One hundredth of a second at Monza

Peter Gethin won a single Grand Prix, the 1971 Italian race, in one of the closest and fastest finishes the championship has seen.

Peter Gethin was born in Ewell, Surrey, England, on February 21, 1940. He began in sports cars, racing privately in the British Sports Car Championship until 1965, then moved into Formula Three in France and Britain and on to Formula Two. Several titles in Formula 5000 brought him to McLaren's attention.

McLaren signed him in 1970 after the death of the team's founder, Bruce McLaren, and he made his World Championship debut at the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix. He scored his first points with sixth place in Canada that year and stayed with McLaren into 1971 before moving to BRM from the Austrian Grand Prix onward.

In only his second race for BRM, the 1971 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, he won. The race was a slipstreaming battle, and Gethin went from fourth to first on the final lap to beat Ronnie Peterson by 0.01 seconds, with the first five cars covered by 0.61 seconds. His average speed set a record that stood for 32 years. It was the only win of his Formula 1 career, and he never led a complete lap.

Gethin remained with BRM in 1972 and then made single appearances in 1973 and 1974, the last at the 1974 British Grand Prix. Our record shows 30 starts, 1 win and 1 podium across five seasons, with McLaren, BRM and Lola. He won the 1973 Race of Champions, took the Tasman Series in 1974, later ran his own Formula 3000 team, and directed the British Racing Drivers' Club from 2005 to 2008. He died in 2011.

0 world titles, 1 wins, 0 pole positions, 30 starts.

Teams

Victories

• Italian Grand Prix 1971