Italian GP history 1970-1988 (Video)

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Nelson Piquet (the first one) won at Monza for Williams in 1987

Here’s the second part of Journeyer’s guide to the Italian Grand Prix – part one is here.

Monza has always been known as the ‘Temple of Speed’. But in the early 1970s many were thinking there was too much speed. Following the events of 1970, Monza would start putting chicanes in place to slow the cars down.

It brought the race-long slipstreaming battles of years before to an end, yet the spectre of death remained in the 1970s. The following decade saw further improvements in safety but without hurting the racing too much.

1970 – If anything, this weekend best shows the emotions one can feel at Monza, especially in the early days. One one hand, there was pain and sorrow and agony when one learned of the death of Jochen Rindt on the Saturday.

On the other hand, there was happiness and joy and delight when Ferrari’s Clay Regazzoni won on the Sunday. With Rindt gone, Jacky Ickx emerged as the man most likely to take the title, but fell five points short. But he hardly minded – it was no good robbing a dead man of his due.

WARNING: This video shows a fatal racing incident. Discretion is advised.

1971 – The last race of the old, chicane-less Monza, and it went out on a high. Some brilliant racing, and an upset win too! BRM’s Peter Gethin slipped past the late favourites Ronnie Peterson (March) and Francois Cevert (Tyrrell) to take his one and only Grand Prix win – by one-hundredth of a second! It held the record for both the closest finish and the fastest-ever race for decades.

Read more about the 1971 Italian Grand Prix

1976 – This race saw the comeback of Niki Lauda – only weeks after he had been burned alive at the Nurburgring. His resilience in the face of disaster was truly astonishing to all, especially to his great friend and title rival James Hunt.

Hunt along with team mate Jochen Mass and John Watson were thrown to the back of the grid for an alleged fuel irregularity that seemed highly dubious. Hunt spun out during the race, to the delight of the Tifosi.

This year saw the last significant modifications to the layout until 1999.

1977 – The story goes that Enzo Ferrari asked Niki Lauda how much he wanted to be paid in 1978. Lauda replied, “Nothing.” He wanted nothing because he wanted no more of Ferrari. All this happened just a year after his dramatic return, also at Monza. Once he sealed the title that year, he duly stopped driving until the start of 1978, when he was with Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team.

Enzo then approached Mario Andretti, but the American-Italian declined, deciding he’d rather stay at Lotus. It was a good decision for both parties, as Enzo eventually settled on the young Gilles Villeneuve, who had recently been dropped by McLaren.

1978 – As Andretti was on the cusp of his World Championship, he was dreaming to clinch it with a win at Monza. But it was not to be.

First, a huge accident at the start took out half the field and caused serious injury to Ronnie Petersen. His life was initially saved by an emergency operation, but died the following day following complications from that operation.

WARNING: This video shows a fatal racing incident. Discretion is advised.

Regardless, Andretti raced on. He won from Villeneuve on the road, but was adjudged to have jumped the start after the race ended. Instead, Lauda took the win. But the Austrian refused to go up to the podium to take his winners’ trophy. Andretti was classified 6th to claim an extra point, and with it, his World Championship, but there was no joy in it. It was also the last victory for an American in Formula 1.

1979 – Glory for Ferrari again. Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve had awesome starts, making mincemeat of the Renaults on the front row. Only the Williams of Regazzoni was anywhere near challenging them. But otherwise, they dominated the race, finishing one-two and clinching Scheckter’s World Championship. Villeneuve would later say that he did not attack Scheckter as 1979 was Jody’s year. His turn would come in 1980.

As it turned out, Villeneuve’s prediction was not to be. And the finish at Monza that year would have to do for the Tifosi for a long, long time.

1982 – As usual, we have our regular tribute to Clive James, F1 season review narrator of yore. His depiction of the Tifosi is hilarious, especially their reaction at Rene Arnoux’s win for Renault, which wasn’t as unpopular as you might think. He also talks of ‘burn from the stern’, Volkswagen, and laryngitis!

1986 – Here’s a fun fact: Did you know that after Michael Schumacher, Nelson Piquet is the 2nd most successful driver at Monza? Hard to believe, but true, as Piquet took four wins (one short of Schumacher’s five), which was more than Nuvolari, Fangio, Prost (three wins apiece), or Senna (two). This was the third of his four wins.

And yes, more Clive James, this time talking about sweatshirts, tomatoes, and the Pope! He also mentions how much things have improved in Formula 1, with the absence of team orders for example, which is still in effect today. At least, that’s what the rule book says.

The race also shows how little things have changed in 22 years. McLaren’s Alain Prost was black-flagged by the stewards for taking the start with a spare car. But this was after the stewards allowed Prost to start. All this happened after Prost had completed half the race. Late penalties were all the rage back then, as they are now, it seems. Prost was planning to ignore the penalty, but his engine blew.

1988 – Again, a race of emotions. On one hand, there was heartbreak for Ayrton Senna. Running out of fuel in the closing stages, he was pushing hard to build a sufficient gap to cruise in the closing stages. But he got caught out by Jean-Louis Schlesser’s Williams who was being lapped. Schlesser, who had replaced Nigel Mansell for that race after he suffered chickenpox, shut the door on Senna and took both cars out. This was Schlesser’s 15 minutes of F1 fame.

But on the other hand, there was true joy for the Italians. With Prost out early on after engine failure, the Ferraris took a stunning one-two at home, the first since 1979. It was a fitting tribute to Enzo Ferrari who had died just weeks earlier.

As the Ferraris became more competitive again, the Tifosi became more interested. How much longer would it take for Ferrari to win another championship? Find out as we go through the 1990s and 2000s tomorrow.

13 comments on “Italian GP history 1970-1988 (Video)”

  1. Clive James, pure comedy. He makes patronising comments an art form.

  2. Indeed, Sush. I think Ben Edwards is great, but if Clive James’ name was raised to replace Edwards, I’d take it in a heartbeat! :)

  3. It is funny to see the sort of despise Nelson Piquet enjoys in England. The guy won 3 world championships on the back of 23 GP wins against the likes of Senna, Prost, Mansel, Gille Villeneuve, Lauda and Rosberg. He bested Michael Schumacher in the Benneton in his last year in F1 (counting only the 4 GPs that they raced against each other). And yet he is treated like dirt.
    The line “…Nelson Piquet is the second most sucessful driver at Monza? Hard to believe, but true..” seem inocent enough but is really demeaning and aggravating.

  4. Well, Antifia, let’s face it: Piquet is underrated to many. In most circuits, the top 3 most successful drivers would range between Schumacher, Senna, Prost, Clark, and Fangio. Piquet’s 2nd most successful record is an anomaly in that sense. Monza isn’t Piquet’s home turf, either, so there’s no particular reason why Piquet should do so better here than other circuits.

    Oh, and I’m not British. I’m not even European. :)

  5. And I believe Piquet retired because Schumacher was proving to be VERY tough, the German rookie matching the 3-time world champion for pace right away. Although Piquet outscored him 6-4 in the few races they were together, many believe Piquet retired because he knew Schumacher was about to get the better of him if he stayed on. A good example of this is Monza. Schumacher, in his first race for Benetton and his second-ever F1 race, finished 5th ahead of Piquet in 6th. As Schumacher would get more experience, Piquet would probably have fallen further and further behind.

  6. I was going to point out Journeyer’s not English/British/European but he beat me to it :-) Antifia, I think “he is treated like dirt” is an awful lot to read into one fairly innocuous comment.

    I think Piquet’s one of those drivers where I don’t associate him with being particularly good at one track. That’s not a criticism of course, it’s just I never thought “oh, Monza, Piquet won quite a few times there.” I do remember he wasn’t keen on Monaco though.

  7. Keith and Jorneyer,
    Good to talk about something else then the Spa incident..Anyway, back to the subject, it is not so much that Keith’s comment were too harsh, it is the fact that Piquet takes a hell of a spanking in the English press – not a week goes by that the likes of Planetf1 or F1 Racing don’t take a shot at him. I guess it is because he was not that congenial. But I suspect that it is because he was the “enemy” during much of Mansel’s years (some don’t forgive Senna for that either – Peter Windsor comes to mind).
    When it comes to Schumacher pushing him out..I don’t know about that. I agree that Schumacher would have beaten him, had he continued but I think he stoped because it was his time. He had his 14 seasons, there was nothing else he could have added to his achievements at that point.

  8. Journeyer,
    I just saw that the article was written by you..
    Sorry for mixing up you and Keith. And just to make things clear, I have absolutely nothing against English/British/European fellows…but for some reason the Brazilian drivers are never a hit north of the channel.

  9. ‘Good to talk about something else then the Spa incident.’

    Amen to that.

    ‘it is the fact that Piquet takes a hell of a spanking in the English press – not a week goes by that the likes of Planetf1 or F1 Racing don’t take a shot at him.’

    true, but piquet shoots himself in the foot with his comments sometimes. but piquet sr. rarely makes the mainstream f1 news nowadays, except on slow days.

    ‘But I suspect that it is because he was the “enemy” during much of Mansell’s years (some don’t forgive Senna for that either – Peter Windsor comes to mind).’

    everyone Mansell competed with was an enemy – let’s not forget Prost!

    ‘When it comes to Schumacher pushing him out..I don’t know about that. I agree that Schumacher would have beaten him, had he continued but I think he stoped because it was his time. He had his 14 seasons, there was nothing else he could have added to his achievements at that point.’

    good point. that’s also a very possible reason. he did stay in competitive racing, after all, moving to Indy in an ill-fated attempt in 1992. but i do wonder why he didn’t leave F1 earlier, considering the nightmare that was his stay with Lotus before moving over to Benetton?

  10. ‘Journeyer,
    I just saw that the article was written by you..
    Sorry for mixing up you and Keith. And just to make things clear, I have absolutely nothing against English/British/European fellows…but for some reason the Brazilian drivers are never a hit north of the channel.’

    Ah, no worries, antifia. :) i think it’s just because the great brazilian drivers always run into… the great british drivers. fittipaldi vs. stewart, piquet vs. senna vs. mansell, massa vs. hamilton… so there’s no real chance for the brits to support them.

  11. @Journeyer

    “fittipaldi vs. stewart, piquet vs. senna vs. mansell, massa vs. hamilton… so there’s no real chance for the brits to support them.”

    From Fittipaldi first season on, the Brits only got 5 drivers titles against 8 from the brazilians. They are really a pain in the …… for the Brits. And the real funny side of it is that every single one was with a british team. No wonder the islanders don’t fall in love with the brazilians.

    A good driver can get one F1 title but only a great driver can achieve that 3 times. Like it or not, Piquet is one of them, as Stewart, Lauda, Senna, Brabham, naming only the tripplets.

    Enjoy.

  12. Keith you could do an article on Ronnie Peterson as it would be 30 years since that fateful day where he was taken from us. Name of the article could be

    Ronnie Peterson 30 years on

  13. Sassan – I know, I’ve had it on my list, but I’ve just not had time with there being two races back to back. Sorry!

    Perhaps put the suggestion in the Skribit box (up on the right) and I’ll try to do something post-season. He was an excellent driver and a very popular man.

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