Peter Gethin

Peter Kenneth Gethin (21 February 1940 – 5 December 2011) was a British racing driver and motorsport executive who competed in Formula One from to . Gethin won the 1971 Italian Grand Prix with BRM.

Born and raised in Surrey, Gethin started his career in sportscar racing, competing in the British Sports Car Championship as a privateer until 1965. He progressed to Formula Three the following year, competing in the French and British Championships before graduating to Formula Two. Gethin won several titles in Formula 5000, prompting McLaren to sign him in to replace the deceased Bruce McLaren. a record which stood for 32 years.

Gethin remained at BRM in but was dropped at the end of the season, only making one-off appearances for BRM and Hill in and , respectively. In addition to his victory in Italy, he won two non-championship races, including the 1973 Race of Champions with Chevron. He returned to European Formula 5000 upon his departure, twice finishing runner-up in 1974 and 1975, amongst winning the Tasman Series during the former. After competing in the 1974 World Sportscar Championship, driving the Chevron B26, Gethin further finished runner-up in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup and the Rothmans International Series in 1977, before retiring at the end of the season.

Upon retiring from motor racing, Gethin founded Peter Gethin Racing in 1986, a Formula 3000 team. He was the director of the British Racing Drivers' Club from 2005 until 2008.

Career McLaren driver 1970 Gethin made his debut in F1 for McLaren at the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix, replacing the team's founder, Bruce McLaren, who had been killed at the Goodwood Circuit earlier in the month. The first qualifying session at Kyalami went badly for the Englishman, who finished the session 11th, half a second behind his more illustrious teammate and 1.8 seconds behind pole man Jackie Stewart, driving for Tyrrell. In a race where Hulme was only denied victory by suspension problems four laps from the end, Gethin dropped back very quickly and retired just seven laps in with a fuel leak.

The Montjuïc Circuit was the venue for the Spanish Grand Prix, which was next on the calendar. Gethin qualified a career best seventh, only 0.9 seconds behind Jacky Ickx's Ferrari on pole and over three-tenths ahead of Hulme. He fast dropped behind Hulme and the second Ferrari of Mario Andretti, and when things straightened out he was down in tenth, behind François Cevert's Tyrrell and the Lotus of Emerson Fittipaldi as well. However, the retirements of Andretti and Fittipaldi left him eighth, which is where he finished the race – depressingly he had been comfortably outperformed by Hulme, who had taken fifth.

Gethin's first appearance at Monaco which was the next challenge, and Gethin did not impress in qualifying, being down in 14th, 1.6 seconds behind Hulme and almost four seconds behind Stewart's pole time. He dropped a further place on the first lap, to Rolf Stommelen's Surtees. He gradually gained places, however, due to others' retirements and a good overtake on John Surtees. He ran as high as 11th before he hit the barriers on lap 23.

Gethin won the 1971 Italian Grand Prix with the fastest average speed in Formula One history (until the record was broken by Michael Schumacher in the same race in ), There was only 0.01 seconds between him and second placed Ronnie Peterson, also a record. Indeed, he never led an entire lap of Formula One racing, as he passed from fourth to first in the last lap.

Death Gethin died at the age of 71 in December 2011 after a long illness.

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Pts Class 1967 Robert Ashcroft Ford Falcon Sprint BRH SNE SIL SIL MAL SIL SIL7 BRH OUL BRH 31st 2 9th

Complete European F5000 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts 1969 Church Farm Racing McLaren M10A Chevrolet 5.0 V8 OUL BRH BRH MAL SIL MON KOK ZAN SNE HOC OUL BRH 1st 2365 1970 Sid Taylor Racing McLaren M10B Chevrolet 5.0 V8 OUL BRH ZOL ZAN SIL BRH CAS MAL MON SIL MNZ AND SAL THR SIL OUL SNE HOC OUL BRH 1st 90 1971 Sid Taylor Racing McLaren M18 Chevrolet 5.0 V8 MAL SNE BRH MON SIL CAS MAL MNZ MAL THR SIL OUL SNE HOC OUL BRH BRH 12th 7 1973 Chevron Racing Cars Chevron B24 Chevrolet 5.0 V8 BRH MAL SIL SNE BRH MON SIL BRH OUL JYL ZAN SNE BRH 8th 65 Anglo-American Racing Team OUL MAL MIS MAL 1974 Chevron Racing Team V.D.S. Chevron B28 Chevrolet 5.0 V8 BRH MAL SIL OUL BRH ZOL THR ZAN MUG MNZ MAL MON THR BRH OUL SNE MAL BRH 2nd 186 1975 Racing Team V.D.S. Lola T400 Chevrolet 5.0 V8 BRH OUL BRH SIL ZOL ZAN THR SNE MAL THR BRH OUL SIL SNE MAL BRH 2nd 143

Complete Formula One World Championship results (key)

Non-championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)