50 years already: Beltoise walks on water in Monaco!
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The beginnings of a future conflict
The 1972 Monaco Grand Prix could never have taken place! Indeed, the race in the Principality takes place in a tense context between the sporting authorities, CSI (ancestor of the FIA) and ACM on one side, and on the other side the F1CA, ancestor of FOCA (the association of teams ), in which the boss of Brabham, Bernie Ecclestone, who took over the management of the organization the previous year, asserts himself as a leader determined to defend the interests of the teams and to engage a balance of power with sports power. In Monaco, the standoff concerns the number of cars authorized to start. Ecclestone, already supported at that time by a brilliant lawyer, Max Mosley, wanted to increase the number of vehicles admitted so as not to harm any entrants, while the authorities advanced the issue of security to limit the number of cars.
The tension mounts, to the point that the F1CA threatens to boycott the race, to which the ACM (Automobile Club de Monaco) responds by padlocking the teams’ garages, which are quickly broken by the targets. The ACM, finally let go by the CSI, resigns itself to give in. The grand prix will thus be contested with 25 cars on the grid. This episode is revealing of the rise in power of the teams, federated by the powerful Ecclestone which makes them aware of their political weight and also of the profit prospects which are looming in the development of the business of F1. These were the beginnings of the conflict to come, which would burst into the open a few years later between Ecclestone and the FISA, to the point of threatening F1 with implosion.
An fighter’s journey
But back to the competition. From a sporting point of view, the championship promises to be a three-way match between Tyrrell, carried by defending champion Jackie Stewart, McLaren with Dennis Hulme and Lotus who are rolling the new sensation of F1, the young Emerson Fittipaldi . Winner from his 4th Grand Prix in 1970, the Brazilian made a sensational entry into F1 and can count on a formidable Lotus 72D, the ultimate evolution of a formidable machine which revolutionized F1 when it was released two years earlier, by inaugurating a body in very aerodynamic parts and especially the appearance of the first side bridges. Behind, in ambush, Ferrari tried to regain its former glory thanks to the talented Belgian Jacky Ickx. Let’s not forget either the British team BRM, vice-world champions in 1971, but which experienced many setbacks. Struck by the death of Pedro Rodriguez and then Jo Siffert the previous year, the team also lost its sponsor, Yardley, who went to McLaren, and took on the tobacco company Philip Morris…which imposed the commitment of 5 cars! A very heavy task for this weakened team, which had to recruit several pilots to make up for the losses. Among them, we find the French Jean-Pierre Beltoise, who has just gone through a 1971 season full of bitterness.
Coming from the motorcycle where he won multiple national titles, Jean-Pierre Beltoise embarked on car racing in 1963 but everything could have stopped during the 12 hours of Reims 1964. Victim of a very serious accident where he was ejected, he came close to having his left arm amputated. Operated in emergency, he finally escaped the worst but emerged from this terrible ordeal with a greatly reduced arm, blocked at the elbow. Despite this handicap, Beltoise took the wheel again and in the mid-1960s became the spearhead, the symbol of the renaissance of French motorsport, driven by the ambitious Matra epic of which he was one of the pillars. French F3 champion in 1965, then European F2 champion in 1968, Beltoise had two fine seasons in 1969 and 1970 with several podium finishes but has yet to win.
But in 1971, it is the turning point. During the 1000 kms of Buenos Aires contested in January, Beltoise ran out of gas on his Matra MS660. As he crosses the track pushing his car to bring it back to the pits, Ignazio Giunti on Ferrari, hidden by another car, cannot avoid it and hits the Matra head-on. The violence of the impact and the fire that ignites the Ferrari leads to the death of the unfortunate Giunti. Incriminated in the accident and charged by the Argentine courts for “manslaughter”, Beltoise was first suspended for three months by the FFSA and then by another six months by the CSI, which caused him to miss a large part of the season. When he returns at the end of the year, he notices that Matra ostensibly favors his teammate Chris Amon, which pushes him to leave the French team. Teaming up with Peter Gethin, Howden Ganley but also a certain Helmut Marko, the Frenchman began the 1972 season with BRM after two retirements.
Dantesque conditions
Fittipaldi takes his first pole position ahead of Ickx, Regazzoni on Ferrari and Beltoise on BRM. His team-mate Gethin climbed to fifth place ahead of the Matra of Amon and the McLaren of Hulme. The Tyrrells have encountered many problems: Stewart is only eighth and Cevert twelfth.
On Sunday morning, the rain fell on Monaco and everyone put on grooved tyres. At the start, Beltoise gently solicits the 12 cylinders of its engine and allows to overtake Ickx and Fittipaldi before braking in the first corner. Enjoying perfect visibility in front of the peloton, he must now hold on and not make the slightest mistake. As he explains later, his right elbow blocks the gene less in these particular conditions whereas when the track is dry, holding the steering wheel and changing gears are much more difficult. Beltoise’s smooth riding style is ultra-efficient.
The French fears Jacky Ickx, the undisputed master in the rain, who takes the chase from the 5th lap of the race. The Belgian however will never succeed in returning. Beltoise pilots his BRM with his fingertips and almost lost everything twice. On the 27th lap, he forced the passage at the hairpin at the station on Tim Schenken, who did not concede him a lap behind, he “leaned” against the left flank of the Surtees and passed to the forceps. Behind, Jackie Stewart connects the spins and prefers to ensure. Then on lap 42, Beltoise was hampered by Peterson then, at the Gasometer bend, positioned himself to go inside when the Swede fell back in front of him. The front of the BRM struck a rear wheel of the March. Peterson lets himself be overtaken by Beltoise, but the latter, thinking he has damaged his front axle, slows down as much as possible at the hairpin at the station in order to observe the reaction of the spectators to the passage of his car. None reacts because it is intact. Reassured, Beltoise goes back on the gas.
After two hours and 26 minutes of apocalypse, Beltoise finally sees the checkered flag. He won his first and only victory in F1 with 38 seconds ahead of Jacky Ickx and a full lap over Emerson Fittipaldi! Beltoise will no longer win. He will remain with BRM until 1974 then, when he will obtain a steering wheel at Ligier, will be overtaken by hopeful Jacques Laffite. Nevertheless, with this success, Jean-Pierre Beltoise paved the way for a golden generation which made the French colors shine in F1 for nearly fifteen years.
to summarize
Jean-Pierre Beltoise will no longer win in F1 after Monaco 72. He will remain with BRM until 1974 then, when he will obtain a steering wheel at Ligier, will be overtaken by hopeful Jacques Laffite. Nevertheless, with this success, Jean-Pierre Beltoise paved the way for a golden generation which made the French colors shine in F1 for nearly fifteen years.