06/12/2011
NEWS STORY
Peter Gethin, winner of the 1971 Italian Grand Prix, has died following a long illness.
The son of jockey Ken Gethin, who won both the 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes, Peter, who was similarly small in stature, didn't follow his father into horse racing but instead pursued a career involving an altogether different type of horsepower.
In the days before motorsport careers began in karting, Gethin started off in a Lotus Seven, going on to become one of Britain's best club sports car drivers.
In 1965 he moved into single-seaters, contesting the British F3 Championship with Charles Lucas. However, it was in F2 in 1968, racing for Frank Lythgoe, that he really started to attract attention, finishing second at Albi and third at Vallelunga.
In 1969, he entered the new F5000 series with a semi-works McLaren. A magnificent start to the season, including four straight wins, saw him odds-on to take the inaugural title, however, a weaker second half to his season, and stronger opposition, saw him consistently lose ground. Despite crashing in the final round, Gethin held on to the championship lead, successfully defending his crown again in 1970.
By this time, Gethin's ties with the McLaren F1 team were growing stronger, the Englishman having made his F1 debut in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in which he finished sixth. Consequently, it didn't comes as too much of a surprise when he was called up to drive the works car in the Dutch Grand Prix just three weeks after (team founder) Bruce McLaren's death at Goodwood during a (Can-Am) testing accident.
Over the course of the remainder of the 1970 season, Gethin enjoyed seven more outings for McLaren in the world championship, his best result being sixth in Canada. At the same time, he also replaced McLaren in the team's legendary Can-Am team, winning one race (Elkhart Lake) and finishing third in the championship.
He remained with McLaren for 1971, partnering Denny Hulme, however, a string of uncharacteristically unconvincing performances - his best result being eighth in Spain - saw him part company with the team and join BRM. Ironically, just as the McLaren drive was the result of the death of Bruce McLaren, the recruitment to BRM was largely as the result of the death of Pedro Rodriguez who had been killed in a Sports Car event at the Norisring.
Two races into his career with the Yardley backed outfit, Gethin made history, scoring one of the most famous victories ever witnessed in Formula One.
Starting eleventh on the grid, Gethin, who had not been classified the previous year having finished 8 laps down on the winner, was soon involved in the sort of slipstreaming battle for which the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza was famous - this being the era before chicanes blighted the Italian track.
Following the retirement of hot favourites Stewart, Ickx and Regazzoni, The field eventually divided into a number of battling packs, the leading group consisting of Mike Hailwood (making his debut with Surtees) Francois Cevert, Ronnie Peterson, Jo Siffert, Howden Ganley, Chris Amon, Gethin and Jackie Oliver.
Going into the Parabolica for the final time, the leading group consisted of Hailwood, Cevert, Peterson, Ganley and Gethin. The quintet crossed the line virtually as one, the gap between first and second (0.010s) remaining the closest finish in the history of the sport. Indeed, all five crossed the line with 1s of one another.
Like a runner, Gethin, sensing victory was his, raised his arm in triumph as he crossed the line, ironically the only time throughout the entire race that he had led the pack at the end of a lap.
While the result remains the closest in F1 history, the 150.755 mph race winning speed remained the fastest until 2003 when Michael Schumacher won the Italian Grand Prix at 153.843 mph.
Fresh from his victory at Monza, Gethin took another win at Brands Hatch in the Victory Race at Brands Hatch, a non-champion event held in honour of Jackie Stewart's second title. However, the event was marred by a horrific accident in which Gethin's teammate, Jo Siffert, perished.
Despite high hopes for 1972, which saw him remain with BRM, partnered with Jean-Pierre Beltoise, who was to score the British outfit's last ever win that year (Monaco), Gethin had a difficult time, his best result being sixth at Monza.
At the same time, he made a return, of sorts, to F2, taking a win at Pau with his Chevron, while in 1973 he returned to F5000, ironically beating the F1 stars in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.
Along with outings in the revived Can-Am series, Gethin, in addition to his F5000 commitments, took part in two more F1 Grands Prix, in Canada in 1973 with Marlboro BRM and in 1974 with Graham Hill's ill-fated Embassy team at the British round of the world championship.
In 1974 he won the Tasman Series, by now an F5000 championship, while three years later he took victory at Road America in the Can-Am series, beating Canadian rising star, Gilles Villeneuve.
Along with driver management, his own F3000 team and even a spell running the Toleman F1 team in 1984 - which was to become Benetton, then Renault - and which ran a certain young Brazilian, Ayrton Senna, that season, Gethin concentrated on his driver school at Goodwood, remaining a popular figure at historic gatherings such as Goodwood, where fans could recall the Englishman's special moment in the sport's history.
To his wife Robbie, son Nick and his entire family, Pitpass and its readers offers its sincere condolences.
To view highlights of that classic 1971 race at Monza, click here.