Monaco GP den 10 Maj 1970, Monte Carlo

Ronnie Peterson körde sin första F1 tävling i Monaco den 10 maj 1970 - samma plats där han ett år tidigare haft stor show i ett F3-lopp. Ronnie tävlade i en privatsponsrad March (Antique Automobiles) och hade nummer 23 på bilen. 

En vecka efter Spaniens GP hade Chris Amon givit March en seger på Silverstone i en tävling som ej ingick i F1 mästerskapet, men där Lotus för första gången rullat ut nya 72:or till Jochen Rindt och John Miles. Detta var två veckor före Monaco och vid den tidpunkten beslöt Lotus att fortsätta med 49:orna.

Den första svårigheten var tidsträningen där Ronnie endast hade 0,1 sek marginal för att få starta i huvudloppet. I "pole position" stod Jackie Stewart som tillsammans med Chris Amon utgjorde första startledet framför Denny Hulme och Jack Brabham. 

Tävlingsdagen är vädret mycket bra. Stewart tar starten, men tvingas ge upp på den 27:e varvet då motorn är slut. Amon, som blivit passerad av Brabham, tvingas in i depå och ger där upp efter 61 varv. Jochen Rindt lyckas ta sig upp i ledning på det sista varvet efter det att Brabham bromsat för sent i en kurva och hamnat ute i höbalarna och vinner därmed sin första seger för säsongen.

Ronnie gjorde en fullt godkänd debut och slutade på en hedrande 7:e plats  som den förste Marchförare som tar sig i mål (d v s före sina "stallkamrater" Jo Siffert och Chris Amon)! Loppet vanns av Jochen Rindt.

Efter loppet sa Ronnie: "I only wanted to finnish, and get use to the car. It´s going so damn fast!"

Ur boken "MARCH - The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend" (av Mike Lawrence):

"Ronnie was making his F1 debut with minimal testing since with only one chassis and one engine that was a luxury one dreamed about, but he posted a time equal to Graham Hill's Lotus and was quicker than Surtees' McLaren and both BRM. He also equalled the time set by Johnny Servoz-Gavin in the second Tyrell car, but Johnny crashed in practise and didn't make the start. During one practise session, which was wet, Ronnie arrived opposite the pits with the car sideways but under perfect control. Colin Chapman's eyes lit up and he turned to 'Beaky' Sims, "Who's he? I want him." It was the start of an eternal triangle between Chapman, March and Ronnie"

Summary in english

A week after the Spanish GP Chris Amon gave March a win in the non-championship International Trophy at Silverstone, where Team Lotus wheeled out new 72s for Jochen Rindt and John Miles. There were two weeks before Monaco and in that time Lotus decided to stick with the old 49s. The field was much as before with the addition of a March for Antique Automobiles, being driven by F1 new boy Ronnie Peterson. Ferrari continued with only one car for Jacky Ickx.

Qualifying resulted in pole position going to Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell March), with Amon alongside him on the front row. Behind then came Denny Hulme (McLaren) and Jack Brabham (Brabham) with Ickx and Matra's Jean-Pierre Beltoise sharing the third row. Then came the second Matra driver Henri Pescarolo and Rindt, while Piers Courage shared the fifth row with Bruce McLaren's McLaren.

The weather was good on race day and Stewart took the lead at the start with Amon, Brabham, Ickx and Beltoise chasing him. In the course of the second lap Beltoise found a way past Ickx, but otherwise the top six remained unchanged until Ickx stopped on lap 12 with a driveshaft failure. Beltoise survived until lap 22 when he had a transmission failure. On the same lap Brabham scrambled past Amon to take second place. Five laps later Stewart's March began misfiring and he dropped away, leaving Brabham in the lead from Amon and Hulme. Things began to go wrong for the McLaren driver soon afterwards with his gears jumping out and so he slipped back behind Rindt and Jo Siffert (Walker Lotus). On lap 61 Amon stopped with a rear suspension failure and so Rindt inherited second place, nine seconds behind the leader Brabham. The Austrian increased his pace and the gap reduced when Brabham was baulked by Siffert. The two cars were nose to tail by the start of the last lap. At the last corner Brabham braked too late and slid into the straw bales, handing victory to Rindt. Brabham rejoined to take second while Pescarolo came home third.

Aktuell ställning