05/09/2010
FEATURE BY CHRIS BALFE
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It was on 5 September 1970 that Jochen Rindt was killed whilst practicing for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, subsequently becoming Formula One's first - and thankfully only - posthumous world champion.
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza has seen much blood shed over the years. In 1922, Fritz Kuhn was killed during practice for the Italian Grand Prix, the first ever event held at the circuit which had been officially opened just seven days earlier.
In 1928, Emilio Materassi was killed along with 27 spectators in a horrific accident on the main straight in the Italian Grand Prix. While in the 1933 event, Giuseppe Campari, Baconin Borzacchini and Stanislaw Czaykowski all lost their lives on the southern banked curve as a result of an earlier oil spill. And thus continued a tradition of sickening carnage.. Alberto Ascari... Wolfgang von Tripps... Ronnie Peterson.
In 1970, Jochen Rindt headed to Monza with a clear lead in the world championship having won five of the eight races contested thus far that season.
Born in Germany but raised by his grandparents in Graz, Rindt raced under an Austrian licence but never actually became an Austrian citizen.
Having achieved great success in F2, in 1964 Rindt made his F1 debut, driving Rob Walker's Brabham-BRM in the Austrian Grand Prix at Zeltweg, retiring after 58 laps of the 105 lap race.
Between '65 and '67, Rindt drove for the works Cooper team but was unable to repeat the sort of form witnessed during his F2 career. That said, that didn't mean the Austrian - who finished the '66 season in third place - wasn't one of the most spectacular drivers out there, his overweight Cooper-Maserati almost always at seemingly impossible angles at he drew every last ounce from his car.
Subsequently, in 1968, having been introduced to a certain Bernard Charles Ecclestone a year earlier, Rindt joined Brabham in a deal arranged by the Englishman who had become the driver's unofficial manager.
Ecclestone had advised the Brabham move because he felt the Coopers were no longer competitive, and in late '68, feeling the same about Brabham, arranged a deal with Colin Chapman for Rindt to join Lotus alongside Graham Hill - newly crowned as world champion - as the British team still came to terms with the loss of Jim Clark.
Having had the edge over Hill during the Tasman Series, Rindt's F1 season got off to a bad start when he was hospitalised after crashing in Spain, the result of the collapse of the enormous rear wing on the 49B. While the next few races were relatively unremarkable, Rindt was to give one of the finest performances of his career at Silverstone in an epic duel with Jackie Stewart.
The first win came at Watkins Glen, Rindt taking a clean sweep of pole, victory and fastest lap. However, the event was overshadowed by the dreadful accident which saw teammate Graham Hill break both legs, the Englishman having been thrown from his car following a tyre failure.
Starting the 1970 season in the ageing 49C, Rindt drove the striking new 72 at Jarama eventually retiring with an ignition problem. At Monaco, Rindt scored a remarkable win. Having pressurised race leader Jack Brabham for much of the race, the Australian veteran made a rare mistake in the final corner, running wide into the straw bales... Rindt didn't wait for the invitation.
Funny enough, a few month later, Rindt once again benefited while 'Black Jack' lost out, the Austrian winning the British Grand Prix when Brabham ran out of fuel on the last lap.
At Hockenheim, Rindt fought another legendary battle, this time with Ferrari's Jacky Ickx. When Colin Chapman offered his congratulations, Rindt replied: "A monkey could have won in your car today". Incidentally, it is understood that Rindt was the first person to called BCE Bernie as opposed to Bernard.
The 1970 championship seemingly sewn up, Rindt and the F1 circus headed to Monza. Indeed, such was Chapman's confidence he sent a brand new Elan +2 to the Italian track where it would be presented to the man who was due to wrap up the title that weekend.
Perhaps it was an omen however, the car was damaged in transit and as a result was diverted to Ian Walker's garage in north Finchley in London - Walker having been a long time associate of Chapman, fellow race driver and entrant and owner of a Lotus franchise. The car was duly repaired and sent on its way to Italy, waved off by Walker and his men - who included a spotty young kid who was to subsequently establish what would become the leading independent F1 website.
There has been much speculation, and blame apportioned, as to what happened on that fateful day at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. However, Rindt was one of several drivers - including Jackie Stewart - who opted to run without wings in an attempt to reduce drag and increase top speed. At the previous race, in Austria, the Ferraris had been around 10 mph faster than the Lotus.
Rindt's teammate John Miles was unhappy with the 'wingless' car, claiming, after Friday practice, that it "wouldn't run straight". However, on the Saturday, in order to take full advantage of the reduced drag, Rindt ran higher gear ratios, and it was on the fifth lap of the afternoon session that the accident occurred, the 72 weaving under braking for Parabolica and then swerving sharp left into the barrier. Rindt was rushed to hospital where has pronounced dead.
A subsequent investigation saw an Italian court ruling that the accident was the result of the failure of the car's right front brakeshaft, however, Rindt's death was caused by poorly installed crash barriers.
Rindt won the title, teammate Emerson Fittipaldi's win at Watkins Glen effectively ending Jacky Ickx's hopes. For F1 it had been a dreadful year, with Bruce McLaren and Piers Courage both paying the ultimate price.
Recalling the day, and remembering the genius that was Jochen Rindt, a number of drivers spoke to the Red Bulletin, whose September issue includes a commemoration of the Austrian and his untimely death.
"It was very traumatic," recalls Jackie Stewart. "Helen went to the hospital with Nina (Rindt) and that's never a nice thing for a wife to do, to look after another wife. After the accident I'd been to Jochen and come back to Nina, who had totally disappeared with Helen. When I went out later to qualify I was in tears. But when I had the visor down that was when I did my qualifying time, which was the best lap I had ever done at Monza. I didn't have a death wish, but as I came back in, my best friend John Lindsay, handed me a Coca-Cola, I took a drink and I was so angry I smashed it against the concrete wall that separated the pits from the track. That was my emotion."
"Jochen had a tremendous urgency about the way he conducted his life and he was very quick to judge," adds John Miles. "The Lotus 72 was such a troublesome child - every time I got into it something broke. Jochen kind of didn't want to drive for Lotus in one sense because he knew the cars were liable to let him down, but there was engineering rashness with the 72. If we hadn't been doing stupid experiments like taking the wings off with zero aerodynamic data to base it on and if the mechanics hadn't pulled an all-nighter to do this stuff, then maybe Jochen would still be alive."
"By the time of Monza I was the third driver at Lotus, behind Jochen and John Miles," says Emerson Fittipaldi, who went on to win the '72 and '74 titles. "Over breakfast before practice, we were talking about my 1971 contract. Then came the disaster. It was awful for me. I was only 22 and he was a guy I had looked up to as an idol. He was always very good to me when I arrived in Europe from Brazil and his death was a big shock. Although Jochen could sometimes seem quite cold if you didn't know him, he was a really warm guy underneath. He was an extreme talent and a fantastic guy."
And finally, one of the all-time heroes of a certain founder of a leading independent F1 website, Chris Amon: "I talked to Jochen at Monza just before he went out for his last practice lap," reveals the New Zealander. "His confidence levels were very high. He was on his way to winning the world championship and he was confident of a good result. A few minutes later he got in the car and never came back. I don't know if we ever saw the best of him. Around that time the two guys I really rated were Jochen and Jackie. For me he will always be one of the best."
In addition to his F1 successes and those thrilling performances in F2, it should be remembered that - like so many other drivers of that era - Rindt was a great all rounder, indeed, the Austrian, driving a Ferrari 250LM, gave Ferrari its last ever outright win at Le Mans.
In addition to the excellent article, the Red Bulletin - which refers to Rindt as "The First Formula One Pop Star" - has put together this brief movie clip, we hope it gives you some sense of the man. Also, it's worth noting that David Tremayne has written Jochen Rindt Uncrowned King, the first fully illustrated English language biography of the Austrian.
It was forty years ago today.