Peter
Gethin

Peter Gethin was born on 21 February 1940 in Ewell, Surrey. He began in sportscar racing, competing as a privateer in the British Sports Car Championship until 1965. In 1966 he moved to Formula Three, racing in the French and British championships, before progressing to Formula Two. Several Formula 5000 titles led McLaren to sign him in 1970 as the replacement for the team's late founder, Bruce McLaren.

Gethin made his Formula One debut at the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix. He scored his first championship point with sixth place in Canada and finished the season 22nd in the standings. He stayed with McLaren for 1971 as team-mate to Denny Hulme, qualifying seventh in Spain and finishing eighth. From the Austrian Grand Prix onwards he drove for BRM.

The next race, the 1971 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, was his victory. He won by just 0.01 seconds from Ronnie Peterson, at an average speed of 242.615 km/h. It was the fastest race in Formula One history until Michael Schumacher broke the record at the same event in 2003. Gethin only took the lead on the final lap, having started it in fourth place. It remained his only win and his only podium finish. He ended 1971 ninth in the championship, his best final position.

He stayed with BRM in 1972, after which the association ended. In 1973 he made a one-off appearance for BRM, and in 1974 another in a Lola. In total he started 30 World Championship races. Outside the championship he won two races, among them the 1973 Race of Champions in a Chevron. In European Formula 5000 he was runner-up in 1974 and 1975, and he won the Tasman Series in 1974. In 1977 he finished second in both the Can-Am series and the Rothmans International Series, then retired from racing. In 1986 he founded the Formula 3000 team Peter Gethin Racing, and from 2005 to 2008 he served as a director of the British Racing Drivers' Club. He died on 5 December 2011, aged 71.

Source: Wikipedia, “Peter Gethin”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.