23/05/2002
FEATURE BY CHRIS BALFE
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"The truth of the matter is that motor racing is no longer a sport, it is big business and with so many vested interests, no-one is interested in any angle other than their own."
Strong words eh? I bet you think they were written in the days that followed the A1-Ring debacle by some indignant journo keen to clamber on to the F1-bashing media bandwagon.
In fact these words date back to 1972 and were penned by an Autosport journalist. What's really funny is that shortly afterwards this same journalist joined Marlboro owners Philip Morris Inc, and ended up running their F1 sponsorship programme. Then in 1984 he formed Allsport Management, the company behind the infamous Paddock Club and also responsible for all trackside advertising at all F1 events.
His name? Paddy McNally, a former 'squeeze' of Sarah (Duchess of York) Ferguson.
Makes you think eh?
Anyway, talking of Marlboro, today's Classic GP features the first World Championship victory for a car wearing the livery of the famous American tobacco brand. Since then, Marlboro has adorned the cars of various World Champions including Prost, Senna and Schumacher.
There was a strong belief that Jean-Pierre Beltoise might emulate the success of John Surtees. The Frenchman had been highly successful on bikes, winning no less than 11 championships between 1961 and '64, while his four-wheel debut earned him the 'index of performance' in the 1963 Le Mans 24-hour race.
A year later and it looked as though the Frenchman's career was over before it had really begun when a horrific accident at Reims left him with serious burns and various other injuries including an arm so badly broken its movement was seriously restricted.
Yet a year later Jean-Pierre was back in action driving an F3 Matra scoring a superb win, ironically at Reims. In 1966 he came to the attention of the F1 team bosses when he won the prestigious Monaco GP F3 support race before heading off to South America to dominate the Temporada series in early '67.
Encouraged by the thought that they might have the first French World Champion on their hands, Matra continued to develop their racing programme and Beltoise responded by winning the European F2 Championship for non-graded drivers as well as winning the F2 class in the German GP.
In early '68 Matra finally produced their first bona fide F1 car, the Matra MS 11, together with the glorious V12. Despite a number of technical gremlins it was clear that the French manufacturer was heading in the right direction, second place and fastest lap at Zandvoort being the highlight of its debut season.
For '69, while Matra worked on the development of the V12, Jean-Pierre drove the second Matra-Ford for Ken Tyrrell. Team-mate Jackie Stewart took the first of his three titles, while Jean-Pierre recorded five points finishes including a fine second in his home event.
For 1970 he moved back to the works Matra team who seemed to have sorted the V12, and an excellent fourth in South Africa gave everyone a much needed confidence boost. Third in Belgium and fifth in Holland gave Jean-Pierre cause for optimism for his home race, at Clermont Ferrand, and indeed the Frenchman was leading the race comfortably until a puncture cost him three laps.
For 1971 Matra signed former Ferrari and March star Chris Amon, and Jean-Pierre was clearly unhappy. Things got worse however when the Frenchman was involved in an accident during the Buenos Aires 1000 Km that claimed the life of Italy's rising star, Ignazio Giunti. For his involvement in the incident - Beltoise had been pushing his car back to the pits when Giunti ran into the back of it whilst over-taking Mike Parkes - the Frenchman had received a temporary suspension of his racing licence and the threat of manslaughter charges in Italy.
For 1972 Matra opted to run a one-car team and it was Amon that got the nod. Jean-Pierre however was persuaded by Louis T Stanley to join BRM who had just secured sponsorship from tobacco giants Marlboro who were making their first foray into F1.
In South Africa and Spain, Beltoise was forced to retire as engine and gear-selection problems plagued the P160B, but then came Monaco.
For this year's race, and in an effort to improve safety, the organisers had decided to relocate the paddock and pits from their usual location on the central island between - what was then the Gasworks Hairpin and is now basically Rascasse - and Ste Devote. The pits were now located just after the tunnel while the paddock was moved to an underground car park. Ah, the glamour.
The teams were unhappy with the new arrangements, which were only temporary, but that was the least of their problems. In a further bid to improve safety the organisers were limiting the number of starters. After a long drawn out row between the organisers and team bosses it was agreed that twenty-five cars would be allowed to start the race, which is just as well because only twenty-five cars were entered.
As has often proved to be the case in recent years - are you reading this Max? - the best efforts of the organisers to slow the cars and reduce lap speeds weren't working, with the pace setters setting times similar, to those posted in '71.
The Monaco event was taking place at the same time as the Indianapolis 500, and several top drivers including Mario Andretti and Peter Revson opted to drive in the American event.
Friday's qualifying session was dominated by the Ferraris of Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni, though Emerson Fittipaldi was to eclipse them both in the dying moments. Peter Gethin and Jean-Pierre Beltoise were impressive in the BRMs as was Chris Amon in the Matra while 1971 winner Jackie Stewart looked surprisingly off form.
Saturday's session was washed-out by heavy rain and Fittipaldi's fastest time of 1:46.8 was a full twenty-five seconds off his pole time. Most of the drivers ran a couple of tentative laps but for the most part they were content to rely on their Friday times and settle back hoping that the rain would clear up, Monaco has always been difficult enough as it is.
Shortly after lunch on Sunday the heavens opened, and everyone prepared for a long, difficult afternoon. So heavy was the rain that race organisers held an extra thirty-minute un-timed session to allow the drivers to acclimatise themselves to the worsening conditions.
To add to the fun in the middle of this session the royal limousine, complete with escort, pulled on to the track, much to the surprise of the startled F1 drivers.
The smart money was on Ickx. Those of you who have come into the sport in recent years may well regard Michael Schumacher as the 'rain-master' but let me tell you, Ickx was something very special.
At the flag Fittipaldi and Ickx made great starts, but not good enough to stop Beltoise, who squeezed through on the inside of the Belgian at Ste Devote. Regazzoni also got away cleanly and by the end of the first lap was running second ahead of Fittipaldi, Ickx, Amon, Stewart, Gethin, Hulme and Redman.
With clear track ahead there was no stopping the Frenchman and within five laps he had a six-second lead over Regazzoni. In his efforts to keep hold of the Frenchman, 'Regga' over did things at the chicane and consequently messed things up for Fittipaldi too, allowing Ickx through to take up the chase.
All around the track, drivers were having 'moments'. Hulme and Redman had both made mistakes at the chicane and had to wait for a break in the traffic before they could rejoin the action. Mike Hailwood was having problems with his visor misting-up resulting in no less than four pit-stops in order to try and solve the problem.
Gethin got a little ambitious in his efforts to pass Stewart and paid the price, while four laps later Tim Schenken crashed into the unforgiving barriers.
Stewart began to 'up his pace' and having passed Regazzoni was now closing in on Ickx, however a couple of laps later the World Champion span allowing his Swiss rival back through. However Regazzoni's race came to an abrupt halt just a few laps later when he span on oil deposited by Hailwood after a coming together with Ganley.
Out front, Beltoise was making it look easy, and even Ickx, widely recognised along with Stewart as one of the great wet-weather racers, could do nothing.
The Scot was having problems with his electrics and as a result he eased off, four points are better than none.
Pescarolo crashed out on lap 59, surprisingly the last retirement in an 80-lap race.
In the closing stages Fittipaldi overhauled Stewart to take third with Redman and Amon taking the other point-scoring positions.
The first win for Marlboro, the last for BRM, and the only World Championship Grand Prix win for Jean-Pierre. "I had to wait for the right set of circumstances," he said after the race.
Beltoise was a gifted driver but like so many others never seemed to have the right car at the right time. Although he was to go on and take several key victories in World Championship Sportscar racing, he was never to stand atop an F1 podium again, at least not in a World Championship event.
The remainder of the '72 season saw the Frenchman struggling in a car that was clearly under-power, yet in the end-of-season non-championship event at Brands Hatch (remember those?), he took a convincing win.
He remained with BRM for '73 but the subsequent arrival of Regazzoni and then Niki Lauda put his nose firmly out of joint. A miserable season was compounded when Jean-Pierre's brother-in-law Francoise Cevert was killed whilst practising for the United States GP.
After another fruitless season with BRM in '74, Jean-Pierre quit F1 to concentrate on Sportscars however in late '75 he was persuaded to help the fledgling Ligier F1 team. The Frenchman did much of the development work for Ligier in preparation for their F1 debut in '76, but at the last minute the team appointed Jacque Lafitte as their driver, once again Beltoise had the door slammed firmly in his face.
This time however the popular Frenchman decided he'd had enough, it was time to call it a day.
In the fifty-three year history of F1, there have been 675 races that counted towards the Formula One World Champion. In that time only 81 men have actually won a Grand Prix, on the rain soaked streets of Monte Carlo in May 1972, Jean-Pierre Beltoise joined an elite club.
Check out some of Chris' other Classic GP here