test av en CanAm bil på Goodwood. Planen var att ersätta "The Bear" med Peter Revson, men teamet dök aldrig upp på Spa. Inte heller Denny Hulme, som fått svåra brännskador på händerna i ett lopp på Indianapolis, eller Johnny Servoz-Gavin, som meddelat att han avslutar sin racingkarriär efter att ögonen inte ha återhämtat synförmågan fullständigt efter en olycka under vintern, kommer till start.
Lotus är på Spa med såväl sin nya 72:a som en flotta av gamla 49:or och hos Ferrari har Ignazio Giunti slutit upp bakom Ickx.
Ronnie har nr 14 på sin gula March och står i femte startledet efter att ha haft nionde tid i tidskvalet. Jackie Stewart står längst fram före Rindt och Amon. Rindt tar starten med blir omåkt redan på det första varvet av först Amon och sedan på det andra av Stewart. Ledning växlar dem emellan under de första fyra varven, men på det femte varvet tar Pedro Rodriguez täten och behåller den in i mål. Chris Amon lyckas bli tvåa och har även snabbaste varvet med 3.27,4. Jean-Pierre Beltoise i en Matra blir trea.
I sammandraget är Ronnie inte klassificerad eftersom han inte tar sig i mål (han är hela 8 varv efter vinnaren), men är ändå nia bland de 18 startande förarna. Det kunde dock ha blivit en fjärdeplats om inte ett tappat avgasrör tvingat Ronnie till ett långvarigt depåbesök:
"En annan gång är det jag som har turen på min sida!" sa Ronnie efter tävlingen...
Summary in english
There had been no Belgian GP in 1969 because of
questions over safety at Spa and considerable work had been done to improve the
circuit but when the teams arrived in Belgium the talk was of Bruce McLaren who had been killed while testing a McLaren CanAm car at Goodwood on the Tuesday. Two
days before the crash McLaren had been at Indianapolis where Denny Hulme was suffered serious burns to his hands.
The plan was to replace "The Bear" with Peter Revson
but after McLaren's accident the team did not make the trip to Spa. Johnny Servoz-Gavin was also missing, the Frenchman
having announced that he was retiring from the sport because of an eyesight
problem he had had since he had been hit in the face by a branch while taking
part in an off road event during the winter. Tyrrell
did not replace the Frenchman. Lotus brought along its new 72s as well as a
fleet of old 49s while Ferrari expanded to two cars, Ickx being joined by
28-year-old Ignazio Giunti.
Qualifying resulted in Jackie Stewart
taking pole in his Tyrrell March with Jochen Rindt
(Lotus) and Chris Amon
(March) alongside him. Jacky Ickx's Ferrari
was on the second row with Jack Brabham's Brabham, while the third row consisted
on Pedro Rodriguez (BRM), Rol Stommelen in the second Brabham and Giunti.
Rindt
took off into the lead but Amon was able to get ahead during the first lap
with Stewart also getting ahead of the Lotus. On the second lap Stewart took the
lead but Amon responded and was back ahead in the course
of the third lap. While this was going on Rodriguez moved head of Rindt to take
third place and then passed Stewart on the fourth lap and Amon on the fifth to take the lead. For a while
Amon battled with the Mexican in the BRM but then he began to drop away. Behind
them Stewart found himself under attack from Brabham
but Black Jack went off at Malmedy on the next lap when he found an oily rag
tangled up in his pedals. Once he had sorted that out he attacked again and
repassed Rindt and Stewart. Both went out soon afterwards and when Brabham
suffered clutch failure third place went to Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the Matra. Henri Pescarolo
looked to be on course for fourth place in the second Matra but he stopped with electrical
trouble on the penultimate lap and so the place went to Giunti.
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Aktuell ställning
| Position | Förare | Nationalitet | Poäng |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Brabham | AUS | 15 |
| 2 | Jackie Stewart | GBR | 13 |
| 3 | Pedro Rodriguez | MEX | 10 |
| 4 | Denny Hulme | NZ | 9 |
| " | Jochen Rindt | AUT | 9 |
| 6 | Jean Pierre Beltoise | FRA | 7 |
