6/3/11,
In his biography “A Driving Passion” by Gordon Kirby, Andretti says: “South Africa was the type of race where I was not outstanding, but I was up front. I was ahead of all the other Ferraris.
Mario Andretti scores his first win in Formula 1!!
On this day in 1971 Andretti scored his first win. The Italian-born American, who in his youth had watched Alberto Ascari driving for Ferrari, won on his first appearance for the Scuderia in South Africa.The year started great for Jackie Stewart who made the best time in qualifying. In the first row of the grid were also Amon and Regazzoni, behind them were Andretti / Fittipaldi while in third were Hulme / Ickx. Meanwhile, sensation was caused be the appearance of a nameless local driver, in the name of Dave Charlton, who scored the 12th best time with a sponsored Lucky Strike, Brabham.
In the start, Regazzoni stole the lead followed by Fittipaldi, Ickx, Hulme, Rodriguez, Andretti and Stewart, but that seemed to pour the milk churns. Tragic was also the start of Surtees and Amon who slumped to 11th and 14th place respectively. But the man of the first laps was Hulme. Following demonic pace he ''swallowed'' his competitors and the in the 17th lap he had already gone first! The driver from New Zealand remained there until the 76th lap when he faced a problem with his suspension. A ''war'' was followed between Regazzoni, Surtees Andretti and an impressive American to prevail and celebrate his maiden victory in Formula 1. It was a truly excellent debut as driver of the Ferrari.
In his biography “A Driving Passion” by Gordon Kirby, Andretti says: “South Africa was the type of race where I was not outstanding, but I was up front. I was ahead of all the other Ferraris.
“I was challenging Hulme, but pretty much couldn’t catch him. I don’t think I would have beaten him, but it was a good victory nonetheless.
“It was big to score my first Formula 1 win, and to do it for Ferrari made it very special.”
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