La mort aux trousses

"Je remporte le titre, puis je prends ma retraite”. Voilà ce que promettait Jochen Rindt à son épouse Nina au début de l’été 1970. Jochen ne pourra jamais honorer sa promesse. Le 4 octobre 1970, lorsqu’il est officiellement sacré champion du monde, cela fait déjà un mois que Nina pleure sa mort. Jochen Rindt, c’est l’histoire d’un casse-cou qui a défié avec succès la mort pendant des années, mais finalement rattrapé par La Grande Faucheuse alors que, enfin adulte, il s'était assagi.

La mort, Rindt l’a cotoyée dès les premiers mois de son existence. Né en Allemagne en 1942, il survit miraculeusement à un bombardement allié en 1943 dans lequel ses parents sont tués. Recueilli par ses grand-parents maternels, il grandit en Autriche, près de Graz.

L’aisance financière dans laquelle il évolue lui permet de s’acheter sa première voiture dès le permis de conduire en poche, et de se livrer durant la nuit à de dangereuses courses sauvages avec sa bande d’amis, parmi lesquels figure un certain Helmut Marko, futur pilote de F1 et actuel grand manitou du programme Red Bull. Plus d’une fois, les escapades nocturnes de Rindt manquent de s’achever en drame, mais sa vista et ses réflexes lui permettent d’échapper au pire. Sa chance aussi.

Lire la suite ...

En 1962, conscient que son talent mérite de s’exercer dans un cadre plus officiel, il prend une licence et s’inscrit dans diverses épreuves réservées aux voitures de tourisme. Puis, en 1963, il s’achète une Cooper de Formula Junior et effectue ses débuts en monoplace. Formula Junior, puis Formule 2, rapidement, Jochen se bâtit une flatteuse réputation sur tous les circuits d’Europe, où son coup de volant précis et agressif, son audace, ainsi que son style de dandy taciturne ne passent pas inaperçus.

En 1964, il accède à la Formule 1 en participant à son grand prix national au volant d’une Brabham privée de l’écurie de Rob Walker. Puis, en 1965, il est intégré à la prestigieuse écurie Cooper. Le problème est que la vénérable institution britannique n’a justement plus grand chose d’autre que son prestige à faire valoir et que sa monoplace tient plus du fer à repasser que de la voiture de course. Désastreuse en F1, sa saison est par contre plus brillante en endurance puisqu’à la surprise générale, et au prix d’une folle remontée durant la nuit avec son compère Masten Gregory, il remporte les 24h du Mans au volant d’une Ferrari engagée par le NART.

Sa saison 1966 est plus heureuse. Boostée par un partenariat inspiré avec Maserati, l’écurie Cooper retrouve des couleurs et Jochen en profite pour décrocher ses premiers podiums et s’adjuger la troisième place du championnat. Il aurait même pu s’imposer lors du GP de Belgique : ce jour-là, sous le déluge qui noyait le vertigineux tracé de Spa-Francorchamps, il livra une époustouflante démonstration de virtuosité et d’audace avant que des soucis techniques ne l’obligent à se contenter de la deuxième place derrière John Surtees.  

Hélas pour Cooper et Rindt, l’embellie de 1966 restera sans suite et en 1967, l’écurie britannique retombe dans ses travers : manque de performance, manque de fiabilité. Quant à Rindt, il prend tous les risques au volant pour tenter de compenser les carences de sa monture, ce qui  l’amène plus d’une fois à cotoyer les rails et les talus, et assoit durablement sa réputation de pilote casse-cou. Ses relations avec son directeur sportif Roy Salvadori tournent progressivement au vinaigre et après une énième altercation entre les deux hommes (Jochen s’était vanté un peu trop bruyamment d’avoir volontairement cassé son moteur, estimant que l’euthanasie du V12 Maserati était préférable à une lente agonie), il est mis à la porte.

Accueilli à bras ouverts dans l’écurie Brabham (firme pour laquelle il multiplie les succès en Formule 2, discipline dont il s’affirme comme le maître incontesté), Jochen n’obtient toujours pas une F1 à la mesure de son talent, ce qui précipite son arrivée chez Lotus en 1969.

Championne du monde en titre avec Graham Hill, l’écurie Lotus n’en est pas moins orpheline de son pilote fétiche Jim Clark, tragiquement décédé lors d’une épreuve de Formule 2 en avril 1968 à Hockenheim. Le patron de Lotus, Colin Chapman, sait qu’avec Rindt, il a mis la main sur un talent pur, comparable par certains aspects à Clark. Mais jamais la symbiose Chapman/Clark ne sera pas recréée avec Rindt. Rapidement, l’Autrichien se heurte à la philosophie de son patron, qui sacrifie tout à la vitesse de ses voitures, y compris la fiabilité et la sécurité. Dès son deuxième GP chez Lotus, en Espagne, Rindt est d’ailleurs victime d’un effroyable accident, son aileron arrière se brisant au passage d’une bosse et catapultant sa monoplace contre le rail de sécurité. Gravement blessé au visage, nez et palais fracturés, il doit observer une convalescence de plusieurs semaines.

 

De retour derrière le volant de sa Lotus 49, il subit une série d’avaries mécaniques en tout genre qui l’amènent à s’interroger sur la suite de sa collaboration avec Lotus. Malgré une fin de saison réussie et notamment l’obtention à Watkins Glen de sa toute première victoire en GP, après laquelle il courait depuis près de 5 ans, sa décision de quitter Lotus pour retourner chez Brabham semble prise.

Au-delà des relations tendues qu'il entretient avec son pilote, Chapman est conscient de son apport et n’a aucune envie de le laisser partir. Se sachant en position de force, Rindt et son manager (un certain Bernie Ecclestone) en profitent pour faire monter les enchères : d’accord pour rester chez Lotus, à condition d’obtenir un salaire fortement revalorisé, ainsi que la mise sur pied par Lotus d’une écurie de Formule 2 totalement dédiée à Rindt. Chapman accepte. En coulisses, une seule personne ne se frotte pas les mains. Présente sur tous les circuits, Nina Rindt a le sentiment qu’en restant chez Lotus, son mari a signé un pacte avec le diable. Si les rapports entre Chapman et Jochen sont tendus, ceux entre Chapman et Nina sont exécrables.

 

La belle Finlandaise, ex-mannequin, ne supporte pas le cynisme avec lequel Chapman mène son écurie, et la manière dont il semble considérer ses pilotes comme de vulgaires pions et leur mort éventuelle comme de simples péripéties de course.

Début 1970, Lotus introduit la Lotus 72, une voiture tout simplement révolutionnaire. A son volant, Jochen Rindt ne tarde pas à se montrer inbattable. Il s’impose à Monaco (sur la Lotus 49), puis consécutivement aux Pays-Bas, en France, en Angleterre et en Allemagne.

 

Malgré cette série de succès qui propulse largement Rindt en tête du championnat du monde l’ambiance est toujours aussi lourde chez Lotus. Les problèmes de fragilité des monoplaces qui préoccupent tant Nina sont toujours d'actualité et son angoisse est exacerbée par les morts coup sur coup au mois de juin de Bruce McLaren et de Piers Courage, deux amis du couple Rindt. C’est dans ce contexte que Nina obtient de Jochen la promesse d’arrêter sa carrière au soir d’un titre mondial qui se rapproche désormais à grand pas. Jochen a changé. L’adolescent casse-cou de Graz, désormais au sommet de son art du pilotage, est devenu un homme conscient du prix de la vie et qui se reconnait de moins en moins dans ce sport automobile meurtrier. Il est temps d’arrêter, il le sait. Mais le temps, il ne l’aura pas.

Que s’est-il passé ce samedi 5 septembre 1970 à Monza ? Unique témoin du drame, Denny Hulme dira avoir vu la Lotus de Rindt dangereusement louvoyer à l’amorce de la Parabolique puis quitter la piste avant de s’encastrer sous un rail de sécurité. Défaillance des freins a priori.
Grièvement touché au cou, Jochen décède dans l'ambulance qui le conduit à l'hôpital de Milan.

Avec 20 points d’avance pour Rindt sur son plus proche poursuivant et 4 GP restant à disputer, la lutte pour le titre mondial reste mathématiquement ouverte, et cela d’autant plus que les pilotes Ferrari (Ickx et Regazzoni) s’affirment comme particulièrement véloces en cette fin de saison. Regazzoni s’impose à Monza et Ickx, malgré ses réticences à jouer le titre contre un fantôme, gagne au Canada. La victoire d’Emerson Fittipaldi (le nouveau pilote Lotus) à Watkins Glen scelle définitivement le sort du championnat : Jochen Rindt est sacré champion du monde, à titre posthume.

Parallel Lines: The Fittipaldi family

Welcome to a new Motorsport.com series. In this first installment of 'Parallel Lines,' we talked with Emerson, Pietro, and Enzo Fittipaldi.

Emerson Fittipaldi - It's a name widely known in the motorsports niche and a last name synonymous with anything having to do with racing. Two Formula One World Championships to his credit, the 1989 and 1993 Indy 500 winner, and a CART champion to top it off.
His grandchildren are following in his legendary footsteps and proving that they too have the racing gene in their blood. Pietro started in go-karts and then began to make a move towards a career in NASCAR. He earned the 2011 Hickory Motor Speedway track title before switching over to the open-wheel side of racing. In 2014, he has dominated the competition in the Protyre Formula Renault championship, winning nine of the eleven races contested thus far.

He (Emerson) likes to let me learn on my own, but he's always there when I'm in doubt...having him there is priceless
Pietro on his grandfather as a mentor

Then we have the very young but just as driven Enzo. The 13-year-old has been racing go-karts and Legend cars, and appears to be on the fast track to success, just like his older brother.
Motorsport.com talked to all three racers, asking them the same or similar questions to see how their answers compare, just as the title 'Parallel Lines' suggests.

Switch eras?

First and foremost, we wanted to know if they'd ever jump at the opportunity to race in the other's era and even trade careers if they could. What we got were two very contrasting answers between the three of them, which I found quite interesting.
Emerson was quick to say how he 'loves the new technology,' saying "When you have a racing car, you have to have the pedals, the steering wheel, changing gears … Everything must work together. And the new technology makes all this work together. It’s very dynamic. I’d love to drive the new Grand Prix car now. It’s much better. But you must be able to get the very last tenth of a second out of the car each lap. It’s the difference between a good driver, and a very special driver. Today’s technology allows you to go to the limits."

As a young boy I admired Fangio. Chico Landi, a Brazilian Grand Prix driver.
Emerson on which drivers he admired growing up

Pietro and Enzo on the other hand, wished for the days of old when the car was more in the driver's hands. "I love the way the cars looked and there was a lot more opportunity for the teams to gain an advantage through creativity and ingenuity," Pietro told Motorsport.com. "There was a team that built a car with six tires once. The driver was also a lot more important because there weren't as many driver aids as there are today. It was more about the driver and the driver helped more in setting up the car."
Enzo echoed the thoughts of his older brother, saying "It was more about the driver and less about the engine, chassis, and things like that. Today, it's more technical and it's all more electronic. Back then, you could actually see who the best driver was because the cars weren't so far apart. The driver had a bigger effect on the result than the car did."
It was interesting how both generations were eager about the other's era, and it reminded me a bit of the old adage which goes, 'the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.'

Advice?

Regarding how he helps his grandchildren as they work their way up the ranks, Emerson said, "With Pietro, I give him all the advice I can. With Enzo, he is driving karts, so not so much yet. When Pietro moved from karts to car racing, every time I watch him drive, I give him my comments. I try to separate my heart, my emotion as a grandfather, and be a coach. I talk to Pietro before each race, before qualifying .... I have a very good connection with him. I am sure when Enzo moves to cars, it will be the same."

I think of myself as a fair racer, but when it comes down to the last two laps, I am as aggressive as one can be.
Enzo on his driving style

Emerson isn't the kind of teacher that pushes you out of the nest to teach you how to fly, nor is he the kind that holds your hand through it all, as the kids revealed. "He likes to let me learn on my own, but he's always there when I'm in doubt," said Pietro. "He's always there. Having him there is priceless. It's been a while since he's driven and the driver techniques are different to a point now, and there's more data to look at. Preparation for races though, he tries to help me there as much as he can."
"My grandfather likes to give me advice on things I can do off the track to prepare for races such as being physically fit and making sure I am doing well in school," Enzo added.
Preparation is one of the main keys to success in racing, and it's not surprising that Emerson has pushed to help his grandchildren in that aspect.

Driving style

As Emerson said in the interview, "Every driver has his own style." We asked each to describe themselves as a driver, while also trying to draw comparisons to each other. Emerson called himself very 'consistent,' saying "I used to be, as a driver, very consistent, from lap to lap. That makes a large difference in Formula One especially, when the driver is consistent every lap."
Talking about one another, Pietro and Emerson were both able to draw some connections.
"I think Pietro is a similar driver to me ... He is very smooth. I was smooth, I always enjoyed very fast corners, and that is the reason I was able to adapt to oval tracks very well," Emerson stated. "Pietro likes fast corners as well, and he is very smooth. I think being smooth today is even more important, because you have to save your tires, because when you are smooth, your tire life is much longer."

They said you continue racing for fun, or, you can be fully committed and try to make a career out of it...I had to make a decision
Pietro

Pietro talked a bit about when to take risks and when to hold back, saying " I like to analyze things a bit more. There's times when you have to take risks and there's times to sit back and wait for the other driver to make the mistake. You have to win races to win championships, but sometimes settling for second or third is better than taking the risk when you're going for a championship. I definitely tend to analyze the situation a bit more. I'm a very smooth driver so I can compare to my grandfather in that aspect."
Enzo though, is a different breed of racer. "My brother, he's very fast and a very all-out, balls-out kind of driver," Pietro revealed. Now let's hear what Enzo had to say about himself...

My grandfather was a rockstar, so I want to be a rockstar too!
Enzo on how he wants to be perceived as a driver

"I think of myself as a fair racer, but when it comes down to the last two laps, I am as aggressive as one can be. I have never been able to watch my grandfather race but what I have heard from other people is that my grandfather was very aggressive, but strategic as well. I have watched the McLaren Tunes show on YouTube and it showed that my grandfather was a 'wolf' on track, hopefully one day I can become a 'wolf' on track as well!"
I think you already are Enzo, I think you already are...

A track you've never got the chance to compete at

As for a racing circuit that these three have never had the chance to race at, here's the answers I got...
Emerson: Spa
Pietro: Spa
Enzo: Spa
Somebody go get some cars together and let this family go have a crack at Eau Rouge! Pietro actually did get the chance to finally tackle Spa a couple months back and described the famous Belgium circuit as an intense 'roller coaster.' "My brother (Pietro) drove it (Spa) for the first time this year and he said it was amazing," said an enthusiastic Enzo. "It is such a historical track and has so many different types of corners, I would love to give it a go."

Some racing advice that had a profound impact on them

For Emerson, there are too many to name in terms of people who gave him good advice, telling Motorsport.com "I received advice from many different competitors. But not just one, there were many. Always, I tried to listen and to learn. You must in any kind of sport if you want to get better, if you strive to be the best."

 I don't like to use the word 'admire' but if I ever need advice or have doubts, they're always someone I can call."
Pietro talking about Nelson Piquet Jr. and Felipe Massa

Pietro's answer is something all professional race car drivers can relate to. He talked about the day when he had to decide, does he want to do this for fun or does he want to make a career out of racing cars? "When I was 14, racing go-karts in the US, I was starting to test the late models for NASCAR racing. I had to sit down with my grandfather and make a decision. They said you continue racing for fun, or, you can be fully committed and try to make a career out of it. My family was going to have to move to NC so it was a big sacrifice for them. That was a decision I made and my family moved so I could pursue my dreams."
As for Enzo, it was also something his grandfather once said; "Always be dedicated and don't be all about partying and going out. Be focused."

A car they'd love to drive

All three of the Fittipaldi's are big fans of the famous John-Player Lotus. When talking about the machine, Pietro called it "one of the most iconic F1 cars ever." "I have pictures and models of it everywhere and I got to see my grandfather drive it at Goodwood. It's just such a badass looking car and I would love to drive it one day!"
Enzo is also fond of the old Lotus and as for Emerson, he was quick to say that if he could drive one of today's cars, it would be a Mercedes at the moment (and for obvious reasons). I think he could give Nico and Lewis a run for their money...

Who do you admire most?

Outside of their own family, I wanted to know which race car driver they admire most. Pietro put a bit of a spin on his answer, which I found intriguing. "Never ask me this question ... It's a bit difficult to answer (chuckles)." I always went to the races to cheer for my cousin or uncle, but I became friends with other drivers such as Nelson Piquet Jr. and Felipe Massa. I don't admire them, I see them more as friends. I don't like to use the word 'admire' but if I ever need advice or have doubts, they're always someone I can call."

I never dreamed that one day I could drive a NASCAR car with my grandchild, and I followed him (Pietro) on the track in Hickory. It was a very special moment
Emerson on his favorite memory involving his grandkids

Emerson has seen more legendary racers in his time than anyone could possibly imagine, so it was understandable that he'd have more than a couple drivers he wanted to name. "As a young boy I admired Fangio. Chico Landi, a Brazilian Grand Prix driver. Then there was the next generation like Jimmy Clark, Jackie Stewart, Jacky Ickx, an incredible collection. In my time, I admired many of my competitors. Jackie Stewart was very fast. Jochen Rindt, Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Carlos Reutemann. I got to race some of the sons, like Gilles Villeneuve's son, Jacques Villeneuve was very good. I raced Mario Andretti and Michael, the Unser family...very tough competitors. Very tough."
The tenacious little racer we know as Enzo was quick to name another highly aggressive and tenacious racer in response to this question, throwing out Michael Schumacher's name without hesitation and without clarification, and frankly, when you name somebody like Schumacher, there's no need to clarify.

A favorite family racing memory

Keep in mind that these interviews were all done separately, yet both Emerson and Pietro picked out the same memory when they were asked to recall their most cherished racing memory, one that also involved the other.

Once I get to Formula One and win a couple World Championships, then maybe then I can think of the rockstar lifestyle!
Pietro

"In 2012, I was able to test with my grandfather in late models at Hickory Motor Speedway," Pietro began to tell. "I got to test my late model with him and we were out there the whole day. We actually started racing each other and he was so fast. I was obviously a little bit quicker but it was only by a few tenths, but it was one of the funnest times I've ever had with him."
"I like how you had to put in that plug, I was still a little quicker!"
Yeah, I was still a little quicker (chuckles)!
Emerson told the same story, "I never dreamed that one day I could drive a NASCAR car with my grandchild, and I followed him on the track in Hickory. It was a very special moment with Pietro. He was faster than me! I enjoyed every second of that experience. I never dreamed I would be on a racetrack with my grandchild."
Enzo recalled one of the recent Montreal Grand Prixs, saying "I got to go check out a bunch of teams and it was really cool to see all the fans and people that were greeting my grandfather. It was really interesting to see how people reacted to us and I still remember it."

Rockstar or top-level athlete?

Throughout the years, the perception of racers has dramatically changed. From daredevils, car junkies, rockstars, gladiators, even fighter pilots, and today, top-level athletes that function at a level on par with their powerful machines. For the final question, the grandkids were asked which title they prefer...rockstar or top-level athlete?

I think every driver has his own style. Pietro is very precise, very consistent, Enzo is more aggressive and likes to attack.
Emerson on his grandchildren

Pietro wants to be seen as the latter, saying "I'm very dedicated, fully focused, and I like to be perceived as a top athlete. I watched the movie RUSH and that portrayed the way James Hunt lived and it is cool living that rockstar lifestyle, but today, I don't know if it's more competitive, but all the drivers are so focused...you have to be fully committed. Once I get to Formula One and win a couple World Championships, then maybe then I can think of the rockstar lifestyle! (chuckles)
One thing I wanted to point out here. Pietro never used the word 'if' when talking about making it to Formula One...
Our 13-year-old friend Enzo wants a title that goes with his 'balls to the wall' driving style as Pietro described it, so of course, he chose 'rockstar.' "My grandfather was a rockstar, so I want to be a rockstar too!"

Talking about Pietro and Enzo

For Emerson, we wanted to see if either of his grandchildren remind him of a driver he once raced against in terms of their skill, habits, or the way they carry themselves.
"It’s difficult to say," he admitted. "I think every driver has his own style. Pietro is very precise, very consistent, Enzo is more aggressive and likes to attack. In any sport, like tennis or soccer, anyone who is able to perform at the top normally turns into a champion. I think they have that quality. Pietro has already won championships and he is leading this year. If he can maintain that, he can someday be a Grand Prix racer. To be able to perform race after race, year after year, that's what sets a driver apart.

The Forgotten Story of ... Jochen Rindt

The German-born Austrian F1 driver, who was killed in practice before the Italian Grand Prix in 1970, remains the only man to win the world championship posthumously

Regular viewers of BBC’s Pointless will tell you that when a question arises asking the contestants to name a Formula One driver, two answers are normally given – Juan Pablo Montoya and Jochen Rindt. Both were great Formula One drivers of their respective eras and yet now earn maximum points on a quiz show that rewards obscure knowledge. It is enough to make hardened F1 observers shake their heads with disbelief.

While it may be understandable that Montoya’s exploits in the early 2000s have been overlooked, Rindt’s drives in the 1960s and 70s definitely deserve more widespread appreciation, especially given the German-born Austrian is the only posthumous F1 world champion. Scratch below the surface and you unearth a story that cuts to the heart of motor racing. A story of speed, aggression and an unquenchable will to win in the face of life-threatening danger.

Orphaned as an infant when his parents were killed by Allied bombing raids in 1943, a year after his birth in Mainz, Rindt was raised by his grandparents in Graz, Austria. Throughout his youth, Rindt exhibited a passion for speed and the thrill of a race. He twice broke limbs in schoolboy ski races and, when he made his move into motor sport, on mopeds and motorised bikes, he tended either to crash or win. His early years set a trend that was to continue and would shape Rindt into a fierce, fearless racer.

“We Germans fear God and nothing else,” Rindt commented, reciting Otto von Bismarck’s famous line.

It was said that when he was old enough to drive on the roads, he would fling his Volkswagens round the streets, landing him in trouble with the law while his abrasive personality resulted in expulsion from several private schools.

“I was always in trouble at school and once I almost ran down one of the teachers on my motorcycle,” he once said.

“In the end I got thrown out and went to England to learn English. I learned to drive while I was in England but I was too young to get a licence. When I went back home I broke my leg skiing but I decided I was more than capable of driving myself – even though I had one leg in plaster. I actually drove without a licence for 18 months and then got caught the day before I was eligible to collect it.”


Facebook Twitter Pinterest Austria’s Jochen Rindt, in the Lotus-Ford, on his way to win the 1970 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. Photograph: Colorsport/Rex

Some considered him to be intimidating while his abrupt manner and unusual traits (such as using string instead of shoe laces) set Rindt apart from the rest.
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“They may do many things but they will not start the German Grand Prix without me,” was the response Ron Dennis says he was given when he went to fetch Rindt just minutes before the race was due to start.

Rindt certainly did not lack that arrogance all top sportsmen need to have.

Similarly, every top sportsman needs a hero. Rindt’s was the German Count Wolfgang von Trips, whose death at Monza in 1961 did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm for motor racing. Von Trips’ crash was one of the most high-profile and horrific of a number of Formula One fatalities in that era. He and his American team-mate Phil Hill entered the Italian Grand Prix knowing that one of them would be the champion at the end of it. On lap two, Von Trips touched wheels with Jim Clark and spun into the crowd at over 100mph before tumbling back on to the track in a flurry of metal. In those days only a waist-high fence separated the crowd and the cars and 14 spectators died as Von Trips’ Ferrari scythed through the watching hordes. Despite the horrific death of his idol, the fire for racing that burned inside Rindt would not be extinguished as he began racing touring cars.

“Nobody knows how long he will live. Because of this fact you have to do as much as you can as fast as you can,” Rindt said. He knew the nature and the risks of the sport he was in.
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Despite crashing with alarming regularity and being hospitalised as a result on several occasions, Rindt was forging a reputation as a naturally fast driver.

He personally footed the bill for his first foray into more serious motor racing when, in 1964, he went to England to buy a Formula Two Brabham for £4,000. In just his second F2 race at Crystal Palace, Rindt beat the illustrious Graham Hill with press accounts suggesting that his car had been sideways throughout the race as he flung his vehicle round corners at unimaginable angles.

“Most of the British papers had never heard of me, and next morning one of them said I was a young Australian; they seem to think all racing drivers come from Australia or New Zealand.”

Soon, Rindt was the man to beat in the fiercely competitive F2 series.

His move to Formula One came when he signed a three-year deal with the Cooper team in 1965. The uncompetitive nature of the car meant that Rindt had to battle in F2 to forge his reputation. Alongside the American Masten Gregory, Rindt won the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 1965 in their Ferrari 250LM. Two more years with Cooper and one with the unreliable Brabham in Formula One saw Rindt come to exemplify the perception of what a racing driver should be as he pushed the cars to their limits in an effort to drag every inch of performance out of them.

“Do I ever drive within them?” was Rindt’s response when asked how often he drove beyond his limits.

His driving made for thrilling, exhilarating viewing and he matched the racing driver image off the track as well with his marriage to the Finnish fashion model Nina Lincoln.

“I go racing basically because I like it,” Rindt once explained. “I am now making money out of it, which I am very happy about, but I would never do it just for the money.”

Jochen Rindt pictured on the track ahead of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in August 1970. Photograph: dpa/dpa/Corbis

The Team Lotus founder Colin Chapman was the man who handed Rindt his first big chance in Formula One when he signed him to partner the reigning world champion Graham Hill in 1969. Rindt was effectively a replacement for the legendary two-times Formula One world champion Clark, who had died at Hockenheim in 1968. In choosing Rindt, Lotus had appointed the first non-British driver in their history.

It was a mark of the talent he was that Rindt immediately outpaced his illustrious team-mate Hill but the Lotus was unreliable and both cars crashed out at the Spanish GP – leaving Rindt with concussion and a broken jaw when his car ploughed into the wreckage of Hill’s Lotus. Despite the reliability issues Rindt openly criticised, the Lotus car gave him his first F1 win in the US GP at Watkins Glen. He had opened his account in a sport many felt he was set to dominate.

All great sportsmen have a defining moment. For Rindt, it was his 1970 victory in Monaco. He spent the majority of the race in fifth place and, following a string of retirements, was promoted to second. He was a sizeable 15 seconds behind Jack Brabham, who was driving one of his own cars, yet Rindt launched an exhilarating charge in pursuit of the race leader. Smashing lap records time and time again, the pressure he exerted on Brabham caused the leader to crash on the last corner of the final lap as Rindt loomed ever larger in his mirrors. A weeping Rindt accepted the trophy from Prince Rainier and Princess Grace to cap one of the most extraordinary races in Monaco’s history.

Such was the nature of Formula One in that era, tragedy was never far away and the deaths of close friends Bruce McLaren and Piers Courage within 19 days of each other in June 1970 had a profound impact on Rindt. He now also had a daughter and it was claimed that he was considering retirement at the end of the season – something he later rejected. Despite all that was going on around him, one thing remained constant and that was that Rindt never lost his competitive edge. He won four consecutive races – the Dutch GP (where Courage was killed) as well as the French, British and German races.

“Maybe I will not live to reach the age of 40. But, until that time, I will have experienced more things in life than anybody else.

“I plan to go on racing as long as I enjoy it, but I don’t want to feel I am dependent on it. Too many drivers go on racing too long just for the money, and they usually end up getting killed. I want to be able to pull out when I’ve had enough.”

Sadly Rindt did not reach the age of 40 as disaster struck two races after his German triumph. During practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Rindt’s Lotus inexplicably ploughed into the guard rail at Parabolica. He was not wearing a crotch strap and his seatbelt buckle caused fatal throat injuries.

The tragic irony of the crash was that it had occurred just yards away from where Von Trips had died nine years earlier.

While Von Trips’ points tally was beaten by Phil Hill in 1961, Rindt was not overtaken and was posthumously awarded the 1970 championship.

Courage and Rindt both lost their lives during Formula One races in 1970 and 11 drivers had died during the 1960s. It was an era where racing brought frighteningly real dangers and it is testament to the advancements made in the safety of the sport that Ayrton Senna is the last man to have died during a Formula One race at San Marino in 1994.

While Jules Bianchi continues to fight in hospital following his serious crash at the Japanese Grand Prix last season, such incidents are now rare whereas in Rindt’s era they were almost expected.

While the safety side of the sport in 2015 is far superior to the days when Rindt was racing, it is hard to imagine the cars and the action itself would have appealed to his ferocious character; he was a racer. He lived for speed, to travel as fast as he could.

Modern Formula One has lost that edge. So much of the racing now centres around management of tyres and fuel at the cost of driving the car flat out as fast as you can.

That was not the way Rindt raced and, in so many ways, the sport is poorer for the lack of that most basic principle. Those who witnessed Rindt flinging his car around the track talked of being thrilled and enthralled.

He was a natural talent. His passion for speed and for the thrill of the chase gave him all the ingredients he needed to be arguably the greatest talent of his generation.

The fact that his name adds £250 to the Pointless jackpot, or indeed wins it, is such a shame.

Looking back on Jochen Rindt

Few drivers of the post-War Grand Prix era have prompted such debate over their talents as Karl Jochen Rindt, the arrogant, self-confident Austrian who claimed the sad distinction of becoming the sport's first, and so far only, posthumous World Champion. It is 14 years ago this coming September since the 28-year-old Rindt crashed fatally under braking at Parabolica during final practice for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, ending a spectacular, varied and inconsistent career which had started less than a decade before. This was the driver whose promise seemed somehow so certain never to be realised that MOTOR SPORT's D.S. J. was prompted into betting his beard against Rindt ever winning a Grand Prix: when the Austrian's Lotus 49 came home triumphant in the 1969 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, our hirsute colleague willingly shaved himself. On a more personal note, Jochen Rindt was one of racing's personalities who helped form the writer's early impressions of the sport. It took a lot of cajoling for my father to be persuaded to drive himself and a friend, a few weeks prior to my long-awaited 17th birthday, to Crystal Palace for the Formula 2 London Trophy meeting at Whitsun, 1964. This was the event at which the little-known Austrian driver took his black Brabham-Cosworth SCA to a splendid victory over a host of established rivals including Jim Clark and Graham Hill. From that moment onwards, Rindt's future seemed secure — certainly in my youthful eyes, at least!

Jochen Rindt was born in Mainz, Germany, on April 18, 1942 and after both his parents were killed in an Allied bombing raid when he was only 15 months old, he went to live with his maternal grandparents in the quiet Austrian city of Graz. From an early age the young Rindt was something of a rebel and it quickly became clear that he wasn't going to take much interest in the family spice importing business, the Mainz-based firm of Klein and Rindt. He learnt to drive, below the legal age limit, at the wheel of an elderly Volkswagen and caused so much disruption at his local school that he was packed off to England as a teenager to learn English in Chichester. Although Goodwood was uncomfortably close at hand, Jochen didn't show much interest in motorised sports and it was only on his return to Austria that he really began to become interested in cars: his antics on the local roads round Graz in company with his friends (who included Helmut Marko, later to become a Ferrari sports car and BRM Grand Prix driver) were quite hair-raising and have been splendidly chronicled by his long time friend Heinz Pruller in his splendid book, Jochen Rindt — The Story of a World Champion (William Kimber, 1970).

Rindt first came to prominence in 1963 when he decided to take the plunge into the cut and thrust of Formula Junior, acquiring an old Cooper and teaming up with fellow Austrian coming man Kurt Bardi-Barry. From the outset of his single-seater career Rindt was to demonstrate a distinctive brand of unrestrained, extrovert enthusiasm behind the wheel. He was obviously tremendously quick, and although he seemed to be in control, he was incredibly wild. He won his second-ever Formula Junior race with the Cooper, at Cesenatico in Italy, and later fitted a push-rod 1,500 cc Ford engine into the car in order to take part in the first Austrian Fl Grand Prix, a non-title event held on the old Zeltweg airfield circuit. For the 1964 season he graduated into Formula 2, buying a brand new Brabham-Cosworth SCA with some support from Ford Austria. It was with this machine that Rindt really made his name over the Whitsun weekend in the two well-publicised British Formula 2 races. He qualified on pole position at Mallory Park, finishing third in the race behind the works Lotuses of Jim Clark and Peter Arundell, but at Crystal Palace he astounded everybody by winning in brilliant style. One of the national daily papers reported him as being an Australian, presumably on the assumption that only the British Commonwealth could produce drivers of such apparently instant brilliance!

This success put Rindt firmly in the mainstream of international motor racing attention and it's fair to say from this point onwards he never looked back. His first ride in a pukka Grand Prix car came in the '64 Austrian Grand Prix where he handled Rob Walker's Brabham-BRM V8. He failed to finish, but was clearly not daunted by racing's senior category. For 1965 he was signed up to partner Bruce McLaren in the works Cooper team, but by this time the 1 1/2-litre machines from this marque were totally uncompetitive and Jochen salvaged only a fourth place at Nurburgring and a sixth at Watkins Glen for his efforts. There was success in other categories, however, most notably at Le Mans where he and Masten Gregory drove an obsolete NART Ferrari 250LM to a memorable victory. And, of course, he kept his hand in amongst his Formula 2 rivals, which at that time included most of the contemporary Grand Prix stars. Right up until the end of 1968 Rindt was to drive for the famous Winkelmann Racing F2 equipe, managed by his friend, the taciturn Alan Rees who is now a director of the Arrows Grand Prix team. The pint-sized Rees also drove with Rindt, frequently matching the Austrian in terms of speed, and occasionally beating him. When his Formula 1 fortunes were down, which was often, Rindt managed to keep his reputation alive by what amounted to near-total domination of Formula 2 for the best part of four seasons.

At the start of the three-litre Formula 1 in 1966 Rindt found himself armed with the ungainly looking Cooper-Maserati V12, a machine which generally performed rather better than its appearance might suggest. It was at the wheel of this device that Rindt began to lay the foundations of his briefly successful Grand Prix career, his most notable achievement probably being his Performance in the rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix at Spa where he led John Surtees' winning Ferrari 312 for many laps, eventually finishing second. Rindt's "nerves of steel" were also emphasised when he spun wildly on the Masta straight in the height of the rain storm without so much as batting an eye-lid. Miraculously the Cooper didn't hit a thing and Jochen simply continued at unabated speed! Throughout 1966 and '67 Rindt never quite managed to grasp a Grand Prix victory, despite the fact that team-mates John Surtees and Pedro Rodriguez both made it to the winner's circle. By the end of the '67 programme Rindt was clearly looking for something more competitive with which finally to break out of this disappointing rut and, on the basis of its Championship-winning performances in the first two seasons of the new three-litre formula, there seemed few more promising berths than a place in the Brabham team. Thus Rindt signed to drive alongside "Black Jack" for the 1968 season, the two men quickly forging a warm and easy-going partnership based on mutual respect. Rindt was clever enough to appreciate Brabham's shrewd ability when it came to organising the team while the Australian obviously rated Jochen's talent behind the wheel. It should have been a successful combination. Unfortunately, the whole year turned out to be an unmitigated disaster largely thanks to the unreliability of the newly developed four-cam Repco V8 with which the Brabham team hoped to match the sensational Cosworth DFV. Rindt used a '67-specification twin-cam Repco V8 to finish third in the opening race at Kyalami behind the Lotus 49s of Jim Clark and Graham Hill, but from that point onwards there was little to alleviate the all pervading gloom. There were brief flickers of Rindt's tremendous talent: pole position by a huge margin at Rouen and third place at the rain-soaked Nurburgring, but otherwise the season was terrible. For 1969, despite offers from Brabham who was now determined to obtain Cosworth power for his cars, Jochen Rindt took the decision to sign for Colin Chapman's Team Lotus.

The combination of the hard-bitten Rindt and mercurial Lotus boss Cohn Chapman amounted to the proverbial irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Chapman's career in Formula I had gone hand-in-hand with the great Jim Clark's rise to stardom: the two men had enjoyed a precious, closely sympathetic relationship and Clark had been dead for less than a year when the English team boss turned to Rindt. In Chapman's mind, Jochen was quite simply the fastest man left in the business, but he was poles apart from Clark in terms of personality. Whereas Clark had been content simply to drive, Chapman suddenly found his new driver offering unwanted technical comments and criticisms. What's more, Rindt being Rindt, these remarks were not wrapped up in any tactful dressing: the Austrian was blunt to the point of being downright offensive and it's clear that Chapman, briefly, found himself virtually at war with his new recruit. The 1969 season was stormy and turbulent for the Lotus team, a succession of mechanical failures seemingly destined permanently to deprive Rindt from "breaking his duck" and winning that first, elusive Grand Prix triumph. Rindt should have won the 1969 British Grand Prix at Silverstone quite easily, all things being equal. His pole position Lotus 49B more than had the legs of Jackie Stewart's Tyrrell Matra and the two cars quickly became embroiled in a frantic scrap for the lead. Rindt was clearly asserting himself when a rear aerofoil side plate worked loose and began dangling precariously close to one of the Lotus's rear tyres. He made a quick stop for the offending side plate to be ripped away, but by the time he was back in the race Stewart was long gone: Rindt eventually finished fourth after another pit stop to top up with fuel. It was the lowest point of his relationship with Chapman who by that stage was so committed to the Lotus 63 4WD project that he'd actually sold the works 49Bs. Rindt demanded that he be given one of the old cars for Silverstone, so Chapman had to borrow one back from Jo Bonnier. "It's like Barnum and Bailey's circus in four separate rings!" remarked Jochen rather acidly to a colleage amidst Lotus's British Grand Prix chaos. Later he warmed slightly to the Lotus 63 and agreed to drive it in the non-Championship Oulton Park race later in the season. He finished second to Jacky Ickx's Brabham.

At the end of the season, at long last, Jochen Rindt won his first Grand Prix.
What's more, in those days before Formula 1 prize funds were standardised, Rindt scooped the biggest prize in the business for his triumph in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. At last some of the dreadul luck that had run against him for so many seasons had turned in his favour. D.S.J. took out his rarely-used razor ...

Notwithstanding Rindt's success in that race, his personal relationship with Chapman was still pretty tempestuous and he seriously examined the possibility of returning to the more placid surroundings of the Brabham team for 1970. Black Jack made it quite public that he would consider retiring if Jochen returned to the fold, but at the end of the day there was no way in which Chapman was going to lose the quickest man in the business. The two individuals patched up their differences and did another deal for 1970, a deal helpfully massaged by Jochen's astute friend and business manager Bernie Ecclestone, at that time on the fringes of motor racing once more after a decade away from the sport building up his other considerable business interests. For 1970, Colin Chapman had a demon new weapon up his sleeve, the superb torsion-bar sprung Lotus 72 which was destined to re-write the parameters of contemporary Grand Prix car performance in a manner so typical of the Lotus marque. Typically, Rindt was suspicious of its rather "fragile" appearance and told Chapman, initially at least, that he'd prefer to stick with the latest 49 development. Jochen started the European season with an archetypal Rindt race: mooning round for the first half of the Monaco Grand Prix in the middle of the field, the Austrian suddenly scented a chance of victory. From that moment onwards he went like the wind, shattering the lap record on his final tour and flustering dear old Jack Brabham into a last corner slide into the straw bales. It was an epic performance, by any standards.

Eventually, Rindt and Chapman began to work together profitably on the Lotus 72 and the victories began to tumble into their lap. Zandvoort, Clermont-Ferrand, Brands Hatch and, lastly, Hockenheim. Battling all the way with Jacky Ickx's new flat-12 Ferrari 312B, Rindt never had any doubt that his Lotus was sufficiently superior to pass the Belgian any time he wanted to. And so it proved — Rindt breezed by on the last lap and, in a rare tribute to Chapman, remarked "a monkey could have won with this car today, it's that good!"

Engine failure claimed Rindt's Lotus 72 in his "adopted home" Grand Prix at the Osterreichring and then, suddenly, came the tragedy at Monza. During final practice Jochen's car crashed heavily under braking for Parabolica, almost certainly not through the fault of the driver. Terribly injured, the man who had the 1970 World Championship in his pocket, died on his way to hospital in the ambulance.
It is a matter of some personal regret that I never met Jochen Rindt, being only a junior reporter on our weekly newspaper Motoring News at the time of his death, so my impressions of the man have been shaped by some not altogether impartial judgements — as well as some overtly biased in his favour. Obviously he was a wild one: his relationship with his lovely wife Nina, daughter of wealthy Finnish amateur racing driver Curt Lincoln, was no less stormy than his professional partnership with Colin Chapman. He was arrogant, supremely confident, yet very warm and loyal towards his close circle of friends: in that respect. I detect some firm similarities with his successor Niki Lauda, although their backgrounds are distinctively different.

Dismayed by the deaths of his close friends Bruce McLaren and Piers Courage, Rindt had virtually decided to retire from motor racing at the end of 1970 and concentrate on his many business interests. If he'd survived, he would now he a tousle-haired 42-year old, probably still ribbing his contemporary and Swiss-based neighbour Jackie Stewart in the same manner as he did when they were racing together in the sixties. "You know, Jochen may have had the outward appearance of a rough diamond, but beneath it all he was a very warm-hearted sort of guy," explained Heinz Pruller to the writer at the recent Brazilian Grand Prix meeting. I'm sure, like me, there are a lot of readers who identify with Jochen Rindt in a strange, distant way; who admire the Austrian driver who only latterly achieved the hard results to back up the exciting, dramatic driving style which endeared him to the paying spectators way back at Crystal Palace, on Whit Monday, twenty years ago exactly. — A.H.

Deadly crashed F1 drivers

Formula One has always been the pinnacle of motorsport, right from its inauguration in 1950. Along with its standing are also the dangers, and during the history many people have died during racing.
See here a list of all deadly crashed drivers that have competed at least once in the Formula One World Championship.

1950	Joe Fry (GB)	Fry was killed at the wheel of the Freikaiserwagen at the 1950 Blandford hillclimb, less than two months after driving a Maserati 4CL in the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
1950	Raymond Sommer (F)	In September 1950, he entered the Haute-Garonne Grand Prix in Cadours, France where the steering failed on his 1100cc Cooper and the car overturned at a corner.
1952	Luigi Fagioli (I)	Fagioli died during practice for a touring car race to be held as part of the Monaco Grand Prix. While his crash appeared minor at first, his internal unjuries were such that he died in hospital 3 weeks later.
1953	Charles de Tornaco (B)	In practice for the Modena Grand Prix in 1953, de Tornaco rolled his car and suffered serious head and neck injuries. He died on his way to the hospital.
1953	Felice Bonetto (I)	Hit a roadside pole when driving a Lancia on the Carrera Panamericana
1954	Guy Mairesse (F)	Killed in practice for the Coupe de Paris at Montlhéry in 1954 when he swerved to avoid another car and crashed into a concrete wall.
1954	Onofre Marimón (RA)	Crashed out with his Maserati on July 31, 1954 during qualifying for the 1954 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
1955	Alberto Ascari (I)	Fatal crash at Monza, Italy while trying out a sports Ferrari.
1955	Pierre Levegh (F)	Levegh died in Le Mans disaster at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in it killing 82 spectators.
1955	Don Beauman (GB)	The weekend before the British Grand Prix, he was killed when he crashed during the Leinster Trophy race.
1956	Louis Rosier (F)	Louis Rosier died of injuries he sustained in a crash at the Montlhéry track, south of Paris, France, on 7 October 1956.
1957	Ken Wharton (GB)	Killed when he crashed driving a Ferrari Monza at the New Zealand circuit of Ardmore.
1957	Eugenio Castellotti (I)	He was killed at only 26 years old during a private Ferrari test session at the Modena Autodrome.
1957	Alfonso de Portago (E)	He and his co-driver Edmund Nelson were killed in a crash (on May 8th) in the 1957 Mille Miglia.
1957	Piero Carini (I)	Killed racing a Ferrari Testa Rossa sports car in the 1957 St-Etienne event. His car veered across the central barrier and collided head-on with a similar machine.
1957	Bill Whitehouse (GB)	He was killed in a Formula Two crash at the Reims Circuit driving a privately-entered Cooper T39.
1957	Herbert Mackay-Fraser (USA)	Killed after crashing his Lotus in the race that also had killed Bill Whitehouse.
1958	Archie Scott-Brown (GB)	Deadly injured on 18 May 1958 during an accident in a sports car race at Spa-Francorchamps. He died one day later in hospital, aged 31.
1958	Erwin Bauer (D)	Killed in a 2-litre sports Ferrari where, not realising he had passed the chequered flag, kept on racing and crashed fatally on what was supposed to be his slowing-down lap.
1958	Luigi Musso (I)	Deceased after an accident during the 1958 French Grand Prix at Reims, France.
1958	Peter Collins (GB)	Died in hospital after suffering major head injuries in an accident during the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
1958	Peter Whitehead (GB)	Killed in a crash while competing in the Tour De France with his half-brother Graham Whitehead. Their Jaguar crashed off a bridge into a 30-foot ravine at Lasalle with Graham behind the wheel.
1958	Stuart Lewis-Evans (GB)	Lewis-Evans crashed heavily at the dusty Ain-Diab circuit during the season finale 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix. His Vanwall engine seized and sent him lurching into barriers at high speed, and his car burst into flames. He was airlifted back to the UK, but died in hospital of his burn injuries six days after the accident.
1959	Mike Hawthorn (GB)	After winning the 1958 Championship with just one point ahead of Stirling Moss, Hawthorn immediately announced his retirement from Formula One. A matter of only months later, on 22 January 1959, Hawthorn died in an automobile accident on the A3 bypass near Guildford driving his British Racing Green highly tuned Jaguar 3.4-litre sedan (now known as the 3.4 Mk 1). What happened that day is still unknown, suggested causes being driver error, mechanical failure, or blackout.
1959	Jean Behra (F)	Behra crashed out his Porsche on the banking of the AVUS ring, Berlin during the German Grand Prix. He was thrown out of the car, launched into the sky and after hitting a flagpole landed into the trees. Along with his fatal skull fracture most of his ribs were broken.
1959	Ivor Bueb (GB)	Bueb died from injuries sustained when he crashed his BRP Cooper-Borgward Formula Two car at Charade Circuit near Clermont-Ferrand, France.
1960	Harry Blanchard (USA)	Died when his Porsche sportscar overturned during the 1000 km Buenos Aires race.
1960	Ettore Chimeri (YV)	Deceased in hospital after crashing his Ferrari while practicing for the Gran Premio Libertad sports car race at the Camp Freedom military airfield near Havana, Cuba.
1960	Harry Schell (USA)	Schell died in practice for the non-championship International Trophy event at Silverstone in 1960, when he crashed his Cooper at Abbey Curve.
1960	Chris Bristow (GB)	He was killed during the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, in a gruesome accident at the Burnenville corner, in which he was decapitated, when the car rolled over.
1960	Alan Stacey (GB)	Stacey was killed during the Belgian Grand Prix, at Spa-Francorchamps, when he crashed at 120 mph (190 km/h). after being hit in the face by a bird on lap 25, while lying in sixth place with his Lotus. He died in close proximity and within minutes of Chris Bristow.
1961	Giulio Cabianca (I)	Cabianca died when at the Modena Autodrome test track after colliding with a taxi on a public road close just aside of the circuit.
1961	Wolfgang von Trips (D)	At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, his Ferrari collided with Jim Clark's Lotus. His car became airborne and crashed into a side barrier, fatally throwing von Trips from the car, and killing fifteen spectators.
1962	Peter Ryan (USA)	During a heat of the Formula 2 Coupe de Vitesse des Juniors at Reims, Peter's Lotus was involved in a collision with the Gemini of Bill Moss. Ryan was thrown from his car and died from internal injuries.
1962	Ricardo Rodrigues (MEX)	Died in the first day of practice for the non-championship Mexican Grand Prix after crashing out heavily in the 180-degree peraltada corner. He was 20 and considered a possible future champion.
1964	Tim Mayer (USA)
1964	Carel Godin de Beaufort (NL)	Died after an accident at the Nürburgring, during practice for the German Grand Prix. Driving the Porsche 718, the car suddenly veered off the track at the infamous Bergwerk corner. He was thrown out of the car and died three days later at a hospital in Cologne.
1966	Walt Hansgen (USA)	He was killed when he crashed a 7-liter Ford Mk2 sports car at the Le Mans tests during the spring of 1966.
1966	John Taylor (GB)	Taylor died following an accident at the German Grand Prix, when his Brabham collided with Jacky Ickx's Matra on the first lap of the race. He emerged from the wreckage badly burned, and died from his injuries four weeks later.
1967	Lorenzo Bandini (I)	Bandini was running second to Denny Hulme in the Monaco Grand Prix when he lost control of his Ferrari at the harbour. He sustained severe burns while being trapped in his upside down burning vehicle and succumbed to his injuries three days later at Princess Grace Polyclinic Hospital in Monte Carlo.
1967	Giacomo 'Geki' Russo (I)	Russo was killed in a tragic accident, going into a brick wall after hitting his colleague driver, Swiss Beat Behr. He was driving a Matra on the Caserta circuit.
1967	Bob Andersen (GB)	Anderson died of serious injuries from an accident during testing at Silverstone, in which he slid off the track in wet conditions and hit a marshal's post. He died in Northampton General Hospital.
1967	Georges Berger (B)	He was killed racing a Porsche 911 in the 1967 Marathon de la Route at Nürburgring.
1967	Ian Raby (GB)	Raby crashed heavily with his Brabham Lotus during an F2 event at Zandvoort at the end of July. He died from his injuries at the beginning of November.
1968	Jim Clark (GB)	Jim Clark, recognised by many as one of the best drivers F1 has ever seen, died tragically in a Formula Two race for Lotus at the Hockenheimring, Germany. On the fifth lap, his Lotus 48 veered off the track and crashed into the trees. He suffered a broken neck and skull fracture, and died before reaching the hospital.
1968	Mike Spence (GB)	Spence died during practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when he collided heavily with the concrete wall at the entry of turn one. His helmet was hit by the right front wheel of his car and he died at the hospital following massive head injuries.
1968	Ludovico Scarfiotti (I)	Ludovico Scarfiotti died in 1968 at a hillclimbing event on the Roßfeldhöhenringstraße near Berchtesgaden, Germany. He wrecked his Porsche 910 and got thrown out of the car, hitting the ground 45m further.
1968	Jo Schlesser (F)	Frenchman Schlesser was killed when he lost control of his Honda RA302 in lap 2 of the French Grand Prix at Rouen-Les-Sarthes. The magnesium bodied RA302 quickly caught fire, leaving Schlesser no chance.
1969	Lucien Bianchi (B)	He was killed when his Alfa Romeo T33 spun into a telegraph pole during Le Mans testing in 1969.
1969	Paul Hawkins (AUS)	He was killed when his Lola T70GT crashed and burned at Island Bend during the 1969 Tourist Trophy race at Oulton Park.
1969	Moisés Solana (MEX)	Solana was killed in a hillclimbing accident after he lost control of his McLaren and hit a bridge.
1969	Gerhard Mitter (D)	Mitter was killed at Schwedenkreuz, Nürburgring while practising for the German Grand Prix with BMW's 269 F2 project. BMW withdrew as a suspension or steering failure is believed to have caused Mitter's death.
1970	Bruce McLaren (NZ)	Bruce McLaren died (aged 32) when his Can-Am car crashed on the Lavant Straight just before Woodcote corner at Goodwood Circuit on June 2 1970 in England. He had been testing his new M8D when the rear body work came adrift at speed. The loss of aerodynamic downforce destabilized the car, which spun, left the track and hit a bunker used as a flag station.
1970	Piers Courage (GB)	Courage was killed in Zandvoort, Netherlands after sliding wide on a bend, riding up an embankment and rolled upside-down, bursting into flames. It is believed however that he was killed before the flames started as a wheel hit his helmet.
1970	Jochen Rindt (A)	Rindt died in a heavy crash with his Lotus at the parabolica corner in Monza, Italy. Although Rindt was rushed to hospital, he was pronounced dead. That same year he was honoured posthumously with the World Championship title.
1971	Ignazio Giunti (I)	Giunti died during the 1000km Buenos Aires race which he participated with a Ferrari 312PB. He ploughed into the rear of the Matra 660 of Jean-Pierre Beltoise, who was pushing the car along the track after running out of fuel.
1971	Pedro Rodriguez (MEX)	Rodríguez was killed in an Interserie sports car race at Norisring in Nuremberg, Germany, on 11 July 1971, at the wheel of a Ferrari 512M of Herbert Müller Racing.
1971	Jo Siffert (CH)	Killed in the non-Championship World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch GB. The suspension of his BRM had been damaged in a lap 1 incident with Ronnie Peterson, and broke later.
1972	Joakim Bonnier (S)	He was involved in an accident at Le Mans in 1972 when his Lola-Cosworth T280 collided with a Ferrari Daytona driven by a Swiss amateur driver Florian Vetsch. His car was catapulted into the trees and he was killed.
1973	Roger Williamson (GB)	Williamson suffered a sudden tyre deflation, which pitched his car into the barriers at high speed and catapulted it 275 m across the track, eventually coming to rest upside down against the barriers on the other side, during which his petrol tank had ignited while being scraped along the track. A rescue attempt by David Purley was unsuccesful and Williams died as asphyxiation by the time the fire was extinguished.
1973	François Cevert (F)	François Cevert died in his Tyrrell 006 at Watkins Glen after violently hitting the barriers during qualifying for the . He died instantly.
1973	Nasif Estéfano (RA)	Estéfano was killed contesting one of Argentina's domestic Turismo Carratera endurance events.
1974	Peter Revson (USA)	During a practice run for the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami, he was killed as a result of suspension failure on his Shadow Ford DN3.
1974	Silvio Moser (CH)	Moser died from severe injuries without regaining consciousness, some time after being involved in an accident while driving his Lola-BMW in the 1000 km sports car race at Monza.
1974	Helmuth Koinigg (A)	Died in a crash in the United States Grand Prix, only his second Grand Prix start.
1975	Mark Donohue (USA)	During a practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix, Donohue lost control of his March after a tire failed sending him careening into the catch fencing. He died the day after in hospital due to a brain hemorrhage.
1977	Tom Pryce (GB)	Tom Pryce was killed in a gruelling crash as he was partially decapitated by a fire extinguisher after hitting a marshall that crossed that track in aid for another car.
1978	Ronnie Peterson (S)	Peterson died from injuries received in a first lap collision at the Italian Grand Prix.
1980	Patrick Depailler (F)	He was killed testing for the German Grand Prix, when his steering failed at Ostkurve, and he crashed into the barriers at 280 km/h (174 mph). He died instantly.
1982	Gilles Villeneuve (CDN)	On May 8, 1982, Villeneuve died after an accident during the final qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. After hitting the much slower Jochen Mass in the Terlamenbocht corner, his Ferrari was launched into the air at a speed estimated at 200-225 kph (120-140 mph). He was thrown out of the car and died later in the hospital due to a fatal neck fracture in the presence of his wife.
1982	Riccardo Paletti (I)	Paletti crashed fatally on the start grid of the Canadian Grand Prix in only his second Formula 1 start.
1983	Rolf Stommelen (D)	Rolf was killed in a vicious crash during an IMSA Camel GT event at Riverside International Raceway on 24 April after the rear wing of his Porsche 935 broke.
1985	Manfred Winkelhock (D)	He was killed in the summer when he crashed heavily at turn 2 at Mosport Park of Bowmanville near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during the Budweiser 1000 km World Endurance Championship event, driving a Porsche 962C for Kremer Racing with co-driver Marc Surer.
1985	Stefan Bellof (D)	Regarded as a likely future F1 World Champion, he was killed at the 1000 km of Spa sports car race. Driving for Brun Motorsport, his privately-entered Porsche 956 touched with Jacky Ickx's works 962C at Eau Rouge corner, with both cars catching fire and halting the race.
1986	Elio De Angelis (I)	De Angelis died following injuries of a crash while testing the Brabham BMW BT55 after the rear wing of the car came off. The Italian died 29 hours later at the hospital due to the injuries of the smoke inhaled while being stuck in the car after the crash.
1986	Jo Gartner (A)	Jo Gartner was killed in the middle of the night while contesting the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His Porsche 962C suffered a mechanical problem, sending Gartner into the barriers on Mulsanne straight at 160km/h. He died on impact.
1992	Denis "Denny" Hulme (NZ)	The 1967 World Champion a BMW M3 touring car in the Bathurst 1000 when he suffered a massive heart attack. After coming to a halt, resue workers found Denny strapped but dead in his car. In that event, Hulme became the first former World Champion to die of natural causes.
1994	Roland Ratzenberger (A)	Ratzenberger was 33 years old when he fatally crashed during qualifying at Imola for the Grand Prix of San Marino. After his front wing broke, he failed to steer into the Villeneuve corner and smashed the wall at 314.9 km/h. He died of a basal skull fracture.
1994	Ayrton Senna (BR)	Ayrton Senna died in a violent crash during the San Marino Grand Prix, only one day after the world lost Roland Ratzenberger. Senna's Williams hit the exterior wall at Tamburello at 217km/h after he went straight out of the corner. He likely died of a suspension arm that protruded his helmet during the crash.
2001	Michele Alboreto (I)	In April, 2001, Alboreto was performing straight-line speed tests in an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring, near Dresden, Germany. A tyre blow-out caused his car to veer off track and crash into a wall, killing him.
2015	Jules Bianchi (FR)	Jules Bianchi lost control of his Marussia in very wet conditions during the Japanese Grand Prix on 5 October 2014. He crashed into a recovery vehicle handling an earlier accident. Bianchi went into a coma following a diffuse axonal injury, and remained comatose until his death in 17 July 2015.
2015	Justin Wilson (GB)	On 23 August 2015, Justin Boyd Wilson suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident at the Pocono Raceway, an event part of the IndyCar Series. He was struck by large debris from the crash of race leader's Sage Karam's car. His injuries caused his death the following day. Wilson competed in F1 during 2003 with Jaguar and Minardi.