MONACO GRAND PRIX

"Faster than a bullet from a gun
He is faster than everyone
Quicker than the blinking of an eye
Like a flash you could miss him going by
No one knows quite how he does it but it's true they say
He's the master of going faster."
george harrisson




1970

Driving his Lotus on the ragged edge it seemed certain that he must crash. Rindt would later remark that he had never driven a car faster than that day and hoped he would never have to again.

Still there seemed no chance for victory but as stated earlier other factors were hard at work.
With four laps to go Brabham was still nine seconds in front but on lap 77 he encountered Jo Siffert’s weaving March as he attempted to find the last drops of fuel to make it back to the pits. Five seconds were lost before Brabham was able to make his way past. The gap was now 2.4 seconds and Brabham sensing that things were getting a little dicey increased the gap the next time around by 2 seconds as Rindt loss time in one of his many near-misses with the Armco. Rindt then matched Brabham’s fastest lap of 1m24.4s with his own time of 1m23.3s.

It was now the final lap and at Tabac, Brabham came upon three backmarkers and had to struggle to get pass. Rindt just behind forced his way through and was now just behind the leader but still it seemed impossible that he could get past, another lap maybe but not now. Approaching the Gasworks hairpin Brabham came upon the slow moving de Tamaso of Piers Courage. Left or right – all seemed closed off. Brabham for an instant thought of following the stricken car through and had he done so all might have been different but fearing that Rindt was closer than he actually was decided to pass but by then he had missed his braking point and in an instant he was in the strawbales as Rindt flashed past. Rindt could actually be seen looking across at Brabham and shaking his head in disbelief. The next scene saw the famous cap thrown in the air signifying another win by one of Chapman’s cars.

Rindt overcome by his stunning victory climbed the steps to the Royal Box with tears streaming down his face. Trembling, he shook hands with the Royal couple while the British and Austrian anthems were played. Waves of cheers from the delirious fans rolled over him for they had surly seen a miracle.
What would cause a driver without any hope for victory suddenly to awaken and drive with such reckless abandon - certainly it was the stuff of champions.



bv