When you look at the 1970 formula one season race winners list, it doesn't just read like a tally of sports results. It feels like a eulogy. Most people who follow modern racing are used to the polished, safe world of DRS zones and asphalt run-off areas, but 1970 was a different beast entirely. It was a year where technology outpaced safety at a terrifying rate.
Honestly, the sheer oddity of this season is unmatched. We’re talking about the only time in the history of the sport—and likely the only time ever—where the World Championship was awarded to a man who wasn't alive to collect the trophy. Jochen Rindt. That name carries a heavy weight. He dominates the winner's list for that year, yet his story ends in September at Monza. It’s haunting.
The Men Who Conquered the 1970 Calendar
The season kicked off at Kyalami for the South African Grand Prix. Jack Brabham took the win there. It’s kind of wild to think that "Black Jack" was still winning races in 1970, considering he’d won his first title back in '59. This was his final victory in F1. He was 44 years old. Can you imagine a 44-year-old beating the likes of Jackie Stewart and Clay Regazzoni today? It just doesn't happen.
Then we moved to Spain, at the Jarama circuit. This race was basically a nightmare. There was a massive fireball involving Jackie Oliver and Jacky Ickx early on. Jackie Stewart won that one in his March 701. It was a weird time for Stewart; he was the defending champ but was stuck driving a customer chassis because Ken Tyrrell was secretly building his own car in a shed.
The Rindt Dominance Begins
Monaco was next. This is where the 1970 formula one season race winners list gets its first taste of Jochen Rindt. But he didn't win it in the way you'd expect. He was driving the old Lotus 49C because the revolutionary Lotus 72 wasn't ready yet. Jack Brabham looked like he had it in the bag until the final corner of the very last lap. He locked his brakes, went straight into the barriers, and Rindt sailed past to take the checkered flag.
After a brief detour to Belgium where Pedro Rodríguez took a win for BRM at the old, terrifyingly fast Spa-Francorchamps (the 14-kilometer version), the Lotus 72 finally started working. And boy, did it work.
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Rindt went on a tear. He won four races in a row:
- The Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
- The French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand.
- The British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
- The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
That Hockenheim race was a classic. It was a slipstreaming battle against Jacky Ickx’s Ferrari. Rindt won by less than a second. At that point, the championship looked like a formality. He was the fastest man in the fastest car, the wedge-shaped Lotus 72 that basically defined what a modern F1 car looks like. Side-mounted radiators, inboard brakes, overhead air intake—it was lightyears ahead of the competition.
The Shift in Momentum and the Monza Tragedy
By the time the circus arrived in Italy, the atmosphere was tense. Ferrari had found their pace. Jacky Ickx was surging. Then came Saturday practice at Monza. Rindt’s Lotus suffered a brake shaft failure heading into the Parabolica. He wasn't wearing his crotch straps on his harness because he wanted to be able to get out of the car quickly if it caught fire. He slid under the belts. He was gone.
The race went on, which sounds barbaric now, but that was the era. Clay Regazzoni, the charismatic Swiss driver, won his first-ever Grand Prix for Ferrari on their home turf. The crowd went absolutely insane. But the 1970 formula one season race winners list had a giant hole in it where the champion-elect should have been.
The Final Standings of the Year
Jacky Ickx had a legitimate shot at overtaking Rindt’s points total if he won the final races. He won in Canada. He was leading in the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. But then, a young Brazilian rookie named Emerson Fittipaldi, driving for Lotus in only his fourth start, took the win. By winning that race, Fittipaldi ensured that no one could catch Rindt.
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The season wrapped up in Mexico. Jacky Ickx won again, leading a Ferrari 1-2 with Regazzoni. It was a hollow victory in some ways. The crowd was so out of control they were sitting on the edge of the track, literally inches from the cars.
Here is how the winners actually shook out across the thirteen rounds:
The list starts with Brabham in South Africa and Stewart in Spain. Then Rindt in Monaco. Rodríguez takes Belgium. Then the Rindt "Grand Slam" of Zandvoort, Clermont-Ferrand, Brands Hatch, and Hockenheim. Ickx breaks the streak in Austria. Regazzoni takes the emotional win in Italy. Ickx returns to the top in Canada. Fittipaldi claims his maiden win in the USA. Finally, Ickx closes the year in Mexico.
Why 1970 Was a Turning Point for F1
If you look closely at the winners that year, you see a transition of power. You have the "Old Guard" like Brabham and Rodríguez. You have the "Safety Crusaders" like Jackie Stewart, who was already starting to get loud about how many of his friends were dying. And then you have the "New Wave" represented by Fittipaldi and Regazzoni.
The tech was changing too. 1970 was the year the "Cigar" shape died. Look at the Lotus 72 compared to the Brabham BT33. The Lotus looks like a spaceship; the Brabham looks like a relic. Colin Chapman, the boss at Lotus, was a genius but he was also obsessed with lightness to a point that many drivers found terrifying. Rindt himself didn't trust the car. He told Chapman he would drive it, but he didn't feel safe in it.
A Statistics Perspective
When we break down the wins by manufacturer:
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- Lotus: 6 wins (Rindt 5, Fittipaldi 1)
- Ferrari: 4 wins (Ickx 3, Regazzoni 1)
- March: 1 win (Stewart)
- Brabham: 1 win (Brabham)
- BRM: 1 win (Rodríguez)
Lotus dominated the count, but Ferrari had the momentum at the end. If the season had two more races, Ickx probably would have been the champion. But sports aren't played in "what ifs."
Practical Insights for F1 History Buffs
If you're trying to really understand this era, don't just look at the points. Go watch the footage of the 1970 British Grand Prix. The way Rindt handles the car through the corners is masterclass stuff.
For those looking to collect or research this specific year, focus on these three areas:
- The Lotus 72 Evolution: This car stayed in use until 1975. Studying its 1970 debut gives you the blueprint for modern aerodynamics.
- The Tyrrell Transition: Follow Jackie Stewart’s season. He starts in a March and ends the year driving the first-ever Tyrrell (the 001). This was the birth of one of the most iconic teams in history.
- Safety Developments: 1970 was the catalyst for the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers' Association) taking a hard stance. After Rindt’s death, the push for armco barriers and better medical facilities became unstoppable.
To get a true feel for the 1970 formula one season race winners list, you should look up the "Grand Prix" documentary footage from that year. It captures the sound of the Matra V12s and the Ferrari Flat-12s in a way that modern microphones just can't replicate. It was a loud, greasy, and dangerous world.
If you want to dive deeper into the technical side, search for "Lotus 72 torsion bar suspension." It’s a rabbit hole, but it explains why Rindt was able to decimate the field during that mid-summer stretch. Also, check out the archives for the 1970 Mexican Grand Prix; the photos of the crowd standing on the track while cars fly by at 150 mph will make your skin crawl.
The 1970 season wasn't just about who crossed the line first. It was about a sport coming to terms with its own mortality. It gave us our only posthumous champion and signaled the end of the amateur "gentleman driver" era. Every winner on that list earned it in a way that modern drivers, with their simulators and run-off zones, can barely comprehend.
Next, you can look into the specific technical differences between the Lotus 49 and the Lotus 72 to see exactly where Chapman found the speed that gave Rindt his title. Or, check out the 1971 season to see how Jackie Stewart and Tyrrell took over the vacuum left by Lotus's tragic year.