Formula 1 season

1970

13 championship rounds

Written by Sam

The season in context

No One Left to Celebrate

By 1970, Lotus had produced one of the fastest cars in Formula One, and Jochen Rindt looked destined to become World Champion. The Austrian began the season in extraordinary fashion, winning five of the opening eight Grands Prix. Remarkably, in those first eight races, Rindt either stood on the top step of the podium or failed to finish entirely, a testament to both his breathtaking speed and the unforgiving nature of Formula One at the time.

Everything changed at Monza. During qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, Rindt suffered fatal injuries following a high-speed accident, becoming the sport's first championship leader to lose his life during a Formula One weekend. With four races still remaining, his championship campaign came to an abrupt and heartbreaking end.

World Drivers' Championship

Driver standings

38 classified

1 Jochen Rindt Team Lotus 45 points · 5 wins

2 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 40 points · 3 wins

3 Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 33 points · 1 wins

View full driver standings

4 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 27 points · 0 wins

5 Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 25 points · 1 wins

6 Jack Brabham Brabham 25 points · 1 wins

7 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 23 points · 1 wins

8 Chris Amon March 23 points · 0 wins

9 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 16 points · 0 wins

10 Emerson Fittipaldi Team Lotus 12 points · 1 wins

11 Rolf Stommelen Brabham 10 points · 0 wins

12 Henri Pescarolo Matra 8 points · 0 wins

13 Graham Hill Team Lotus 7 points · 0 wins

14 Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 6 points · 0 wins

15 Reine Wisell Team Lotus 4 points · 0 wins

16 Mario Andretti March 4 points · 0 wins

17 Ignazio Giunti Ferrari 3 points · 0 wins

18 John Surtees Surtees 3 points · 0 wins

19 John Miles Team Lotus 2 points · 0 wins

20 Jackie Oliver BRM 2 points · 0 wins

21 Johnny Servoz-Gavin March 2 points · 0 wins

22 François Cevert March 1 points · 0 wins

23 Peter Gethin McLaren-Ford 1 points · 0 wins

24 Dan Gurney McLaren-Ford 1 points · 0 wins

25 Derek Bell Surtees 1 points · 0 wins

- Jo Siffert March 0 points · 0 wins

- Ronnie Peterson March 0 points · 0 wins

- Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo 0 points · 0 wins

- John Love Team Lotus 0 points · 0 wins

- George Eaton BRM 0 points · 0 wins

- Peter de Klerk Brabham 0 points · 0 wins

- Dave Charlton Team Lotus 0 points · 0 wins

- Piers Courage De Tomaso 0 points · 0 wins

- Pete Lovely Team Lotus 0 points · 0 wins

- Tim Schenken De Tomaso 0 points · 0 wins

- Jo Bonnier McLaren-Ford 0 points · 0 wins

- Silvio Moser Bellasi 0 points · 0 wins

- Gus Hutchison Brabham 0 points · 0 wins

World Constructors' Championship

Team standings

12 classified

1 Team Lotus British 59 points · 6 wins

2 Ferrari Italian 55 points · 4 wins

3 March British 48 points · 1 wins

View full team standings

4 Brabham British 35 points · 1 wins

5 McLaren-Ford British 35 points · 0 wins

6 BRM British 23 points · 1 wins

7 Matra French 23 points · 0 wins

8 Surtees British 3 points · 0 wins

- McLaren-Alfa Romeo British 0 points · 0 wins

- De Tomaso Italian 0 points · 0 wins

- Tyrrell British 0 points · 0 wins

- Bellasi Swiss 0 points · 0 wins

Season story

The championship race

Points and live top three after every round

Cumulative points

The scale follows the season leader, with a minimum ceiling of 50 points. Gold rings mark wins, red crosses mark DNFs, and black markers with a white cross mark disqualifications. Hover to isolate, click to pin, or Shift-click to compare teammates.

Live championship

Top three

Updates with the graph

Championship calendar

Race results

13 rounds

01 South African Grand Prix Kyalami · Midrand, South Africa 7 March 1970 → 02 Spanish Grand Prix Jarama · Madrid, Spain 19 April 1970 → 03 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco · Monte Carlo, Monaco 10 May 1970 → 04 Belgian Grand Prix Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps · Spa, Belgium 7 June 1970 → 05 Dutch Grand Prix Circuit Park Zandvoort · Zandvoort, Netherlands 21 June 1970 → 06 French Grand Prix Charade Circuit · Clermont-Ferrand, France 5 July 1970 → 07 British Grand Prix Brands Hatch · Kent, UK 18 July 1970 → 08 German Grand Prix Hockenheimring · Hockenheim, Germany 2 August 1970 → 09 Austrian Grand Prix Red Bull Ring · Spielberg, Austria 16 August 1970 → 10 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza · Monza, Italy 6 September 1970 → 11 Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Mont-Tremblant · Quebec, Canada 20 September 1970 → 12 United States Grand Prix Watkins Glen · New York State, USA 4 October 1970 → 13 Mexican Grand Prix Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez · Mexico City, Mexico 25 October 1970 →