Jochen Rindt

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Jochen Rindt
Nationality	Austrian
World Championship Career
Active years	1964 - 1970
Team(s)	Brabham-BRM, Cooper-Climax, Cooper-Maserati, Brabham-Repco, Lotus-Ford
Races	61
Championships	1 (1970)
Wins	6
Podium finishes	13
Pole positions	10
Fastest laps	3
First race	1964 Austrian Grand Prix
First win	1969 United States Grand Prix
Last win	1970 German Grand Prix
Last race	1970 Austrian Grand Prix

Karl Jochen Rindt (April 18, 1942 - September 5, 1970) was an Austrian racing driver. He is the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Rindt per season 3 Complete Formula One results 4 External links

[edit] Biography

Jochen Rindt was born in Mainz, Germany, but after his parents were killed in a bombing raid in the Second World War, he moved to live with his grandparents in Graz, Austria, where he grew up and started motor racing.

Despite being very successful in Formula 2 (by winning for instance the 1964 London Trophy), Rindt kept on choosing the wrong F1 cars. Rindt made his Formula One debut for Rob Walker Racing Team in the 1964 Austrian Grand Prix. It was to be his only Grand Prix of the year. From 1965 to 1967, Rindt raced for Cooper Car Company, scoring 32 points in 29 races. In 1968, Rindt raced for Brabham, but Rindt's season wasn't what he had hoped for, due to technical problems. Rindt also raced in the Indianapolis 500 in both 1967 and 1968, but finished no better than 24th.

Rindt was noted for being an exceptionally fast driver with superb car control and reflexes, but rarely had a car equal of his talent until 1969 when Rindt moved to Lotus and it was with Lotus that Rindt's career took off. Rindt clinched the first Grand Prix victory of his career in the Grand Prix of the USA in Watkins Glen. Rindt finished that year with 22 points, giving him fourth place in the World Drivers' Championship. Rindt occasionally had a fraught relationship with Colin Chapman as he preferred a stable technological footing as opposed to Chapman's need to innovate and invent, but the two forged a successful partnership. Rindt's 1970 season started with a dramatic last corner win at Monaco. Thereafter armed with perhaps the greatest Formula one car of all time, the Lotus 72, Rindt rattled off four more Grands Prix wins with ease in The Netherlands, France, Britain and Germany that year.

During practice for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix in Monza, near Milan, Rindt was attempting to set a competitive qualifying time against the more powerful Ferraris. At first he insisted on driving the Lotus 49 but was told by Colin Chapman that only the Lotus 72 was available. Either he drove the 72 or he didn't have to drive was the choice Chapman gave him. Rindt elected to have the critically important wings removed in an attempt to gain a higher top speed and took to the track.

As Rindt braked for the Parabolica corner, the Lotus 72 suddenly darted left and slammed hard into the guard rails. The crash had possibly been caused by one of his front brake shafts (the car had inboard brakes) failing. The barriers were placed too high for the revolutionary wedge design of his Lotus 72. He was immediately rushed to hospital, but died on the way. Rindt had only recently acquiesced to wearing a simple lap belt, and had slid underneath where the belt buckle cut his throat. He was the second Lotus team leader to be killed in two years, as Jim Clark had been killed in 1968.

Rindt is buried at the central cemetery (Zentralfriedhof) in Graz.

At the time he died Rindt had won five of that year's ten Grands Prix, which meant that he had a strong lead in the World Drivers Championship. At that stage he theoretically could have been overtaken by Ferrari driver Jacky Ickx. However Rindt's Lotus team mate, Emerson Fittipaldi, won the penultimate Grand Prix of the year at Watkins Glen, depriving Ickx of the points he needed to win the title, and so Rindt became motor racing's first posthumous World Champion. The trophy was presented to his Finnish widow Nina. In a tragic twist of irony, it was learned that Jochen had promised Nina he would retire from F1 if he won the world championship.

[edit] Rindt per season

• 1964: no points
• 1965: 13th place, 4 points
• 1966: 3rd place, 22 points
• 1967: 13th place, 6 points
• 1968: 12th place, 8 points
• 1969: 4th place, 22 points, won in The United States.
• 1970: World Champion, 45 points, won in Monaco, The Netherlands, France, Britain, and Germany.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Team	WDC	Points
1964	Brabham	MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT Ret	ITA	USA	MEX				Brabham	-	0
1965	Cooper	RSA Ret	MON DNQ	BEL 11	FRA Ret	GBR 14	NED Ret	GER 4	ITA 8	USA 6	MEX Ret				Cooper	13th	4
1966	Cooper	MON Ret	BEL 2	FRA 4	GBR 5	NED Ret	GER 3	ITA 4	USA 2	MEX Ret					Cooper	3rd	22
1967	Cooper	RSA Ret	MON Ret	NED Ret	BEL 4	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	CAN Ret	ITA 4	USA Ret	MEX			Cooper	13th	6
1968	Brabham	RSA 3	ESP Ret	MON Ret	BEL Ret	NED Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 3	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret	MEX Ret		Brabham	12th	8
1969	Lotus	RSA Ret	ESP Ret	MON	NED Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER Ret	ITA 2	CAN 3	USA 1	MEX Ret			Lotus	4th	22
1970	Lotus	RSA 13	ESP Ret	MON 1	BEL Ret	NED 1	FRA 1	GBR 1	GER 1	AUT Ret	ITA DNS	CAN	USA	MEX	Lotus	1st	45

[edit] External links

• Grand Prix History - Hall of Fame, Jochen Rindt
• Jochen Rindt statistics
• Jochen Rindt Photos

Preceded by Jean Guichet Nino Vaccarella	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1965 Jochen Rindt Masten Gregory	Succeeded by Bruce McLaren Chris Amon
Preceded by Jackie Stewart	Formula One World Champion 1970	Succeeded by Jackie Stewart
Preceded by Piers Courage	Formula One fatal accidents September 5, 1970	Succeeded by Jo Siffert