1971 South African Grand Prix

The 1971 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami Circuit on March 6, 1971. It was the first round of the 1971 Formula One season.

Race 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 most strangely.

Regazzoni led the field away - both Stewart and Amon suffered 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.