The 1970 Mexican Grand Prix was held at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca in Mexico City on October 25, 1970. It was race 13 of 13 in both the 1970 World Championship of Drivers and the 1970 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 65-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx after he started from third position. His teammate Clay Regazzoni finished second and McLaren driver Denny Hulme came in third.
Ickx wasn’t able to close the points gap to the late Jochen Rindt in the final races of the season, and as result the latter was awarded the championship posthumously, becoming the only driver to ever win the title after death.
Clay Regazzoni started from pole position in a Ferrari, with Stewart second on the grid in his Tyrrell and Jacky Ickx starting third in the other Ferrari. Brabham, in one of his own cars, was fourth on the grid, and Chris Amon in a March and Jean-Pierre Beltoise in a Matra were fifth and sixth. Rodriguez started from seventh in a BRM.
On Lap 2, Jacky Ickx, the Ferrari team leader, quickly passed his teammate to take the lead, and Stewart, close behind him also passed Regazzoni.
Then, after 14 laps, Stewart made a pit stop as his steering column had come loose, and that put the Ferraris back in first and second. Brabham moved into third, which would have been a fabulous end to his career, but his engine blew on Lap 53 of the 65-lap race. Stewart returned to the race, and on Lap 33 he hit and killed a large dog that was running across the track.
As the two Ferraris cruised on in the lead, toward the end of the race some spectators began running back and forth across the track, perhaps daring to see if they could fare better than the dog.
In the end, the Ferraris, with Jacky Ickx leading Clay Regazzoni, came in first and second, and Denny Hulme finished in third in a McLaren. Amon finished fourth, and Beltoise finished fifth. Rodríguez finished sixth.
After the race, the spectators invaded the track, forcing cars to stop abruptly after they crossed the finish line because there was no room for them to drive.
The Mexican Grand Prix was removed from the calendar the following year because of that chaos. It returned to the schedule 16 years later, from 1986 to 1992, and was reinstated again in 2015 to resounding success because of the enthusiasm of the spectators, who remained orderly.
Formula One has since instituted strict safety measures for both drivers and spectators.
Leave a Reply