In Formula 1 today, safety is one of the most important factors, as the FIA has shown with campaigns such as ‘Action for Road Safety’. However, life on a circuit of yesteryear was very different, and it was assumed that throughout the season more than one driver could lose his life on the asphalt.
Until the 1970 season, that is, in the first two decades of the history of the Great Circus, up to 25 drivers died during the celebration of an official Formula 1 grand prix. In that same year we had the first and only posthumous champion, since Jochen Rindt won the title after dying during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix in a Lotus, but it wasn’t until a month and a half later that the series realized the danger they were in if this continued.
On October 25, 1970, the 18 drivers who made up the grid for the Mexican GP took to the track to complete 65 laps of the circuit now known as Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
On the morning of that day, a cycling event was held, which caused many onlookers to come to see it, and the organizers of the Formula 1 race, faced with the great avalanche of the public that came to the track, hung up the sign ‘ there are no tickets’ before the traffic light went out.
This meant that the nearly 200,000 people who gathered at the Mexican track had to occupy any place in the venue, so many chose to sit on the grass, a few meters from the track.
This situation caused the police and the authorities to be overwhelmed, even Jackie Stewart and Pedro Rodríguez took a microphone to appeal to sanity, but it was not successful. Thus, the start of the race was delayed an hour, and it was not until 3:45 p.m. that the single-seaters were able to battle each other.
But it was not the great influx of public that caused Formula 1 to stop visiting the North American country.
The test in Mexican lands began with the tension generated by not knowing who would be the runner-up, since Rindt had already established himself as the winner. Up to five drivers could take second place in what was the last round of the year, and the one with the most options was Jacky Ickx , who was 31 points ahead of Jack Brabham , Jackie Stewart and Denny Hulme .
In Saturday’s qualifying, Clay Regazzoni took pole position in his Ferrari 312B , and was able to hold on in the lead after the first lap, but just two laps later his Cavallino team-mate Ickx overtook the Italian.
Stewart did not detach himself from the slipstream of the red cars, and was able to pass the poleman to take second, a place he held until lap 13, when he fell to 12th place. Ferrari was far superior and kept its two cars in the lead, with advantages of more than 10 seconds over the rest, who could not keep up with Ickx and Regazzoni.
However, on lap 33 , right in the middle of the test, the disaster occurred that caused Formula 1 not to return to the country until 1986. Stewart’s Tyrrell met a dog in the middle of the track, and the Scotsman he couldn’t do anything to avoid it, causing his retreat almost instantaneously.
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back so that the highest category of motorsports decided not to return to the nation of the American continent. After getting out of the car, and somewhat annoyed by his abandonment, Jackie Stewart spoke to the press that gathered at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixiuhca track, as it was known until 1972, when it was renamed in honor of the Rodríguez brothers.
“I hit a dog, I hit a dog,” said the three-time world champion, though he had only secured one of his three crowns at the time. The media asked about what happened so that he collided with the animal, to which he replied that “they should ask the dog.”
The race continued its course, and Ferrari certified its 26th double in its history, with Ickx in first position and Regazzoni in second place. Denny Hulme’s McLaren closed the positions of honor in what was the last grand prix on Mexican soil until 1986.
On October 12 of that year, Formula 1 returned to the same place it left 16 seasons earlier, and was on the calendar until 1992.
In July 2014, the FIA confirmed the return of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez to the Gran Circo, and since then, it celebrates the ‘ F1esta’ of the highest category with a roaring passionate crowd.
