RONNIE PETERSON

1970 - The first F1 season!

On the autumn of 1969 the englishman Alan Rees visits Ronnie in Örebro. He told Ronnie that he´s building a new team together with Max Mosley, Coaker and Heard. The name is March after their initials. They want to sign Ronnie as their no 1 driver and testdriver in F3, F2 and F1.

Ronnie does a couple of races and in the last F3 race (69) at Monthlery, France Ronnie rolls and the car is on fire. Ronnie is burned on his arms and wrists, but is ok. His old friend Reine Wisell helps him out of the inferno. Ronnie goes home to Örebro to recover. At newyears time Ronnie calls Max Mosley to check how things are going. Max answers: -I don´t know, it´s so many drivers who wants to drive!

-But we have a contract, Ronnie barks.

-Well come here and we´ll disquss it, says Mosley. Ronnie rushed to London to sort things out. But Mosley is calming him down. -We need a known name for our new car, said Max and continued: - We asked Jochen Rindt, but he said no, so instead we signed Chis Amon and Jackie Stewart. But we´ll let you drive for Colin Crabbe, the owner of Antique Automobiles and you´ll get the same car. Ronnie accept but it´s only one car in the team and one engine, but atleast his in F1!

Ronnies Debut was at the Monaco GP (10:th of May),

the same spot he had his show one year ago. The first difficulty was the practice. Ronnie makes it with just 0.1 sec. At the start both March drivers Stewart and Amon are leading the field. On lap 22 Jack Brabham passes Amon for Second. And on lap 27 Stewarts engine is out. Amon leighs second, and is pushing until lap 61 when he turns into the pits and retires. Jochen Rindt is now chasing Brabham and takes him on the very last lap, wins and takes fastest lap. Brabham is second and Pescarolo third in his Matra. Ronnie end in 7:th place, and the only March to get to the finnish. Ronnie said: -I only wanted to finnish, and get use to the car. It´s going so damn fast!

Grand Prix de Belgique 7:th of June 1970, Spa

Stewart on pole before Rindt and Amon. Fastest Lap: Amon 3.27.4 Leaders: Amon 1, 3-4; Stewart 2; Rodriguez 5-28.

Pedro Rodriguez BRM wins, Chris Amon is second and Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra third. Ronnie retires.

Grote Prijs van Nederland 21:st of June 1970, Zolder

Rindt on pole before Stewart and Ickx. Fastest Lap: Icks 1.19.23 Leaders: Ickx 1-2; Rindt 3-80.

Rindt Lotus wins, Stewart March second and Ickx Ferrari third. Ronnie 9:th.

Ronnie started his training with a borrowed engine from Derek Bell, but it was no good and he could only manage 1.25.00. A new engine arrived at saturday morning though but Ronnie missed the first session. His mekanics where ready just in time for the last go and Ronnie went for it. He got 15:th time.

Ronnie did an alright start and had a good fight with Cevert in the beginning of the race. Than Beltoise came to lap Ronnie and he hung on to him. And he could go with his tempo for the rest of the race and finnished 9:th. This was a very good race Ronnie said. But he got the sad message after the race that Pierre Corage had died due to a crash in the race when his car cought fire.

Grand Prix de France 5:th of July 1970, Clermont-Ferrand

Ickx on pole before Beltoise. Fastest Lap: Brabham 3.00.75 Leaders: Ickx 1-14; Beltoise 15-25; Rindt 26-38.

Rindt Lotus wins, Amon March second and Brabham third. Ronnie retires.

Ronnie started to learn this 8 km long track who is going up and down on the two old vulcanos just out side the town in his private Mercedes! But he felt carsick so he stoped after just 10 laps. In the real practice Ronnie got 7:th time after the first day. On the second day he tried different tiers but they where slower so he was 15:th. To the last practice Ronnie changed shockabsorbers and tiers and got 9:th place on the grid.

The start was ok, and Ronnie could ceep up with the bunch in front of him. He advanced to 6:th place but then the gearbox broke.

British Grand Prix 18:th of July 1970, Brands Hatch

Rindt on pole before Brabham and Ickx. Fastest Lap: Brabham 1.25.9 Leaders: Ickx 1-6; Rindt 7-68,80; Brabham 69-79.

Rindt Lotus wins, Brabham Brabham second and Denny Hulme McLaren third. Ronnie 9:th.

Grosser Preis von Deutschland 2:nd of August 1970, Hockenheim

Ickx on pole before Rindt. Fastest Lap: Ickx 2.00.5 Leaders: Ickx 1-6, 10-17, 26-31, 36-43, 45-46, 48; Rindt 7-9, 18-21, 24-25, 32-35, 44, 47, 49-50; Regazzoni 22-23.

Rindt Lotus wins, Ickx Ferrari second and Denny Hulme McLaren third. Ronnie retired.

Grosser Preis von Österreich 16:th of August 1970, Österreichring

Rindt on pole before Regazzoni. Fastest Lap: Ickx and Regazzoni 1.40.4 Leaders: Regazzoni 1; Ickx 2-60.

Ickx Ferrari wins, Clay Regazzoni Ferrari second and Rolf Stommelen Brabham third.

Ronnie did not start. His engine was not repaired from the blowup in Germany. The Cosworth-factory had closed for the summer and did no jobs. Even Graham Hill suffered the same problem and did not start.

Gran Premio d`Italia 6:th of September 1970, Monza

Ickx on pole before Rodriguez. Fastest Lap: Regazzoni 1.25.2 Leaders: Ickx 1-3, 19-20; Rodriguez 4, 7-8; Stewart 5-6, 9, 11, 14-17, 26, 31, 35, 37, 42-43, 51, 53; Regazzoni 10, 12, 32-34, 36, 38-41, 44-50, 52, 54-68; Oliver 13, 18, 21-25, 27-28, 30; Hulme 29.

Clay Regazzoni Ferrari wins, Stewart March second and Jean-Piere Beltoise Matra third. Ronnie retires. Jochen Rindt is killed during practice.

Grand Prix du Canada 20:th of September 1970, St Jovite

Stewart on pole before Ickx. Fastest Lap: Regazzoni 1.32.2 Leaders: Stewart 1-31; Ickx 32-90.

Ickx Ferrari wins, Regazzoni Ferrari second and Amon March third. Ronnie finnishes but is not classified.

United States Grand Prix 4:th of October 1970, Watkins Glen

Ickx on pole before Stewart. Fastest Lap: Ickx 1.02.74 Leaders: Stewart 1-82; Rodriguez 83-100; Fittipaldi 101-108.

Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus wins in only his fourth GP and becomes the youngest winner ever, Pedro Rodriguez BRM second and Reine Wisell (Sweden) Lotus third in his debut GP! Ronnie 11:th.

Gran Premio de Mexico 25:th of October 1970, Mexico City

Regazzoni on pole before Stewart. Fastest Lap: Ickx 1.43.11 Leaders: Regazzoni 1; Ickx 2-65.

Ickx Ferrari wins, Regazzoni Ferrari second and Hulme McLaren third. Ronnie did not start.

That makes the championship look like this:

Jochen Rindt Lotus 45 (posthumously)

Jacky Ickx Ferrari 40

Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 33

And Reine Wisell 15:th place tied with Mario Andretti!

The Manufacturers:

Lotus-Ford 59

Ferrari 52(55)

March-Ford 48